Knowledge generation is an important foundation for increasing understanding and for pushing for change. In this database, you can find all of our resources, which include books, manuals, briefings, human rights reports and urgent alerts.
The world opened up in 2022 as the effects of COVID-19 abated and humanity’s protection against the virus increased but it also began to grapple with a number of other factors that led to 2022 being, in many ways, a more difficult year than 2021. Russia’s war on Ukraine and a food crisis of unprecedented proportions, alongside prolonged and deadly droughts and the other effects of climate chan...
Tourism is one of the biggest global industries today. In 2021, travel and tourism direct contribution to GDP worldwide was approximately 5.8 billion US dollars. Promoted by most countries in the world, tourism is perceived as a direct source of foreign currency and generator of jobs at the local level.
But the development of mass tourism, concentrated in a few multinational companies, ...
The Nepal-Upper Trishuli–1 (216 MW) Hydroelectric Project, sponsored by the Nepal Water and Energy Development Company, is adversely affecting the Tamang Indigenous Peoples of Rasuwa, which the Government of Nepal recognizes as “Indigenous Peoples,” as do the core project lenders – namely the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastr...
Tourism projects are often designed and implemented without respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to self-determination; lands, territories and resources; free prior and informed consent; as well as economic, social and cultural rights. Furthermore, the travel industry is often deeply voyeuristic in the way it views Indigenous cultures.
The right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is a fundamental right for Indigenous Peoples worldwide. However, there are serious global challenges in its implementation, including across the African continent.
Author: Rosario Carmona, Graeme Reed, James Ford, Stefan Thorsell, Rocío Yon, Francisca Carril, Johnson Cerda, and Kerrie Pickering
Number of pages: 28
Publication language: English
Region publication is about: Global
Release year: 2022
Release Month | Day: October
Indigenous Peoples positioned themselves in multilateral climate negotiations through their advocacy. Although the international community gradually recognises Indigenous Peoples’ contributions to climate governance, a rights-based approach in national climate action is still largely absent.
IWGIA prepared the following statement and submitted it to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at its 73rd session in October 2022.
Indigenous Peoples in Africa are increasingly losing their ancestral lands through land grabbing and forced evictions, which threaten their future existence. The land grabbing and evictions are done in violent ways and in blatant discard for interna...
This written statement is respectfully submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women in response to the priority theme; Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
India is scheduled to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 10 November 2022.
There are an estimated 476 million Indigenous Peoples in the world and about 113 million or close to 25% of Indigenous Peoples of the world live in India; yet very few recommendations specific to Indigenous Peoples of India were made during the UPR. There were no recommendations on...
Indigenous Peoples continued to be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. In many countries where IWGIA works, partners struggled with the health situation and government restrictions that impacted their freedom of movement and further exacerbated the encroachment on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and shrinking civic space (see also last year’s annual report). In 2021, we provided inf...
Publisher: IWGIA, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) and Pastoralists Indigenous NGO Forum (PINGO's Forum)
Number of pages: 10
Publication language: English
Release year: 2022
Release Month | Day: June
On 4 April 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report on Mitigation of Climate Change – the contribution of the Working Group III (WGIII) to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). In response to this, IWGIA, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) and Pastoralists Indigenous NGO Forum (PINGO's Forum) present a j...
Financially supported by: The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Release year: 2022
Release Month | Day: June
Over the past 20 years, the WGIP has collaborated with a wide range of actors, first and foremost with representatives of Indigenous populations/communities. A strong collaboration and partnership with the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) was initiated in 2000 and developed over the years, with IWGIA providing essential financial and technical resources to support the work o...
In the past two decades, the United Nations has increasingly focused attention on the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. A growing set of UN treaty bodies (TB’s) and mechanisms continually recommend Member States to improve the rights of Indigenous Women.
According to reliable information received by IWGIA, the Tanzanian state is currently moving ahead to grab 1,500 km2 of ancestral and legally registered village land belonging to the Maasai Indigenous people in the Loliondo division of Ngorongoro District in northern Tanzania. This land grab will forcefully evict the Maasai from their land. This is happening despite the fact that the East Afr...
