Cameroonian environmental defender Nasako Besingi has support of local and international communities, despite a controversial conviction by local Cameroonian courts on charges of defamation against a US agri-business company Herakles Farms and it’s local subsidiary, SG-SOC Global.
Photo: Palm oil plantation and processing mill in Malaysia. By Marufish
On November 3, 2015 Radio Juventud staff, legal defense and supporters attended the hearing scheduled by the Sololá District Court to determine the legality of the radio. Last December 2014, Radio Juventud was raided by representatives of the Public Ministry and National Police which resulted in confiscation of all equipment and the community radio temporary shut down.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, published a new report submitted to the General Assembly of the UN outlining the effects of international investment and free trade on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
By Barbara R. Duncan
John Standingdeer Jr., a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has received a patent for his new and unique method for decoding the inherent patterns in the Cherokee language, making it simple and easy to learn this endangered language. The U.S. Patent Office issued Patent Number US 9,158,762 B2 on October 13, 2015 for a “new and useful invention” for the “Deconstruction and Construction of Polysynthetic Words for Translation Purposes.”
Conflicts over land rights, violence and impunity, and lack of adequate social service were major topics of discussion with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Ms. Vicky Tauli Corpuz during her official country visit to Honduras over nine days in November 2015.
A coalition of international organizations have denounced Cameroonian authorities’ repression of community leader and environmental defender Nasako Besingi.
November 3rd, 2015- Cultural Survival congratulates Lorenzo Mateo Francisco as he received an award on behalf of the independent media site Prensa Comunitaria, a small independent news collective covering grassroots social movements and Indigenous Peoples rights in Guatemala.
The Washington DC-based non-profit Guatemala Human Rights Commission presented the award, reporting:
Saul Mendez with his family at a peaceful demonstration in Barillas in 2013.
Two Q’anjobal Maya community leaders who were imprisoned in Guatemala for the past two years, have finally been declared innocent and released. A regional criminal court in Guatemala found the two men to be absolved of all charges on October 28, 2015.
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.
