Dayamani Barla is named recipient of the Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award by an influential panel of Indigenous rights leaders. The Award, given by Cultural Survival in honor of the memory of the late Ellen L. Lutz, a renowned human rights lawyer dedicated to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognizes outstanding human rights activism, dedicated leadership for Indigenous Peoples rights, and a deep commitment to protecting, sustaining, and revitalizing Indigenous cultures, lands, and languages.
Dayamani Barla is an Indigenous human rights activist and journalist from the Munda tribe in the Indian state of Jharkhand. She has been on the forefront of people’s movements against corporate and government-led land grabs and other injustices that have threatened the survival, dignity and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples, besides displacing them from their ancestral homelands.
As one of the first female Adivasi (Indigneous) journalists in India, Barla has won many awards for her powerful writings, including the Counter Media Award for Rural Journalism and the National Foundation for India Fellowship. Dayamani’s writings and activism shine light on the deep cultural, spiritual, and traditional knowledge heritage that adivasi communities have intertwined with their jal, jungle and zameen—water, forests and land. She is also an outspoken critic against the racism and persecution that adivasi communities face, and the dangerous stereotypes that denigrate and dehumanize them.
According to the selection Panel, “Dayamani Barla exemplifies the passion and commitment of one’s lifetime struggle for the human rights of his or her people and Indigenous Peoples rights globally in the face of powerful and extreme adversity. Her work makes a difference and impacts all of us by shaping hope and promise for the future - one story at a time, one protest at a time. It is our honor to name Dayamani Barla the first recipient of the Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award.”
