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Saturday, July 25, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Indigenous Rights
Colombia’s Historic Child Marriage Ban
Colombia has just marked a historic milestone in the global campaign against child marriage, with the Senate passing one of Latin America and the Caribbean’s most comprehensive bans on child marriage and early unions. In a country where one in five girls under 18 and one in 10 under 14 are married or live in marriage-like conditions, the new law raises the minimum age to 18 with no exceptions, eliminating a 137-year-old Civil Code provision that allowed children over 14 to marry with parental consent. This achievement aligns with goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which has a target of eliminating harmful practices like child marriage by 2030. The new law now awaits the signature of President Gustavo Petro to come into effect.
U.S. Wins Controversial Ruling in GM Corn Dispute with Mexico
A tribunal of trade arbitrators has ruled in favor of the United States in its complaint that Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified corn violate the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA). The long-awaited ruling in the 16-month trade dispute is unlikely to settle the questions raised by Mexico about the safety of consuming GM corn and its associated herbicide.
Transformative Change Will Save a Planet in Peril—IPBES
Nature is at a tipping point. With human activity having pushed up to 1 million plant and animal species close to extinction, securing sustainable development and halting global biodiversity collapse is no longer just an option but a requisite for human wellbeing.
Small Island States Put Faith in International Court’s ‘Wayfinding’ Advisory Opinion
The “crazy, weird and at some point (what seemed like) insurmountable” plan to ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the obligations of UN member states regarding climate change was a success, Vishal Prasad, a representative for the. Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) said at a post-hearing press conference today (December 13).
‘Quilombola Communities Live in Fear Because the Laws That Are Supposed to Protect Them Are Ignored’
CIVICUS discusses threats to the security, rights and ancestral lands of Brazil’s quilombola communities with Wellington Gabriel de Jesus dos Santos, leader and activist of the Pitanga dos Palmares Quilombola community in Bahia state.
Mayan Farmers Improve Their Livelihoods and Polyculture of Milpa in Mexico
María Bacab, a Native Maya, considers herself the “guardian of seeds” as she cares for the milpa - an ancestral Mesoamerican polyculture that mixes maize, beans, squash and other vegetables - and promotes its practice and use in Mexico.
Can Pay, Won’t Pay—COP29 Outcome Far from Promised Historic Deal of a Lifetime
They say it is taboo to talk about money. But this is exactly what developing countries came for: to haggle and push for the climate finance deal of a lifetime, as the climate crisis is, for them, a matter of life and death. Wealthy nations also came for their own deal of a lifetime—to hoist the climate finance burden on the private sector as they take the bare minimum financial responsibility.
Don’t Lock Us Out of Negotiating Table—Indigenous Communities
Delegates representing Indigenous people’s rights have taken issue with the ongoing COP29 negotiations, calling for Parties to include text and language that promote Indigenous rights to be explicitly referenced in the consensus and outcome documents.
Walking with Wisdom: Whaia’s Mission to Bring Indigenous Knowledge to COP 29
Kaitiaki! Whaia says she is at COP29 to bring indigenous wisdom to influence policy and to provide guardianship (kaitiaki) of the climate negotiations.
Seeking COP29 Solutions as Desert Lake Disrupts Harmonious Co-Existence With Indigenous Community
Climate change exacerbates the difficulties already faced by indigenous communities, multiplying their vulnerabilities from political and economic marginalization and loss of land and natural resources. The ongoing climatic carnage is displacing indigenous communities at seven times the rate of the global population.
Mexican Cooperative Promotes Energy Transition on Indigenous Lands
What began as a search for fair prices for indigenous handicrafts in 1985 has evolved into a women's organisation in Mexico that promotes climate justice while advocating for land and environmental rights.
COP16 Delivers on Indigenous Peoples, Digital Sequencing, But Fails on Finance
The curtains fell on the 16th Conference of the Parties of UN Biodiversity (COP16) on Sunday without any formal closing. In a voice message, David Ainsworth, the Communications Director of the UNCBD, confirmed that the COP was suspended due to a lack of quorum in the plenary and would be resumed sometime later. However, before being suspended, the parties managed to adopt a historic decision to open the door for Indigenous Peoples (IPS) and local communities (LCs) to influence the global plan to halt the destruction of biodiversity.
Defending Biodiversity in Armed Conflict: Can COP16 Meet the Expectations?
José Aruna, a forest defender from Sud Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), remembers the night in September 2019 when a group of heavily armed men barged into his house in the middle of the night. Aruna and his wife—6 months pregnant at the time—were in bed when he heard sounds of boots on the front yard and quickly knew something was about to happen.
At COP16, Biodiversity Credits Raising Hopes and Protests
At the end of the first week at the 16th Conference of Parties on Biodiversity (COP16), finance emerges as the biggest issue but also shrouded in controversies. On Saturday, as the COP moved closer to its most crucial phase of negotiations, resource mobilization—listed under Target 19 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)—took centerstage, with most parties demanding faster action, greater transparency and the adoption of true solutions to halt biodiversity loss.
Another Nobel for Anglocentric Neoliberal Institutional Economics
New institutional economics (NIE) has received another so-called Nobel prize, ostensibly for again claiming that good institutions and democratic governance ensure growth, development, equity and democracy.
Empowering Indigenous Communities: A Path to Sustainable and Just Development
In a world where the fight for land rights often pits the powerful against the marginalized, Indigenous communities stand as resilient defenders of their ancestral lands.
Higher Education Course Rescues Indigenous Guarani Culture in Argentina
A few years ago, Bernardo Olivera moved to Posadas, the capital of the Argentinean province of Misiones, to study mathematics at the public university. Interested in numbers and keen to progress, he felt, however, that the education system put a barrier in his way because of his indigenous origin.
‘Australia Must Turn Its Climate Rhetoric into Action’
CIVICUS discusses the recent Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting in Tonga with Jacynta Fa’amau, Pacific Campaigner at 350.org, a global civil society organisation campaigning for climate action.
Rural Survival: Guardians of Mother Earth Saving Mau, Revitalizing Native Lands
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. A breathtaking, diverse mix of natural beauty that includes dramatic escarpments, highland mountains, cliffs and gorges, lakes and savannas. It is also home to one of Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves—the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
New Zealand: Māori Rights in the Firing Line
A New Zealand bill that would roll back Indigenous rights is unlikely to pass – but it’s emblematic of a growing climate of hostility from governing politicians. A recent survey shows that almost half of New Zealanders believe racial tensions have worsened under the right-wing government in power since December 2023.
Various Uncertainties Block Indigenous Land Rights in Brazil
A never-ending battle threatens the indigenous rights that seemed clear and secure in Brazil, until the extreme right emerged in 2018 with a force challenging the civilisational advances set out in the Constitution.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The planet's roughly 350 million indigenous peoples took notable steps on the international stage in the last decade. They got the world's governments to agree to create a body to represent them at the United Nations, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and to appoint a special rapporteur responsible for their human rights. In 2007 a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was approved by the UN. Yet the living conditions of most "tribal", "aboriginal", "native" or "first" peoples remain precarious. IPS, with its network of contributors at the UN and linked to indigenous communities worldwide, is committed to tracking the world community's efforts to do justice to the rights and aspirations of these peoples, with a special current focus on Latin America's 40 million rural indigenous peoples.
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