News / Americas
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June 18, 2008
Colombian Army Building Base on Sacred Site
The army of Colombia is building a base on a piece of land containing a sacred site of the Kofan (Cofán) Peoples. The army has seized a farm near the city of La Hormiga, claiming it is a strategic area in the country's internal conflict. The Kofan use the holy area seized by the army to collect medicinal herbs. They also claim the construction of the base has fouled the river, making it difficult to catch the fish that sustain them. The army claims that the eight hectres deemed a sacred site by the Kofan will not be touched, but the Kofan have yet to see any details of the verbal commitment.
Separately, June 20-21 have been proclaimed National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Sites. Events are planned at sites throughout the United States including the San Francisco Peaks, threatened by expansion of an Arizona ski resort that plans on making snow from treated sewage, and Mount Taylor threatened by a renewed uranium rush in New Mexico. Events will also be held at the U.S. Capitol.
Links:
http://colombiareports.com/2008/06/17/army-wants-base-on-indigenous-sacred-ground/
http://narfnews.blogspot.com/2008/06/june-20-21-set-for-2008-national-sacred.html
June 10, 2008
Climate Change Threatens First Nations in British Columbia
Mountain pine beetles, spared their usual winter die-offs by increasingly warm winter temperatures, are ravenously consuming the forests that are home to a majority of First Nations communities in British Columbia. The rampant pest infestation has killed off 13 million hectares of forest over the last decade -- roughly the equivalent to all the land in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The dead trees not only no longer absorb carbon, but in fact release more carbon as they decompose, setting in place the spiraling effects of climate change. First Nation communities located among the dying forests are also faced with the risk of catastrophic fires from the tinder-dry dead trees.
Link:
http://www.grist.org/news/2008/04/24/beetles/index.html
Innu Evicted from Newfoundland to Make Room for Industry and Hydroelectric
More than 100 Innu families who have been living on their land since before Newfoundland and Labrador were formed have been ordered to leave to make room for industrial development. The land contains Innu sacred sites and hunting grounds. The Newfoundland government has given the Innu 60 days to take down their cabins and leave the land or face fines and possible arrest. If they refuse to remove their homes, the government has promised to have them removed at the owners' expense. The government is clearing the land to make way for hydroelectric and industrial development.
Link:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20080605.winnu0605%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome&ord=133636171&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
Abitibi-Price suspends large forest harvesting after failing to win social license to operate from First Nations band
Forest giant Abitibi-Price pulled out from plans to harvest a million hectare forest that is home to the Grassy Narrows First Nation. The paper company's decision was announced following a ruling by the Ontario government that necessary consultations with the First Nation had not been completed – a process that Abitibi estimated would take four years, a claim provincial government officials say is overstated.
Link:
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/437156
May 29, 2008
Scores of Indigenous Elected Leaders Harassed and Beaten in Bolivia
Rising tensions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities in Bolivia turned violent on May 24th when right-wing members of Bolivia's Interinstitutional Committee assembled at a stadium in Sucre, Bolivia. The stadium was to be the setting of a visit from President Evo Morales, Latin America's first Indigenous head of state, who was coming to Sucre to deliver 50 ambulances to the poor rural community. The hooligans met police with sticks, stones, and dynamite. Police withdrew in order to prevent bloodshed and Morales' visit was hastily cancelled. The situation was not, however, diffused. Angry demonstrators surrounded scores of Indigenous mayors, town councilors, and other community leaders who had come to hear Morales, then stripped them of their belongings and forced them to march five miles to the House of Liberty in Sucre where they were forced to apologize for coming to Sucre and made to chant "Die Evo" as the protestors set fire to the flag of the Aymara People.
