On September 21, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced the 21 winners of the 2015 Equator Prize, a prestigious award given out by the Equator Initiative. The Equator Initiative is rooted in developing and promoting sustainable development that combats climate change and does not cause further harm to the environment.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has taken another step forward today as trade representatives from 12 countries concluded negotiations for the deal. The TPP will be the largest trade deal in history, affecting forty percent of the world’s economy. Yet the text of the deal has remained hidden from the public, despite corporate advisors and interest groups being closely involved in the drafting of the text.
On September 28th and 29th, 2015 FundaMaya and Rights and Resources Initiative hosted the first International Workshop in Guatemala City addressing the opportunities available to Indigenous communities in their constitutional courts and the International Court of Human Rights. The workshop was a debate and reflection from various experiences in Latin America that analyzed and provided lessons learned on the social, political, and strategic use of constitutional courts and the International Court of Human Rights.
On September 24, 2015, the Continental Confederacy delegation in Lenape Territory (Philadelphia) took place focusing on the process of Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery coinciding with the US visit of Pope Francis. It featured leaders from Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island - Abya Yala.
By John McPhaul
A case of Indigenous land rights is testing the Central American country of Costa Rica's otherwise stellar reputation for protecting human rights.
In July of 2012, Sergio Rojas, a leader Costa Rica's Bribri Indigenous community, led Bribri and Teribe Indigenous in an effort to reclaim land within the Salitre Indigenous reserve in the Talamanca Mountains in southwestern Costa Rica.
The UK government has published a statement in September highlighting continued opposition and turmoil in Bangladesh over British company GCM Resources’ plans to build a massive open pit coal mine in Phulbari, located in the north west of Bangladesh. The mine would displace up to 50,000 Indigenous Peoples from 23 farming communities, and up to 220,000 people from the wider areas.
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)
Public Statement
On September 12, 2015, hundreds of people from Quechua, Achuar and Kichwa communities of the Pastaza, Corrientes, and Tigre rivers united to form a peaceful protest at the site of the Andoas airport in the Upper Pastaza region of Loreto where Lot 192 has its headquarters. Using their bodies to block the landing strip, mothers, children, elderly and others occupied the space for a total of 12 days.
On September 1st, 2015, the government of Peru announced that the process of prior consultation over oil concessions in the Peruvian Amazon had ended, despite agreements failing to be reached. A series of formal dialogues regarding Lot 192 between the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Indigenous Peoples organizations ended unsuccessfully at the end of August, 2015.
By Alexis White-Mobley
Native American and Alaska Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in the US; 86% of reported cases are perpetrated by non-Natives.
A 2014 study by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded that Indigenous women in Canada are four times more likely to be murdered than non-indigenous women.
Reconocimiento de tierra
Reconocemos que nuestra sede está en la tierra de Massachusetts, en Cambridge, MA, y agradecemos a los administradores Indígenas pasados, actuales y futuros de este territorio.
