Indigenous Rights

World Bank Board Declines to Revise Controversial Draft Policies

By Jim Lobe
A key committee of the World Bank’s governing board Wednesday spurned appeals to revise a  draft policy statement that, according to nearly 100 civil-society groups, risks rolling back several decades of reforms designed to protect indigenous populations, the poor and sensitive ecosystems.

Land Grabbing – A New Political Strategy for Arab Countries

By Mona Alami
Food price rises as far back as 2008 are believed to be the partial culprits behind the instability plaguing Arab countries and they have become increasingly aware of the importance of securing food needs through an international strategy of land grabs which are often detrimental to local populations.

Forest Rights Offer Major Opportunity to Counter Climate Change

By Carey L. Biron
The international community is failing to take advantage of a potent opportunity to counter climate change by strengthening local land tenure rights and laws worldwide, new data suggests.

Touaregs Seek Secular and Democratic Multi-Ethnic State

By Karlos Zurutuza
The government of Mali and Touareg rebels representing Azawad, a territory in northern Mali which declared unilateral independence in 2012 after a Touareg rebellion drove out the Malian army, resumed peace talks in Algiers last week, intended to end decades of conflict.

Indigenous Communities Say Education, Funding Key to Fighting HIV/AIDS

By Neena Bhandari
Marama Pala, hailing from Waikanae on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, was diagnosed with HIV at 22. The news of her diagnosis spread like wildfire in her tight-knit Maori community.

This is What Happened to the 18,000 People Forcefully Relocated to an Arid Zimbabwean Government Farm

By Davison Mudzingwa
When the Tokwe-Mukosi dam’s wall breached, so started the long, painful and disorienting journey for almost 18,000 people who had lived in the 50-kilometre radius of Chivi basin in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo province as even those not affected by the flood were removed from their homes.

Zimbabwe’s Unfolding Humanitarian Disaster – We Visit the 18,000 People Forcibly Relocated to Ruling Party Farm

By Davison Mudzingwa and Francis Hweshe
As the villagers sit around the flickering fire on a pitch-black night lit only by the blurry moon, they speak, recounting how it all began. They take turns, sometimes talking over each other to have their own experiences heard. When the old man speaks, everyone listens. “It was my first time riding a helicopter,” John Moyo* remembers.

Chile Vows to Dispel Lingering Shadow of Dictatorship

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile has made a commitment to the international community to improve human rights in the country and erase the lingering shadow of the dictatorship on civil liberties.

EU Aims to Scuttle Treaty on Human Rights Abuses

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations began negotiating a Code of Conduct for Transnational Corporations (TNCs) back in the 1970s, the proposal never got off the ground because of vigourous opposition both from the powerful business community and its Western allies.

Nicaragua’s Mayagna People and Their Rainforest Could Vanish

By José Adán Silva
More than 30,000 members of the Mayagna indigenous community are in danger of disappearing, along with the rainforest which is their home in Nicaragua, if the state fails to take immediate action to curb the destruction of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, the largest forest reserve in Central America and the third-largest in the world.

Quest for Self-Determination Continues in New Caledonia

By Catherine Wilson
Since the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific was reinstated on the United Nations Decolonisation List in 1986, the indigenous Kanak people have struggled not only against socio-economic disadvantages, but also for the right to determine their political future after more than a century of colonialism.

When Nature Gets a Price Tag

By Kanya D'Almeida
How much does a forest cost? What’s the true economic value of an ocean? Can you pay for an alpine forest or a glacial meadow? And – more importantly – will such calculus save the planet, or subordinate a rapidly collapsing natural world to market forces?

Kiribati President Purchases ‘Worthless’ Resettlement Land as Precaution Against Rising Sea

By Christopher Pala
You can count the inhabitants of this isolated, tidy village of multi-coloured houses and flower bushes among global warming’s first victims – but not in the usual sense.

Bagua Massacre – A Test for Justice in Peru

By Milagros Salazar
The trial of 52 indigenous people that just got underway for a 2009 massacre near the city of Bagua in northwest Peru will test the judicial system’s independence and ability to impart justice.

Traditional Wisdom to the Rescue in Cyclone Season

By Malini Shankar
May and November bring the most vicious cyclones to the Bay of Bengal rim countries in Southeast Asia.

Saving West Africa’s Last Intact Tropical Rainforest through Tourism

By Marc-Andre Boisvert
Jonas Sanhin Touan has big dreams. As he sits under a canopy, he greets the rare tourist to Gouleako, one of the many villages near the entrance of Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park, with a meal.

U.N. Treaty on Corporate Rights Abuse Sees New Momentum

By Carey L. Biron
Some 500 global groups are calling for action by governments next month to jumpstart the process of drafting an international treaty to address rights abuses by multinational corporations, following on a related proposal by Ecuador and others.

Governments Crushing Their Own

By Catherine Wilson
The global spectre of state violence against political dissent, with paramilitary law enforcement units advancing against citizens they are employed to protect in cities such as Cairo, Bangkok and Kiev is daily news. But in some developing countries, the police are being used to put down indigenous opposition to the alliance of state and corporate power over resource extraction.

Healing the Dark Legacy of Native American Families

By Michelle Tolson
As a child, 78-year-old Yakama Nation elder Russell Jim was forced to go to a boarding school in Washington State and was beaten for speaking his language.

U.S. Tribe Looks to International Court for Justice

By Michelle Tullo
An indigenous community in the United States has filed a petition against the federal government, alleging that officials have repeatedly broken treaties and that the court system has failed to offer remedy.

Yakama Nation Tells DOE to Clean Up Nuclear Waste

By Michelle Tolson
The Department of Energy (DOE), politicians and CEOs were discussing how to warn generations 125,000 years in the future about the radioactive waste at Hanford Nuclear Reservation, considered the most polluted site in the U.S., when Native American anti-nuclear activist Russell Jim interrupted their musings: “We’ll tell them.”
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