land rights
Semai Win Land Rights in Malaysian Court
The Semai have won an important land rights victory in a Malaysian state court. A news story last Thursday reported that the High Court in Ipoh, the capital city of Perak State, agreed on Wednesday, September 30, with the Semai claim that their native tribal rights to their tanah adat (customary lands) did exist under […]
Orang Asli Land Rights
Last week, The Star from Malaysia published a news story about the rights to forest lands claimed by the Semai and the other Orang Asli societies in that country. The indigenous peoples believe that they have the right to communal ownership of the forested lands on which they have traditionally hunted, fished, gathered produce, practiced […]
A Congressman Champions the Buid
A Philippine congressman from Northern Luzon, Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat, Jr., has decided to champion the land rights of the Buid people of southern Mindoro Island. Mr. Baguilat, who represents the Ifugao Province, indicates on his Facebook page that he is, himself, an indigenous person, an environmental advocate, a believer in ethical, transparent government, and […]
Nubian Resettlements May Move Forward
A major demand by Egypt’s Nubian community—to have the option of resettling into their historic homelands along the Nile—moved a step closer to reality last week. The government announced on Wednesday the beginning of a project to form new communities for Nubians around Lake Nasser, the vast impoundment formed in the 1960s by the Aswan […]
Paliyan Utilizes Facebook
Thangaraj, a 23-year old Paliyan man in Tamil Nadu, India, posted some complaints on Facebook about delays by government officials in dealing with problems in his community. His strategy for publicity worked, according to a news report last week. As the only person in the Alagammalpuram Colony near the city of Madurai to have gotten […]
Egyptian Government Grants Land to Nubians
In response to several years of protests and demonstrations by the Nubians, the Egyptian government finally announced last Friday that it will grant them 5,320 acres of land around the shores of Lake Nasser. Many Nubian villages, in both southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were flooded when the High Dam at Aswan was built in […]
Nubian Progress Inspired by Young Demonstrators
Older Nubians are upset about the way young people are demonstrating to dramatize their rights—such approaches are contrary to the Nubian tradition of peacefulness, according to an interesting news feature published last week. Hannah Allam, writing for the McClatchy Newsfeatures, covered a number of angles about Nubian claims and grievances that supplement earlier reports. She […]
Reclaiming Land for the Yanadi
Karthik Navayan posted a most interesting news story last week exposing the corruption of the upper class land barons in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh who have deprived the Yanadis of properties that rightfully belong to them. He told his intriguing story on March 26 on his own blog and on the website of […]
Progress for the Nubian Cause
The government of Egypt decided last Wednesday that the Nubians who had been forced out of their homes in 1902 by the construction of the first dam at Aswan were to have legal title to their replacement properties. The construction of the so-called Aswan Low Dam flooded out many Nubians, though not nearly so many […]
Kadar Included in New Mapping Project
Three years ago, the Kerala state government agency for tribal affair, KIRTADS, opened a renovated ethnological museum, which features displays that include various Kadar artifacts—some ornaments, household objects, photographs and one of their huts. The museum is located about 7 km from Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, a city of one million people. The museum […]
