Indigenous Rights

West Papuan Conflict Begs Political Solution

By Catherine Wilson and - -
The Indonesian government’s offer of development for West Papua, following the crackdown by security forces on a pro-independence meeting in Jayapura in October, is unlikely to succeed in the absence of political dialogue and calls for self-determination are expected to continue.

Indigenous Peoples Call for REDD Moratorium

By Stephen Leahy
A new coalition of indigenous peoples and local communities called for a moratorium on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programs, a key part of the negotiations for a new international climate treaty that took place over the last two weeks in South Africa.

BURMA: Rape Used as Military Weapon

By Preethi Nallu
The Burmese army has been following a policy of systematically raping women and girls to subjugate the country's rebellious ethnic minorities, according to a new report.

Saving the Forests with Indigenous Knowledge

By Isaiah Esipisu
For the Laibon community, a sub-tribe of Kenya's Maasai ethnic group, the 33,000-hectare Loita Forest in the country's Rift Valley Province is more than just a forest. It is a shrine.

HONDURAS: Indigenous Cooperatives Cultivate Success

By Thelma Mejía
Thanks to the quality and freshness of their produce, indigenous Lenca farmers in western Honduras are regular suppliers of seven supermarket chains. This year they won the National Environmental Prize, in the community initiatives category.

Native Peoples Under Siege Around the Globe

By Elizabeth Whitman and - -
In polished versions of U.S. history, the near-extermination of Native Americans in the United States is an unsightly blemish that continues to be glossed over to this day. Yet the struggles of indigenous peoples are not exclusive to the United States and have grown increasingly complex in modern times.

Forest-Dependent Communities Lobby for End of REDD+

By Kristin Palitza and - -
Organisations working with indigenous peoples living in forests say the United Nations programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is just another way for big corporates to reap huge profits.

Sweden Runs Into South Sudanese Oilgate

By Jared Ferrie and - -
Civil society leaders in South Sudan are closely watching a legal battle unfolding in Sweden, as prosecutors investigate an oil company accused of involvement in massive human rights abuses here.

ISRAEL: Not When Desert Is Home

By Pierre Klochendler and - -
"Anyone who lives sees, but he who moves sees more," a local Bedouin proverb has it. Caught in a web of roads and fences, electric cables and pylons, closed military training grounds and trails of Air Force jets, Bedouin Israelis have long been reduced to a half-hearted life of immobility.
Settlers dig trenches in the Mau Forest to divert water to irrigate their illegal farm plots. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

KENYA: Like a Fish Belongs to Water, the Ogiek Belong to the Mau Forest

By Miriam Gathigah
The resettlement of evictees from Kenya’s Mau Forest remains a humanitarian and environmental concern for the country as more than 25,000 people continue to live in camps around the forest.

AFRICA: Change the Donors Climate

By Isaiah Esipisu
When donor-funded horticultural projects failed in Kalacha village at the edge of the Chalbi Desert in North Eastern Province, Kenya, the local pastoralist community proposed their own idea, which turned out to be the solution to their problems.
Otto Pérez Molina Credit: Surizar/CC BY SA 2.0

GUATEMALA: Incoming Government Has Its Job Cut Out

By Danilo Valladares
One of the highest poverty levels in Latin America, one of the highest murder rates in the world, and much-needed political and tax reforms are some of the pressing challenges that will face Guatemalan president-elect Otto Pérez Molina.
Campesinas and organisers at the Rural Women Against Climate Change Public Hearing. Credit: Mariela Jara /IPS

CLIMATE CHANGE-PERU: Rural Women Share Their Trials and Wisdom

By Mariela Jara
"This year the freeze killed my crops, our small livestock died, and now I can't even sleep because I'm worried sick thinking about how to put food on my family's table, since I'm a widow," said Rosaura Huatay, an indigenous farmer in Peru's northern Andes highlands.
Girls participating in Creating Opportunities activities in Antigua. Credit: Danilo Valladares/IPS

GUATEMALA: “We Want Girls to Be Visible”

By Danilo Valladares and - -
"I learned to not be afraid, and to love myself. Before, I never wanted to talk to people because I felt like they looked down on me and that I was no good," says 12-year-old Hilda Tura, one of the participants in a programme fostering leadership among indigenous girls in Guatemala.
Port of the Amazon indigenous community of San Miguel on the Pirá Paraná River, in the department of Vaupés, Colombia. Credit: María Cristina Vargas/IPS

COLOMBIA: Amazonas 2030 – Indicators for the Climate Crisis

By - - and Constanza Vieira
"It's great news" that the Colombian government is studying the cancellation of mining titles that have been granted in protected areas and in border zones declared national security areas, anthropologist Martín von Hildebrand, director of the Gaia Amazonas Foundation, told Tierrramérica.
Demonstrators with the Occupy Seattle Movement march through downtown, ending with a rally in front of the Bank of America headquarters. Credit: Tyler Stringfellow/IPS

U.S.: Who is the 99 Percent? – Part 2

By Kanya D'Almeida
While the Occupy movements sweeping the U.S. have become almost synonymous with democracy, consensus-based processes, human microphones and other symbols of unity, many populations in the country have felt isolated by the language and tactics of the movement.

MEXICO: Wixaritari Indians Fight Mining in Sacred Desert Site

By Daniela Pastrana and - -
Some 200 Wixáritari or Huichol men, women and children travelled 20 hours from western Mexico to the capital to defend their sacred ceremonial sites from silver mining.
A poor neighbourhood in Altamira, Brazil, flooded during the rainy season, will be left permanently under water by the Belo Monte dam. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

BRAZIL: Boycott of Dam Hearing Shows ‘Radical’ Foreign Policy Shift

By - - and Fabiana Frayssinet
Activists opposed to the construction of the Belo Monte hydropower dam in the Amazon jungle say the Brazilian government's decision to boycott an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing represents a "radical" shift in the country's foreign policy.

MIDEAST: Israel Evicting the Indigenous

By IPS Correspondents
As Israel moves ahead with a plan to forcibly displace tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank, Mohammad Al-Korshan and his family are facing the real prospect of not only losing their home, but their traditional way of life.

VENEZUELA: Government Distributes Land to Yukpa Indians

By Humberto Márquez
The Venezuelan government's decision to expropriate 25 ranches to distribute 15,800 hectares of land to communities of Yukpa Indians in the northwest of the country partially makes up a long-standing debt to the native group.

BOLIVIA: Native Protesters Celebrate Law Cancelling Rainforest Road

By Franz Chávez and - -
With victory cheers and predictions of future campaigns in defence of their ancestral territory, indigenous protesters from Bolivia's Amazon jungle region celebrated the new law that banned the construction of the road through their rainforest reserve.
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