Indigenous Rights

Vanesa Coicué's classmates paid homage to her in late September with traditional Nasa dances. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

COLOMBIA: When Humanitarian Law Is Just Rhetoric

By Constanza Vieira
The constant violations of international humanitarian law in Colombia claimed the life of an 11-year-old indigenous girl a month ago in the mountains of the southwest province of Cauca.
Vanesa Coicué's desk is empty. Her friends don't want to sit in that classroom anymore. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

COLOMBIA: “I Was Ready for Anything – Except for Mourning a Daughter”

By Constanza Vieira
In the wooden, sheet-metal roofed house, the exact spot where Vanesa Coicué, an 11-year-old Nasa Indian girl, fell is marked by white and yellow chrysanthemums in a plastic soda bottle, along with a lit candle and an orange tree seedling.
Panguna mine's copper and gold await political settlement before extraction can resume. Credit: C.E. Wilson/IPS

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Women Call the Shots on Mega Copper Mine

By IPS Correspondents
Whether the world’s largest open-cut mine on this island territory of Papua New Guinea (PNG) will resume copper and gold production, after being mothballed for 22 years, will depend on how satisfied matrilineal landowners are with the proposals.
FAO official Alipio Canahua, with campesinas from Puno, carrying part of their quinoa harvest. Credit: Courtesy of FAO Peru

PERU: Campesinas Protect Traditional Diversity of Food Crops

By Milagros Salazar
Dina Apomayta is heir to the 3,500-year legacy of the Andean cultures of Tiwanaku and Lupaca, which venerated the land. And she and many other rural women in Peru continue to nurture the agricultural biodiversity that has been handed down from generation to generation.
A provincial official (speaking) and the members of the Tribunal at the opening of the Hearing. Credit: Marcela Valente /IPS

Women in Rural Argentina Speak Out on Climate Change

By Marcela Valente
Rural and indigenous women in northern Argentina, hit hard by the expanding agricultural frontier, deforestation and the spraying of toxic pesticides, spoke out about their problems and set forth proposals for discussion at the next global summit on climate change.

Liberian Muslims Allege Disenfranchisement

By Robbie Corey-Boulet
It seems all of Liberia is paying close attention to the campaign for the Oct. 11 presidential and legislative elections. But Sekou Camara is one exception.
The centre of Toribío: in the back, the police station, and nearby homes destroyed by a bus bomb. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

COLOMBIA: Nasa Indians: “The Armed Groups Won’t Let Us Live in Peace”

By Constanza Vieira
Indigenous children in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca do not know what peace is. For the government forces and the leftwing guerrillas, the territory of the Nasa people is a strategic battleground.
In a glass case two exhibited skulls are a morbid reminder of the horror of a century ago. Credit: Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

NAMIBIA: German Extermination Marginalised Ethnic Groups

By Servaas van den Bosch
Over 100 years after the attempted extermination of Namibia’s indigenous men, women and children, 20 of the 300 skulls that had been stolen for racial research have finally returned home from Germany.
One of 20 Nama and Herero skulls kept for decades at the anatomic collection of Berlin Charité and now repatriated to Namibia. Credit: Courtesy of Yonas Endrias

NAMIBIA: Skulls Repatriated – But No Official German Apology

By Karina Boeckmann
A delegation of Namibian government representatives and leaders of the indigenous Herero and Nama people who came to Germany to repatriate 20 skulls of their ancestors were once again disappointed in their hopes for dialogue and an official apology.

Moana Nui Set to “Undress” APEC

By IPS Correspondents
This November, when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum holds its annual rotating summit in Honolulu, it will attract more than the attention of the world's media.
From seven percent of soybean acres and one percent of corn in 1996, GE acreage in the U.S. is now 94 percent of soybean and 88 percent of corn. Credit: Public domain

U.S.: Battle Escalates Against Genetically Modified Crops

By Kanya D'Almeida
Home to a fast-growing network of farmers' markets, cooperatives and organic farms, but also the breeding ground for mammoth for-profit corporations that now hold patents to over 50 percent of the world's seeds, the United States is weathering a battle between Big Agro and a ripening movement for food justice and security.

BOLIVIA: General Strike Protests Crackdown on Native March

By Franz Chávez and - -
Bolivia's main trade union declared a 24-hour general strike Wednesday to protest Sunday's police crackdown on indigenous demonstrators who were protesting the construction of a road through a pristine rainforest preserve.
Abdul Razzak with a harvest of prized Kashmiri beans in the fertile Gurez valley. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS

INDIA: Kashmiris Hail Hague Stay on Dam

By Athar Parvaiz
A ruling by the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) at The Hague, staying construction of a dam across a river that flows into Pakistan, has brought cheer to the tribal people who live around the site.

Despite Western Boycott, Racism Meet Gets Overwhelming Support

By Thalif Deen
A "boycott" by more than a dozen Western nations, including the United States, Germany, Canada and Israel, failed to derail a high-level meeting on racism and xenophobia hosted by the 193-member General Assembly.
Teresa Carmona, whose son was murdered in Mexico City, at the meeting between Zapatistas and victims' relatives. Credit: Gonzalo Ortuño/IPS

MEXICO: Peace Movement Meets Zapatistas

By Daniela Pastrana
The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity, headed by Mexican writer Javier Sicilia, travelled through southeastern Mexico and reached the heart of the territory controlled by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), bringing a message of solidarity.
A woman working in a gold mine in Siguiri Prefecture, Guinea. Credit: USAID

Global Gold Rush Brings Heightened Scrutiny

By Fawzia Sheikh
Bolstered by gold prices hovering above 1,800 dollars an ounce and a global economy slowly recovering, exploration activity for the precious metal in 2010 once again rebounded. Yet, with this surge comes the attendant scrutiny by activists, investors, and the media into the industry's human rights and environmental records abroad.

MOROCCO: Demands for Autonomy Spread

By Abderrahim El Ouali
Morocco's offer of autonomy to Western Sahara to stave off demands for full independence is boomeranging on the kingdom with other regions now demanding similar freedom.
The Peace Caravan led by Javier Sicilia arrives at Monte Albán. Credit: Daniela Pastrana/IPS

MEXICO: Peace Caravan “Has Made Us Feel Stronger”

By Daniela Pastrana
With a huge hug, Olga Reyes from Chihuahua, who has lost six family members in Mexico's wave of drug-related violence, greets Araceli Rodríguez from Mexico state, the mother of a young federal police officer who "disappeared" in Michoacán two years ago.

INDIA: Landless Plan a Long March

By Isolda Agazzi
The Gandhian movement Ekta Parishad plans to organise a march for land rights in October 2012 in India, aiming to gather around 100,000 indigenous people, dalits and poor peasants. Support is shaping up around the world, at events such as an international mobilisation conference in Geneva Sep. 12-13.

GUATEMALA: The War Over Land

By Danilo Valladares
The violent eviction of 91 rural families in northern Guatemala was the latest incident in the ageold conflict over land in a country where the army is frequently called in to force peasant farmers off their land.

MIDEAST: Not School Time Yet for Bedouin Girls

By IPS Correspondents
For mother of five Shimaa al-Aasam, providing her children with the opportunity to complete their education despite a severe lack of classrooms in their Bedouin community is of prime importance.
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