We share news linked to global processes, the Indigenous Peoples' movement and IWGIA's work in countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Find news, interviews, human rights alerts, new publications and reports here.
The Peruvian Congressional Commission on Energy and Mining passed a bill that enables Petroperú to be awarded the oil lots located on the coast and in the Amazon regions of the country. While new lots are being promoted and old ones are being squeezed, 6,000 environmental impacts continue without receiving the necessary attention to remedy the contamination and to avoid impacts on the health of local communities. In the political debate, the opinion of indigenous organizations is not taken into account, and the costs of remediation or the transition to renewable energy sources are not analyzed.
Patricia Tobón Yagarí has been Director of the Victims Unit since August 2022. This is a body that seeks to provide comprehensive assistance and reparations to the victims of Colombia's internal armed conflict. A leader of the Embera Chambí people, she is a lawyer from the University of Antioquia, a specialist in constitutional law and an advisor to various Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations. She was the youngest member of the Truth Commission that emerged from the Peace Agreement between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The expropriation of ancestral territories to settlers is a risk to the life, sustainment, and culture of the Mayangna people. They don’t live peacefully anymore: the men go together in groups to work, for fear of being ambushed, and the women leave their houses at sunset for fear of being raped. Even though the government is calling for peaceful co-habitation between the indigenous and the settlers, their ways of life are incompatible.
The country’s economic crisis and the lack of expectations for most of its inhabitants have made Venezuela a breeding ground for despair that forces thousands of people to migrate to the Amazon. For many, illegal gold mining seems the way to beat the odds. The circumstances force equally young people without training, professionals, and criminals and professionals are forced to enter a mine to undergo this unhealthy activity. Indigenous communities are not immune to this illusory solution nor to its driving forces: they know that the mafias will go after them if they do not become miners or turn a blind eye. And as if this violence was not enough, the ecocide threat of deforestation and mercury contamination of rivers hangs over their communities.
BY DÉBORA ASTUDILLO RAMOS AND MARÍA JOSÉ LUCERO FOR DEBATES INDÍGENAS
During the last civil-military dictatorship, the forced disappearances and political executions of members of the Mapuche people must be framed as a continuum of colonial and genocidal violence. Despite the pain, Mapuche families continue to struggle for truth and justice. In September, the anniversary of the coup, an illustrated, bilingual book will be presented that brings together the memories of seven women from Araucanía who remember their fallen relatives and embrace a political horizon of dignity and human rights.
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Read more.
