Indigenous Rights

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Apology To Stolen Generations – A Good Start

By Stephen de Tarczynski
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent apology to indigenous Australians, for the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon them by the policies of past governments, was momentous. But other indigenous issues are yet to be resolved.

ENVIRONMENT-PHILIPPINES: Locals Oppose Open Pit Mining For Copper, Gold

By IPS Correspondents
Under the fertile farmland and forests of southern Mindanao sits what may be one of the biggest copper deposits in South-east Asia. But whether the owners of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project should be permitted to tap the mineral lode is under question.

PERU: From Shantytown to Model for Urban Development

By Clarinha Glock
Peruvian activist María Elena Moyano became a liability in the eyes of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels on Feb. 13, 1992. That was the day she dared to flout the curfew imposed by the insurgents in order to lead a peace march in the streets.
Yaghub Mehrnahad, the Sunni Baluchi student leader on death row Credit: Iranonline

RIGHTS-IRAN: Intolerance Marks Sunni Student’s Death Sentence

By IPS Correspondents
The death sentence passed in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, on civil rights activist and journalist Yaghub Mehrnahad, 28, has highlighted repression on Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities.
A source of income and training have changed their lives. Credit: IPS/Inés Benítez

GUATEMALA: Indigenous Women Weave Incomes, Self-Confidence

By IPS Correspondents
"Before forming part of the association, we were shut up in our houses. Now we have overcome our fear and shame of going out and seeing new places, and we are bringing money in for our families," says Nicolasa Raxtun, a 30-year-old Maya Cakchiquel Indian woman.
A sign by the highway that crosses the Dourados indigenous territory. Credit: Mario Osava

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Recovering Guarani Traditions

By Mario Osava
Until the visitor runs across a large "house of prayer" that confirms the area's indigenous character, this place in the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul looks like any other rural district, with the ramshackle housing highlighting the widespread poverty.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Rudd Apology to Aboriginals Hailed Regionally

By IPS Correspondents
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s standing and stature will receive a considerable boost among Pacific Island states as a result his apology to the country’s aboriginal people this week, say academics and civil society activists.

MEXICO: Invisible Indigenous Communities in the Heart of the Capital

By IPS Correspondents
Chapultepec Avenue 380: the address leads to a downtown section of the Mexican capital full of the usual office buildings, restaurants and heavy traffic. Few people know that it is actually home to an indigenous community, made up of kids who clean windshields or panhandle for a few coins, construction workers and street vendors.
Land cleared for soybeans in Pantanal. Credit: Alcides Faria/Ecologia e Ação

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Pantanal Indians Threatened by Deforestation

By Mario Osava
The indigenous peoples of the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul do not look like the tribes portrayed in film, decked out in colourful clothing and adornments and depending on their natural surroundings to survive in the Amazon jungle. But some of their problems are similar to their Amazonian counterparts, and in some cases even more serious.
Mapuche homes in Temucuicui. Credit: IPS/Daniela Estrada.

RIGHTS-CHILE: In the Mapuche People’s Heartland

By Daniela Estrada
Before the latest outbreak of protests and unrest among Mapuche Indians in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía, IPS visited the village of Temucuicui, whose residents have complained for years about judicial persecution and police brutality in response to their claims to their ancestral land.

ENVIRONMENT-PERU: “For Sale” Signs in Amazon Jungle

By Milagros Salazar
The Peruvian Congress plans this week to debate a draft law pushed by the government that would authorise the sale of vast tracts of deforested, uncultivated land in the Amazon jungle to private companies that invest in "reforestation" efforts.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Rising Hindu Activism May Upset Poll Calculations

By Baradan Kuppusamy
A new political force - right wing Hindu activism - has emerged in multi-ethnic Malaysia adding, in an election year, volatility to the country's already religiously charged politics dominated by the majority Malay Muslims.
Credit:

ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Impenetrable Neglect

By IPS Correspondents
The "El Impenetrable" forest, which covers nearly four million hectares in northern Argentina, could finally be protected thanks to a new forestry law, after decades of deforestation which have plunged impoverished indigenous people in the area into a grave humanitarian crisis.

RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: Still Waiting for Justice, 28 Years On

By IPS Correspondents
"I suffer because three of my kids were murdered. One of them, who was just 17, was killed when the Spanish embassy was burnt down. I am sad because in Guatemala there is no justice," Catarina Lux, a 68-year-old indigenous woman from the northwestern province of El Quiché, told IPS Thursday.
Forged receipt in Dennis Pizango&#39s name. Credit: IPS/Roberto Cáceres.

PERU: Logging Firm Accused of Using Workers’ Identities for Tax Fraud

By Milagros Salazar
Impoverished local residents of the Amazon jungle town of Orellana in Peru have filed a complaint against a logging company for using their identity documents to commit tax fraud in illegal timber sales worth more than 200,000 dollars.

CHILE: Indigenous Rights Activist Ends 111-Day Hunger Strike

By IPS Correspondents
The president of Chile’s bishops’ conference highlighted the effort made by indigenous rights activist Patricia Troncoso, who called off the longest hunger strike in Chilean history, to draw attention to the plight of the Mapuche people.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Diversity, a Birthright Waiting to Be Recognised

By Mario Osava
For many people, the World Social Forum (WSF)’s influence and effect is waning, perhaps because it has outpaced public opinion and the dominant political processes, but not the real needs of the times, which require complex and urgent solutions.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Apology, No Compensation For Lost Generations

By Stephen de Tarczynski
While aboriginal groups have welcomed the Australian government’s pledge to apologise to the 'stolen generations', they argue that the gesture should be backed up with compensation.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Using Culture to Save Wetlands

By IPS Correspondents
Wetland conservation projects in South Africa have to take into consideration the culture, traditions and needs of local communities, according to Donovan Kotze of the University of KwaZulu Natal. He believes that the key to proper wetland management lies within communities living in and around these wetlands.
Reception area at the Mapuche medical centre. Credit: Daniela Estrada/IPS

HEALTH-CHILE: Government Finances Mapuche Medical Service

By Daniela Estrada
A conventional hospital and a Mapuche medical centre, run by traditional healers who examine urine and prescribe infusions, coexist at the Intercultural Health Complex in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía.

RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: Legal Action by Activists Against Judges Stymied

By IPS Correspondents
A Guatemalan court rejected accusations lodged by Coordinación Genocidio Nunca Más (Genocide, Never Again) Wednesday against the members of the Constitutional Court, which in December blocked the extradition to Spain of seven people accused of crimes against humanity.
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