Indigenous peoples constitute 5 % of the world’s population but 15 % of the world’s poor. They make up around 1/3 of the world’s extremely poor rural population. Many lack access to, control over and suffer pollution of their water resources, severely damaging their health, livelihood and cultural survival. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a unique opportunity to address th...

The universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda are crucial for indigenous peoples as they will determine the direction of global sustainability and development efforts over the coming decade. Indigenous peoples make up more than 370 million people worldwide and 15% of the world’s poorest individuals. They represent more than 5,000 distinct ethnic grou...

Many of the areas of highest biological diversity on the planet are inhabited by indigenous peo¬ples. The current and accelerating climatic and environmental changes threaten indigenous peo¬ples’ basis for existence around the world. The post-2015 development agenda offers a unique opportunity to address indigenous peoples’ key concerns and possible solutions for environmental sustainabi...

: Recommendations for the Full Respect of their Human Rights Prepared by the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Inter-America Commission on Human Rights The western hemisphere is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact in the world. They are the last peoples who were not colonized and who do not have permanen...

IWGIA's Annual Report presents the results of IWGIA's activities in 2013 and highlights examples of projects and processes implemented or supported by IWGIA throughout the year

This report is the result of a monitoring visit to assess IWGIA’s support to promoting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights in the new constitution and beyond. Indigenous peoples in Nepal, known as adivasi janajati, have for centuries experienced systematic discrimination and marginalisation both socially, culturally, politically and economically. The chance to right the historical wron...

In June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). These principles form the first globally-agreed framework for preventing and addressing adverse human rights impacts linked to business activities. While the UNGP do not introduce new human rights obligations, they do specify how human rights standards and state obligations...

This case study from Peru illustrates the importance of Non-Carbon Benefits (NCBs) to REDD+, and particularly the effects of land demarcation and titling of indigenous communities, its impact on governance and democracy, on social structures and livelihoods, and on environment and forest cover. The case shows that NCBs are both land tenure rights as well as subsistence and coffee production, illus...

There is increasing and widespread recognition that, in order to make greenhouse gas emissions reductions/removals possible and enduring in the forest sector, REDD+ must broaden its scope from a highly carbon-focused to a more holistic approach. Hence, initiatives to achieve Non-Carbon Benefits (NCBs), in association with a robust safeguards regime, are as important as carbon-related measures and ...

This discussion paper traces the evolution of the concept of indigenous peoples in the UN system and aims at giving a better understanding of why the concept of indigenous peoples is relevant in an Asian context. Due to the lack of a definition of ‘indigenous peoples’ and the fact that the concept is often interpreted into a context of Western settler colonialism the concept remains contes...

This report examines selected cases of violence against women and girls in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 2011 and 2012. It also discusses relevant legal contexts and, based on four key principles, provides recommendations to the government and civil society to address violence against women and girls in the region. The report emphasises that militarisation and transmigration programs ille...

The 2014 edition contains a comprehensive update on the current situation of indigenous peoples in 73 articles written by indigenous and non-indigenous scholars and activists. The book provides 58 country reports and 15 articles on international processes, reflecting ongoing worldwide human rights violations, especially with regards to indigenous peoples’ land, territories and resources. ...

Professor of Law, Gudmundur Alfredsson writes about the first edition of Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Africa: "It is not only a first-class academic presentation but also a practical one, including a series of conclusions and recommendations that are highly relevant to any implementation and monitoring efforts at the national and international levels. This is a highly recommended book t...

This book reveals that the majority of South East Asian countries already have plural legal systems and to some extent custom is recognized as a source of rights in the constitutions and laws of a number of them. National and international courts have affirmed indigenous peoples' customary rights in land. And all these countries have endorsed and ratified key international laws and treaties. Thu...

This publication is a compilation of two case studies conducted one in Yuhu Village, Yulong county, Yunnan, China and the second in Haruku village, Haruku Island, Indonesia. Both cases highlight the importance of indigenous knowledge and customary law for the success of conservation and sustainable development initiatives as the way forward. Lands and territories inhabited by most indigenous pe...

This report reflects on the outcomes of the International and Interfaith Solidarity Mission (ISM) in Defense of Indigenous Communities Fighting Impunity on 17-19 November 2012 at Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Philippines. The ISM was organized by the KALUMBAY Regional Lumad Organization, KARAPATAN Northern Mindanao Region, Community-Based Health Services (CBHS)-Northern Mindanao, Asia Indigenous People...

This book reflects on the outcomes of the workshop on traditional occupations organized by AIPP, in partnership with UNDP-RIPP and ILO, together with the Ministry of Rural Development of the Royal Government of Cambodia. It compiles case studies aimed at looking deeper into the specific concerns and challenges relating to the practice of traditional livelihoods, specifically in Asia. It is div...

This report on the Southeast Asia Consultation on Development, Access to Justice and the Human Rights of Indigenous women is intended as a material to be used by indigenous women, advocates, policy-makers and the public for the promotion, protection and respect of the rights of indigenous women facing violations of their rights due to state and corporate projects coming into their territories. ...

This guide is a tool for advocacy work and community actions. It focuses on the Asian Development Bank Safeguard Policy Statement of 2009 (ADB 2009 SPS) particularly its safeguard requirements for Indigenous Peoples. In addition, it features the ADB Accountability Mechanism of 2012 and contains the principles and process of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Understanding the subject...

This briefing paper is prepared as part of the advocacy of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) for the respect, protection and recognition of the human rights of indigenous women. In this paper, the focus is on access to justice for indigenous women in Southeast Asia facing development-induced violence. We draw on the results of the Southeast Asia Regional Consultation on Development, Access...

The briefing paper analyses how gender relations in Asian indigenous societies have undergone and continue to undergo changes in response to external factors. Finally it draws conclusions and recommendations based on addressing problems through empowering indigenous women in traditional customary institutions. Values and gender relations of the dominant mainstream society which indigenous peo...

This briefing note, published by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Forest Peoples Programme, is intended to develop discussion and thought about the complexity of the challenges of violence against indigenous women and girls. Work being done by indigenous women’s organisations in Asia and around the world has increasingly drawn attention to the need for specific analysis and understa...