Link:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42539
Indigenous Peoples Shut Out of Meeting Dividing Up the Arctic
On May 28, the United States, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and Canada met behind closed doors to work out an agreement for dividing up rights to the resource rich polar region. The area has been the scene of mounting international conflict, starting last year when a Russian submarine planted the Russian flag on the ocean floor and escalating when Canada announced a plan to build a military base in the region to defend its national interest. Last week's meeting held in Greenland affirmed the group's intention to abide by the provisions of the 1982 Law of the Sea treaty which divides land rights according to undersea continental shelves. This agreement drew widespread criticism from those left out of the meeting, including the Inuit Peoples who comprise a majority of the Arctic's population, the environmental community, and three other Arctic nations: Sweden, Iceland and Finland. Critics are also quick to point out that the United States was included in the secret meeting, even though the US never ratified the Law of the Sea treaty. "It's clear what's going on. They are going to use law of the sea to carve up raw materials, but they are ignoring the law of common sense. These are the same fossil fuels that are driving climate change in the first place," Greenpeace spokesperson Mike Townsley told Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/29/fossilfuels.poles
May 19, 2008
Apologies are Contagious: Canada to Say "We're Sorry" to First Peoples on June 11th
Following the February apology of Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he will apologize to Canada's First Peoples on June 11th. Harper will acknowledge and apologize for the Canadian government's role in removing children from their homes and sending them to boarding schools where some were abused and most pressured to give up their cultures and assimilate. This practice began in the late 1800s and did not end until the 1990s. Harper's apology will take place in the Canadian Parliament, which just recently endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The apology is part of a broader truth and reconcillation process, which will welcome First Canadians to tell the stories of their times at the boarding schools.
Link:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/story/4174231p-4762616c.html
May 8, 2008
A Dim Future for the Olympic Torch?
During the global relay of the Olympic torch, the object became a magnet for activists using the torch to shed light on human rights abuses in Tibet. Once the torch is used to light the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing, it will return to Greece until it reappears in two years to usher in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, where it once again may well become a magnet for protest, this time by Canadian First Nations seeking to call attention to the widespread poverty, health care, and education disparities facing Canadian First Peoples as well as more than 100 unresolved land claims. The issue is tricky because Olympic organizers have been working closely with the four First Nations on whose lands the games will be held. Canada's Assmebly of First Nations is careful not to advocate a civil disruption of the Vancouver Games, but wants Canadians concerned about human rights abuses in China to look in their own backyards as well. Protests are slated to be launched next February, one year before the opening ceremonies and may include road and bridge blockades, airport disruptions and demonstrations.
Link:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/04/18/roundup-natives-could-protest-2010-chief-says-putin-denies-plans-to-marry-martin-verdict-may-come-today.aspx
And Then There Were Three...Canadian Parliament Votes to Endorse UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
On April 8th, the Canadian Parliament endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and called upon the Parliament and the Government to implement the provisions of the Declaration in Canadian laws and polices. When the Declaration was overwhelmly passed by the United Nations last September, Canada joined the United States, Australia and New Zealand as the only nations voting against the proposal. In February, new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his government was preparing to endorse the Declaration but has yet to act.
Despite the Parliamentary action, the Canadian government came under strong criticism by First Nations organizations at the recently concluded UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the Permanent Forum condemned Canada in a May 1 press conference for seeking to block efforts to use the UN Declaration as the basis of negotiating an Indigenous Rights agreement within the Organization of American States.
Links:
http://www.amnesty.ca/resource_centre/news/view.php?load=arcview&article=4279&c=Resource+Centre+News
http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN0134751220080501
April 16, 2008
Endangered Culture: With Assets Stripped Over Last Century, Venezuela's Bari Peoples Describe Selves as "Corralled"
For nearly a millennium, the Bari sustained themselves by hunting, but over the last century cascading development pressures, first from oil developers and later cattle ranchers and coal explorers, have forced the Bari from their once vast lands. Schoolteacher Conrado Akambio told Inter-Press Service: "Now they want to sentence us to die by locking us up in this corral, watching the white men get rich by destroying the land that used to be ours." "We can't hunt anymore, because all of the animals have disappeared and we have nowhere to grow our crops," Ignacio Akambio, another community member told IPS. The Venezuelan government has sent the community several cows under an agricultural assistance program, but the community is demanding their land, for that is what they need to survive.
