Encroachment onto Indigenous Lands has increased under Jair Bolsonaro’s government. Numerous bills are now passing through Congress in response to the need for extractivism and these will affect traditional Indigenous occupation.
In the name of development, gold mining is destroying our environment, affecting the lungs of Mother Earth, contaminating rivers and weakening social relations in our communities. As we fight to breathe, we are surrounded by a deafening silence.
Because of mining, Indigenous communities are becoming more dependent on the cash economy. In order to reverse this situation, the Arakbut people need to rebuild their autonomy, governance and self-determination.
In addition to open-pit coal mining, gold mining companies are also expropriating Indigenous Peoples’ lands and polluting the environment. Gold mining puts at risk the very survival of the Shor traditional way of life and livelihoods.
Over the last few years, mining activities and the use of mercury to amalgamate the precious metal have intensified in the Kaka River. Even though the risks are clear, no research has been carried out to determine how much the health of the Lecos is affected.
In 2021 Germany had reached an agreement with Namibia acknowledging the genocide against Herero and Nama peoples and agreed to pay 1,1 billion euros. The descendants of the victims were not part of the negotiation and feel that their demands were not heard.
The post-genocide government is implementing an ambitious nation-rebuilding program which has restructured the social and physical landscape through modern development initiatives and “homegrown” solutions to reconciliation and national unity.
Almost 24 years after the signing of the accord, its lack of implementation has reached alarming levels and human rights violations persist. In addition to the ongoing militarization of the area, land grabbing of Indigenous territories continues.
Indigenous youth in detention live under the burden of sadness, depression and injustice. As a result of their detention, they end up losing contact with their families, their culture, their community life and the environment.
Despite this Caribbean region’s natural wealth, Wayuu children in La Guajira are dying of hunger and thirst. Exploitation by multinationals, a lack of rainfall and the contamination of their wells only add to the historical debts.
The coup that happened amid the worsening Covid-19 emergency has broadened an already deep educational crisis in Chin state. Parents pledged not to send their children to the junta’s schools, rallying behind the slogan: “No need for military slave education”.
In August, ahead of the Federal Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Ibirama - La Klãnõ indigenous territory, Brazil witnessed the largest indigenous protest in its history. The experts believe the decision will set an important precedent for territorial rights.
They organize their community life under the principles of the Sumak Kawsay. At the same time, they are undergoing a renovation and strengthening process in their organization to be able to fully exercise their rights. Their main concern is to protect their territory.
While awaiting for a referendum to approve their autonomous status, the five communities seek to strengthen the management of their territory and its natural resources threatened by illegal hunting and timber trafficking.
Oil exploitation in Loreto has affected the environment, health and the ways of life of indigenous communities. The Achuar, Urarina, Kichwa and Kukama peoples are fighting for their right to prior consultation in view of the concession for an operator to exploit Lot 192.
They visit different communities that resist territorial dispossession and the destruction of nature. In the context of a civilizatory crisis that has generated the pandemic, they intend to strengthen ties of solidarity that allow us to imagine other possible worlds.
The Jödi, the Yanomami and the Uwottüja living in voluntary isolation are threatened by the extractive activities and by the presence of illegal groups. The Covid-19 worsens this situation due to the epidemiological and immunological vulnerability.
Close to 150 members survive in the Chaco region. They are threatened by deforestation, the construction of roads, megafires and the advance of the farm and cattle ranching frontier. Bolivia and Paraguay should take measures to guarantee their protection.
The advances in its defense, supported by the State for the last 14 years, have not been translated into an effective protection within their territories. Over and over again, a “schizophrenic” State failed to keep the promises made to protect their rights.
The Brazilian Amazon has the largest number of peoples living in isolation in the world. Their livelihoods and territories are under pressure and threatened. The situation has deteriorated under the government of Bolsonaro and the arrival of the pandemic.
The election reflected a tremendous turning point in Chile. In addition to 21 indigenous seats there was gender parity among all members. The conservative forces failed to gain the one-third of representatives that would have allowed them to veto agreements.
At the same time as the particracy is demolished and the political class defeated, the epicenter of decision-making finds its way back to the people. Indigenous and Chilean men and women must unite to reach Kume Mongen and respect for Mother Earth.
Peaceful and anonymous protests have broken out simultaneously in hundreds of cities. The protagonists are young people who have decided to form the mouthpiece for the widespread malaise of a country ravaged by an immutable government.
Photojournalists were at the front line of social protests registering both the collective action of the protesters and the repression by the law enforcement forces. Photographer Manuel Rodríguez, was present in the protests that took place in Bogota.
Luis Jiménez was elected as a Constitutional Assembly Member for the Aymara people. The lawyer affirms that the new Constitution must guarantee territorial autonomy and political participation in decision-making, and recognize pachamama as a subject of law.
Racial inequality, the legacy of enslavement and colonialism, flourished in the intensity of the armed conflict and has become even more stark with the pandemic. The national strike is offering a space in which Afro-Colombians can express their indignation.
Coal mining is destroying the forests of Siberia. Over the past 15 years, the number of open-pit coal mines has increased several times over.Contamination of the taiga and rivers is harming the Shor people, who live from hunting, gathering and fishing.
For decades, organized Indigenous women have wondered why some deaths in Mexico are more visible than others. Who decides which bodies matter? It’s time to start talking about the violence perpetrated against us, Indigenous women.
The author shares her insights on her 12 years long-work with indigenous women in prison: the racism that exists in prisons, the concealment of ethnic profiles during jail censuses, and the prisons’ violence and function as an instrument of dispossession.
The criminal procedure confronted by Reina Meraz, a Bolivian immigrant woman, exposes a double issue of the Argentinian judicial system: the need to train judicial officers in both gender perspective and interculturalism.
Moreover, indigenous women represent 34% of the total number of inmates. As if this wasn’t enough, the legal and welfare systems are removing indigenous children from their families and culture, serving as a mechanism of forced assimilation.
Racism and patriarchy present profound challenges within the Guatemalan prison system. The penal system is a reflection of the discrimination experienced by indigenous women all over: for being women, indigenous and poor.
Rachel Mariano and Betty Belén, indigenous women and human rights advocates share their incarceration stories due to trumped-up charges and evidence. The cause of their persecution is clear: they defend their ancestral lands.
Official statistics obscure the fact that the majority of the prison population is of indigenous and African origin and had been affected by racism, deprivation, massive waves of displacement to cities and oblivion.
