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Sunday, November 15, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Indigenous Rights
POLITICS-NEPAL: People Drag Leaders to Democracy
Many residents of Nepal's capital spent their weekend holiday in their vehicles in hours-long queues for petrol, fearing a flare-up of a general strike that closed the main highway in this landlocked country earlier this month, leading to fuel rationing.GUATEMALA: The Dark Side of Five-Star Adoptions
Luxury hotels in the Guatemalan capital reserve entire floors for foreign couples visiting the country to adopt children - a reflection of the demand that is growing steadily without oversight by any specific government authority.ARGENTINA: Patagonia to the Highest (Foreign?) Bidder
A new book based on a journalistic investigation into major land purchases in Argentina's southern Patagonia region by foreign multimillionaires has been selling like hot potatoes, to both tourists and locals.RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: UN Probes Extra-Judicial Killings
A 10-day visit by a United Nations investigator to the Philippines, starting Monday, is being welcomed in some quarters as a chance to expose an alleged campaign to ''exterminate left-wing activists'' in that South-east Asian nation.DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Dam Displaced Tribes Lose Fishing Rights
The philosophy of satyagraha or non-violent resistance, first employed by Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, has been adopted by tribal fisherfolk in 44 hamlets on a dammed river in central India to protest the loss of their livelihoods.PERU: UN Mission Probes Private Security Groups
A priest who provides support for Peruvian farmers in their conflict with a transnational gold mining corporation complained to a United Nations mission that he was under surveillance by a private security company.BOLIVIA: Women in Local Politics Face Special Challenges
Bertha Acarapi, who wears the traditional dress of an Aymara Indian woman, is a town councillor in El Alto, the sprawling slum city of one million people next to the Bolivian capital.BRAZIL: Biodiversity Goes to Market
Biodiversity, like the proverbial prophet, is not without honour save in its own country: it tends to be valued more highly abroad than at home. Brazil is now trying to become an exception to the rule by commercialising its native species on a large scale.MEXICO: Community Radio Stations Under Fire
One of the 12 community radio stations operating legally in Mexico has literally come under fire, and its journalists have received death threats and been arrested; another has received warnings for covering the activities of social movements; and a third was closed down at gunpoint by supporters of the local government.ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Wetlands – To Know Them Is to Cherish Them
Increasing society's knowledge about wetlands and improving coordination between the different public services involved in the conservation of these valuable ecosystems are among Chile's main challenges at the moment, according to experts.PERU: Amazonian Communities Fight New Oil Wells
Conservation groups are warning international investors that a Peruvian government offer to explore for oil in pristine Amazon land is fraught with risks, lacks community support and violates international laws protecting indigenous communities.SRI LANKA: Donor Threats Unlikely to Stop War Machine
Will the Sri Lankan government forego recent military gains in Tamil rebel-held areas of the island and heed the advice of donors to resume dialogue with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)?NEPAL: Revolution Within a Revolution
A 12-day uprising by Nepal's 'madheshi' (plains) people has forced the revolutionary government to promise it will change the state structure to more fairly distribute power to excluded groups.ECUADOR: The Complicated Road to a Constituent Assembly
One of the key campaign pledges of Ecuador's new left-leaning president, Rafael Correa, was to hold a referendum for the creation of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution, in order to bring about radical political and economic reforms.MEXICO: Vatican Incomprehension Stymies Pastoral Plan in Chiapas
Felipe Arizmendi, the Catholic bishop of the southern Mexican diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, birthplace of the indigenous Zapatista guerrillas, claims that the Vatican, which has imposed restrictions on him, does not understand his pastoral plans or the particular characteristics of his mainly indigenous flock.SOUTH PACIFIC: Regional Forum’s Report Crucial for Fiji’s Future
A fact-finding report by the Pacific Forum Eminent Persons' Group (EPG) on Fiji will be critical for the coup-prone South Pacific island country in terms of restoration of international ties and resumption of much-needed aid following December's military takeover, say observers.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Growth Plan Holds No Surprises, No Advances
The Brazilian government's new "growth acceleration programme" contains no major novelties, to the relief of environmentalists. The projects causing most concern were already proposed years ago and have been the object of criticism ever since.NEPAL: New War Erupts as UN Peace Mission Gets Nod
Five people have died and a curfew has been imposed in a district in Nepal's plains region after a clash between Maoists and activists for regional autonomy left a student dead.GUATEMALA: The High Price of Violence
Civilian violence is already costing Guatemala half its national budget, as well as countless human lives and social breakdown, while corruption and impunity walk hand in hand.COLOMBIA: Women Suffer Abuse Behind the Front Lines
"The actors in the Colombian armed conflict, in particular the paramilitary groups and the guerrilla, employ physical, sexual and psychological violence against women as a strategy of war," stated the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Latin American Groundswell In Motion
The struggle against social exclusion and the defence of the environment and natural resources such as water have made progress in Latin America - so much so that they have become an influential groundswell of opinion which is giving shape to a new way of life, say Bolivian activists.« 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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