The Ngöbe Indigenous People, environmentalists, and human rights advocates in Panama are celebrating a decision by Panama’s National Public Service Authority (ASEP) that will prevent US-based AES Corporation from building a second dam on the Changuinola River.
After six years of protests against construction of the Chan-75 dam, including a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the American engineering company AES and the Panamanian government closed the dam’s floodgates on the Changuinola river.
Human rights defenders in Honduras, including Indigenous leaders in the Moskitia, are vulnerable to assassination, assault, and other abuses, according to an editorial in the Miami Herald. Some 40 social movement leaders have been killed since President Porfirio Lobo took power following the coup that ousted the elected president, Manuel Zelaya. Mr.
In April of 2001, Global Response launched a campaign to stop the construction of the Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in Brazil. Now, ten years later, after major international protest, the dam has received it's final approval and will soon begin construction.
Samburu pastoralists who were forcibly evicted from lands in Laikipia
district that were owned by former president Daniel arap Moi are preparing
for their day in court. A judge in Nyere will hear their case on June 7, 8,
and 9.
Cultural Survival has raised funds to support the legal work by Nairobi
lawyer Abraham Korir Sing'oei and to pay travel and lodging expenses so that
Samburu victims and witnesses can participate in the trial. Samburu human
rights worker Richard Leiyagu wrote on behalf of the community: "Thanks for
Wixárika delegates joined other Indigenous activists from Guatemala and
Honduras for a week of protests against mining projects in their
territories. The conference of the Mining Justice Alliance focused on
activities of Canadian mining companies Goldcorp and First Majestic Silver
Corporation which are operating in Indigenous Peoples' territories without
obtaining their free, prior and informed consent.
For more information, see:
Delegates from the Wixárika traditional authorities were in New York and Vancouver the third week of May, defending their right to protect their sacred lands from exploitation by a Canadian mining company.
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Cultural Survival partners took the fight over a Panamanian dam to the company responsible in April, challenging executives of the AES Corporation over Indigenous rights and environmental violations at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Ngöbe community member Bernardino Morales joined representatives of the Center for Biological Diversity and the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic in condemning the company for its failure to follow through on promised compensation plans for Ngöbe communities that will be flooded and destroyed by the dam being built on the Changuinola River.
The people of Bangladesh continue to protest the construction of a large coal mine in the Northwest region of Phulbari. The mine will displace thousands of Indigenous people and destroy their agricultural lands. Cultural Survival launched a letter-writing campaign in February, 2011 to prevent this mine's construction.
A recent article, “Displacing People For Profit: Obama Administration Supports Controversial Coal Project in Bangladesh,” written by Christine Shearer and Joshua Frank and published by Ale
In a very effective short film documentary, Indigenous villagers speak about everything they have lost and may yet lose as the Ramu nickel mine project affects their lands and their lives. A court is currently hearing the case of coastal clans who are trying to prevent the Chinese mining company from dumping toxic waste from the Ramu mine and refinery into the Bismarck Sea.
After half a year of constant protests that were supported by Global Response campaigns, the Ngöbe people have proposed two bills to Panama’s National Assembly. One bill would revoke an executive decree that violates their right to freely choose their own political leadership. The other bill prohibits mining and dam construction that would negatively affect Ngöbe communities.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