Publisher: Cocama Association for the Development and Conservation of San Pablo de Tipishca (ACODECOSPAT), Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River Basin (FECONACOR), Quechua Indigenous Federation of Pastaza (FEDIQUEP), Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW), Organisation of the Indigenous Kichwa Amazonian Peoples of the Peru-Ecuador Border (OPIKAFPE), National Organisation of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (ONAMIAP), Indigenous Peoples United in Defence of their Territory (PUINAMUDT), International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), and Peru Equidad Centre for Public Policy and Human Rights
Author: Tami Okamoto and Mario Zúñiga
Number of pages: 90
ISBN number: 978-87-93961-51-7
Publication language: English
Country publication is about: Peru
Region publication is about: Latin America
Release year: 2022
Release Month | Day: April
This report provides an update on the Green Climate Fund’s investments in Peru and makes a series of recommendations aimed at overcoming its limitations about Indigenous Peoples safeguards. It highlights the need for structural change to ensure more effective and equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making regarding climate action and access to climate funds, particularly th...
The consequences of climate change are often felt most acutely by Indigenous Peoples and have gendered impacts. Forced migration as a result of climate change and water scarcity are susceptible of making Indigenous women and girls more vulnerable to human rights abuses.
On 28 February 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a ground-breaking report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability of climate change. The report is conclusive about the increasing and accelerating impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples' territories and livelihoods.
This report details human rights abuses that took place in Mindat Township, Chin State from the period of April to December 2021. In May 2021, Martial Law was imposed on Mindat Town, pre-empting a large-scale assault by air and on the ground in order to engage with the Chin Defense Force – Mindat (CDF-M) and establish military control of the town.
Publisher: IWGIA, International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on World Heritage (IIPFWH) Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC)
Number of pages: 24
Publication language: English
Region publication is about: Global
Release year: 2022
Release Month | Day: March
As an instrument for the conservation and protection of natural and cultural heritage sites, which affords sites recognized as “World Heritage sites” an additional level of protection beyond domestic laws and regulations, the World Heritage Convention (“the Convention”) can play, and in some cases undoubtedly has played, a positive role for Indigenous Peoples by helping to protect their la...
The Maasai indigenous pastoralists of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and Ngorongoro District in Northern Tanzania are currently under severe threat of forced eviction. According to reliable information received by IWGIA, the situation is very serious and there is panic among the people after they have become aware of the eminent threats of being forcefully evicted from their ancestral land...
With over 104 million people, India has the second largest population of indigenous peoples in the world, who are officially recognized as Scheduled Tribes. With 40.6% of the Scheduled Tribe population living below poverty line, compared to 20.5% of the non-tribal population, as per the 2011 census, they were particularly vulnerable to the impact of the COVID-19.
On 26 August 2021, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), established by the Government of India to replace the erstwhile Planning Commission, released the first edition of the “North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report and Dashboard 2021–22” prepared with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (Ministry of DONER) and the United Nations Developm...
The CSOs in India have traditionally played a critical role in every field including rights, democratic governance and addressing natural disasters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their role came into sharp focus. On 26 April 2021, the Empowered Group-3 chaired by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog’s Chief Executive Officer decided to reach out to more than 1,00,000 CSOs...
Indigenous Peoples all over the world face systemic discrimination rooted in persistent racism as well as past and present colonialism. Many Indigenous communities have been forcefully relocated, lands have been taken away, forests have been destroyed, mountains have been mined and valleys have been dammed and flooded.
According to reliable information received by Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is currently planning the eviction of the Maasai Indigenous people from a 1,500 km2 area in their ancestral land located in the Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, e...
This English version is an executive summary. Read the full report in Spanish
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) presents its thematic report "Right to Self-Determination of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples" in which it recognizes the current demands of indigenous and tribal peoples, analyzes international standards, and makes recommendation...
A total of 14 civilians and one Indian Army jawan were killed since the botched up ambush of the Indian Army’s 21st Para Special Forces on the alleged insurgents, who turned out to be innocent coal miners, on 4 December 2021 at Oting village in Mon district of Nagaland.
There are numerous challenges for Indigenous Women in relation to climate change. Indigenous Women are more severely affected by the challenges to produce or collect sufficient food, or challenges of water scarcity because of climate change (flooding, drought, unpredictable weather, decrease in food varieties etc.). In accordance with culturally defined gender roles, Indigenous Women are ofte...
“The basic rule is bail, not jail” is a doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court of India in the landmark judgment of State of Rajasthan vs. Balchand alias Baliya. India’s anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 (UAPA), however has made “jail, not bail” the rule.
India admits that “there is no national law on refugees”. The Ministry of Home Affairs had circulated a “Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) w.e.f. 29-12-2011 for dealing with foreign nationals who claim to be refugees” for grant of the Long Term Visa (LTV)” where “prima facie the claim (of refugee) is justified, (on the grounds of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, ...
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Read more.
