human rights
Piaroa Declare their Rights
A dramatic announcement by a Piaroa interest group last week not only outlined their opposition to illegal mining activity within their territory, it also denounced the presence of armed groups that violate their peaceful ethos. The manifesto was published on March 9 on the website of the Observatory of Political Ecology of Venezuela. People from […]
Protecting the Rights of the Homeless
An interesting drama that played out last week in a courtroom in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, evidently captured the attention and sympathies of the Tahitians. A magistrate agreed with the pleas of two homeless Tahitian people that they had the right to keep their dogs with them, despite the fact that they had […]
Nubians Demand their Rights [journal article review]
The increasingly strident demand by younger Nubians for fair and equal treatment by the government of Egypt has become a major development among the peaceful societies over the past year. A recent scholarly analysis of the reasons for the protests is thus quite timely. The point of the article by Maja Janmyr, a post-doctoral researcher […]
Mbuti Seek Designation as Indigenous People
Last Friday the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a press release about the continuing troubles suffered by the Mbuti people of eastern Congo. Its major point is that the Mbuti, identified in the document by their alternate name “Bambuti,” want to be designated as an indigenous minority, as well […]
Celebrate Human Rights—Persecute the G/wi
While many people around the world celebrated the 60th anniversary last Wednesday of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Botswana took the occasion to announce repressive measures against the G/wi. That country apparently did not notice the tragic paradox. Last Thursday morning, December 11, Google News provided links to 4,056 stories and […]
UN Permanent Forum May Help Promote G/wi Rights to their Lands
Representatives from indigenous groups around the world converged on New York Monday for the sixth meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which will last until May 24. Over 1000 delegates from indigenous communities and organizations are attending sessions at the UN headquarters; they are focusing on the rights of indigenous peoples […]
Mbuti Appeal for their Rights
A recent international conference on indigenous (Pygmy) rights in Central Africa issued a call “for an immediate stop to practices that generate the destruction of our ways of life…” Indigenous delegates from Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, and Uganda met in Impfondo, a city in Republic […]
Inuit Appeal for Human Rights Rejected
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has rejected a petition from the Inuit which alleges that the emission of greenhouse gasses poses a serious human rights threat to them. The idea for a petition to the IACHR was first announced by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in December 2004 at a major global climate change conference. […]
Human Rights of the Zapotec: Collective or Individual [journal article review]
A small group of Protestants in the Zapotec town of Teotitlán, members of the Church of God, had been living quietly with the Catholic majority for several decades before trouble started brewing. Lynne Stephen describes the conflict and its resolution in a recent journal article about the collision of individual rights and collective rights. In […]
Botswana Court Testimonies Conclude, with Beatings around the Bush
The lengthy court battle between the Botswana government and the G/wi and G//ana people, who want to regain their rights to live on their traditional lands, will wrap up by May 15th. Formal testimonies in the courtroom and brutal beatings in the Kalahari bush continue, as they have over the past two years, during the […]