Link:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41953
Sign of Hope: Chile Announces New Indigenous Policy Focused on Increased Political Participation
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet recently announced a new "Social Pact for Multiculturalism." The new policy focuses on increasing political participation of Indigenous Peoples, including a legislative proposal to establish an Indigenous electoral district that would facilitate Indigenous representation in Parliament. It also provides for a new Subsecretariat of Indigenous Affairs within the national planning department, in order for Indigenous voices to be heard in development decisions that affect their territories. In addition an Indigenous Affairs Unit would be launched within each cabinet ministry. The new policy will also immediately restore land rights to more than 100 communities and decide on pending applications from 300 more. Finally, the new policy would initiate a "Code of Responsible Conduct" to regulate investment on Indigenous Peoples' land and require consultation and benefit sharing for any development projects. The proposals require legislative approval before they can be implemented.
Link:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41835
April 10, 2008
Indigenous Groups Gain Economic Benefit
Rainforest peoples from 11 nations met last week in Brazil, to demand that Indigenous Peoples be included in climate change negotiations. The group also discussed strategies for benefitting from the hundreds of millions of dollars that are available through the World Bank-sponsored Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Programs (REDD). While many Indigenous Peoples oppose carbon reduction schemes, like REDD, some Indigenous Peoples' groups like those who met in Brazil seek to be fairly compensated for using their traditional knowledge in protection of the rain forest.
Links:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/04/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-Forest-Dwellers.php
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0407-manaus_declaration.html
March 24, 2008
Community Benefits? It Doesn’t Look That Way
Often when corporations are seeking to develop natural resource projects, they will offer affected communities the prospect of jobs. Last week, Indigenous Achuar workers at the Pluspetrol Norte oil facility took over the facility in a labor dispute. When police intervened, workers and the police exchanged gunfire, leaving one policeman and one plant worker dead. The dispute is only the latest in a string of broken promises by oil operators in the area. Earlier this year, members of the Achuar community occupied a portion of the same plant after the company refused to address environmental issues and institute social programs which it promised in a 2006 agreement. The Achuar’s struggles pre-date Pluspetrol’s eight years of ownership, extending to the plant’s former owner, Occidental Petroleum, which illegally dumped more than 9,000,000,000 gallons of toxic waste water in streams over three decades of operation. In 2007, the Achuar filed a large class action suit against Occidental.
Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7306639.stm
http://www.ww4report.com/node/5288
March 12, 2008
United Nations Condemns United States Discrimination Toward Native Americans and Other Minority People
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reported last week that it had found "stark racial disparities" in the way US institutions dealt with minorities, including Native Americans and called upon the government to put an end to racial disparities in criminal justice, housing, education and health care. Taking special aim at discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, CERD asked the United States to provide additional information on how the culture and traditions of Indigenous Peoples were protected and promoted. They also called upon the United States to apply the recently adopted UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The United States was one of four nations that voted against the historic declaration.
Link:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41556
Canadian First Nations Leader Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for Blocking Development of a Uranium Mine
Robert Lovelace, a community leader of the Algonquin community in southwest Ontario, was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to abide by a court order to stop blockading a uranium mine being built on land claimed by the Algonquin Nation. The mine owners, the privately-held Frontenac Ventures, held no community meetings or dialogue sessions prior to beginning the development. Because the company sought a court order against the protestors rather than filing criminal trespassing charges, the judge was not able to consider the dispute over the land’s rightful owner as a part of the case. Algonquin Chief Paula Sherman called Lovelace a "political prisoner" in a story published by Inter Press Service.
Link:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41469
Mapuche People Organize Political Party in Chile in Struggle for Self-Determination
Earlier this year police shot and killed Matias Catrilio, a young Mapuche student who was occupying land claimed by the Mapuche. The community responded to this violent outburst by the government by organizing. They will formally launch the Wallmapuwen (meaning People of the Mapuche land) in July with a goal of restoring self-governance over their territories in southern Chile and Argentina, which they last controlled in the 19th century before colonization. The government responded to the organizing by ratifying the long-standing International Labor Organization Convention 169, on the rights of Indigenous Peoples;however, the Senate was quick to add an interpretative statement that watered down the words of the widely recognized international treaty.
Link:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41533
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