The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has established a Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities that undertook a research and information visit to the Central African Republic in January 2007. The report was adopted by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights at its 43rd Ordinary Session, 7-22 May 2008. The report gives an account of meetings held with govern...

La Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples a établi un Groupe de travail sur les populations/communautés autochtones qui a effectué une visite de recherche et d’information en République de l’Ouganda en juillet 2006, et ceci est le rapport de la visite. Le rapport donne un aperçu des réunions tenues avec les autorités gouvernementales, les organisations de la sociét...

La Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples a établi un Groupe de travail sur les populations/communautés autochtones qui a effectué une visite de recherche et d’information en République centrafricaine en janvier 2007, et ceci est le rapport de cette visite. Le rapport donne un aperçu des réunions tenues avec les autorités gouvernementales, les organisations de la soci...

The report from the regional sensitization seminar: “the Rights of Indigenous Populations / Communities in Central Africa” is published in both English and French. The seminar took place in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 13-16 September 2006 and was organised by the African Commission for human and peoples’ rights in collaboration with IWGIA. The Seminar brought together participants drawn from indigen...

Le rapport du Séminaire régional de sensibilisation: « Droits des populations /  communautés autochtones en Afrique Centrale » est publié en anglais et en français.  Le Séminaire a pris place à Yaoundé, Cameroun, du 13 au 16 septembre 2006 et  a été organisé par la Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples en collaboration avec IWGIA. Le sém...

1.1. Background   1.1.1. The idea for this Summit emerged from the original plan to hold a Global Summit on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change which will be held in Alaska from 20-24 April 2009. This Global Summit is mainly organized by the International Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). During the first meeting of the Global Steering Committee in New York last May 2008, the Asia foc...

The Annual Report 2008 is a status report that describes the activities of IWGIA in 2008. You can order a copy through: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloak9015538bb7b1e013f5fca50f44af4df0').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy9015...

The theme of this issue is indigenous peoples' engagement with forest conservation in the name of climate change mitigation (known as REDD programmes - short for 'Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation')

This yearbook contains a comprehensive update on the current situation of indigenous peoples and their human rights, and provides an overview of the most important developments in international and regional processes during 2008. Over 60 indigenous and non-indigenous scholars and activists provide their insight and knowledge to the book. The Indigenous World 2009 is an essential source of informat...

Nepal is a highly diverse Himalayan country in terms of ethnicity, language, culture, geography and origin. Throughout the history of Nepal, indigenous peoples have been marginalized in terms of language, culture, political and economic opportunities even though they constitute a significant part of the population. The latest census (Census, 2001) shows that at least 37.2 per cent of the total pop...

In the central RAAN department of Nicaragua,2 the Danish NGO Nepenthes is supporting the Mayangna and Miskitu peoples of seven indigenous communities to develop sustainable forest management in cooperation with the national NGO IPADE (Instituto Para el Desarrollo y la Democracia). Each community has official territorial rights to the surrounding forest, but illegal timber companies and an increasi...

Cette édition de Questions Autochtones se penche sur la situation de millions d’autochtones qui sont éleveurs nomades. Les éleveurs nomades ont des cultures uniques et gèrent leurs environnements difficiles d’une manière unique et productive. Cependant, les éleveurs nomades du monde entier sont victimes de nombreux mythes et incompréhensions, ce qui a conduit à la mise en œuvre de pol...

Este informe, que denominei de “Os direitos do povos indígenas em Mato do Grosso do Sul, Brasil. Confinamento e tutela no século XXI”, trata das observações de minha visita, bem como da pesquisa e análise realizada posteriormente a partir da perspectiva dos direitos humanos. Nele aborda-se o tratamento que o Estado brasileiro tem outorgado aos povos indígenas, analisando especialmente o ...

In 1989, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (ILO Convention No. 169). Since then, the Convention has been ratified by 20 countries. In these countries, the ILO supervisory bodies have monitored and guided the implementation process through regular examination of reports and provision of comments to the concerned governments. In this con...

IWGIA has recently been informed by local partners in Tanzania that a government operation aimed at forcefully removing pastoralists from the Kilosa district in the Morogoro Region in southern Tanzania started on the 29.1.2009. The Tanzanian government wants to remove all pastoralists from Kilosa district and, according to some sources, the whole of Morogoro Region, and force them to other areas o...

This publication provides an overview of status and trends regarding the constitutional, legislative and administrative protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in 24 selected African countries. This report provides the results of a research project by the International Labour Organization and the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Communities/Populations in Africa with the C...

The theme of this issue of Indigenous Affairs is IWGIA's 40 years of work for indigenous people.

Land is the centre of most conflicts in Northeast India because of its importance in the life of the people of the region, particularly its tribal communities. It is also the resource most under attack, in the tribal areas in particular. This book is an attempt to understand the processes that result in tribal land alienation and the consequent conflicts in the region. The essays in this book atte...

The violations of the fundamental rights of the black, indigenous and peasant farmer population of the Colombian Pacific, regarded by all the armed forces, both regular and irregular, as the “collateral damage” of any armed conflict, may have objectives of their own, independent of the Colombian internal armed conflict. The territorial uprooting of these peoples may be an objective in itself, ...

The concept of indigenous peoples has not only been hotly debated within academic circles over the past two decades, it has been met with skepticism if not outright rejection among representatives of governments, especially in Asia and Africa. In Asia, this has lead to what has been termed "the Asian controversy", a controversy that is still far from being resolved, even though most Asian governme...

On September 13, 2007 the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This followed more than twenty years of discussions within the UN system. Indigenous representatives played key roles in the development of this Declaration. There are over 370 million indigenous people in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific. They are among the m...

More than ever before, ethnic groups, peoples and nations are fighting to regain control of their lost cultural heritage and ancestral human remains and this raises questions as to the Western museums' ownership of their foreign collections. This book, however, identifies a need to move beyond discussions of ownership, power and control in favour of exploring new kinds of partnerships between muse...

En 2001, la Commission Africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples a établi un groupe de travail sur les populations/communautés autochtones. Ce groupe de travail a effectué une mission en République du Niger en février 2006, et vous trouvrez ci-joint le rapport de cette visite. Le rapport rend compte des réunions tenues avec les autorités gouvernementales, les organisations des sociét...

Preface: Indigenous peoples who have been residing in Thailand for years face many violations of their human rights. They have been subjected to racial discrimination. They face prejudice and are looked down upon by the society. They are labeled as drug traffickers, people who cause deforestation and are considered threats to national security. They are forcibly evicted from their dwellings i...

En 2001, la Commission Africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples a établi un groupe de travail sur les populations/communautés autochtones. Ce groupe de travail a effectué une mission en République de Namibie en juillet - août 2005, et vous trouvrez ci-joint le rapport de cette visite. Le rapport rend compte des réunions tenues avec les autorités gouvernementales, les or...

Recognition of, and respect for the basic rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples is an important subject that has received growing attention from the international community mainly in the last 25 years. Erica-Irene Daes, the author of this book has been at the heart of the international discussion on Indigenous peoples rights. She is internationally most known for her work in the Working Group ...

The theme of this issue of Indigenous Affairs is climate change and indigenous peoples.