By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 18 April 2024 (IDN) — The designation “Indigenous Peoples” is in itself a challenge, said Bolivian Vice-President David Choquehuanca addressing the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters, convened to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. The outcome document of the historic meeting, in […]
Renounced by the Vatican Yet the Repressive Force of 15th Century Persists
By William D. Sunderlin, Ph.D., and Robert J. Miller, J.D.* FAYETTEVILLE, New York | PHOENIX, Arizona | 16 April 2024 (IDN) — It seems ridiculous that a repudiated Catholic doctrine dating back to the 15th century should have legal standing anywhere in the world today. Yet the Onondaga, an Indigenous nation located in Central New […]
Indigenous Communities in Kenya Face Eviction by Environmental Profiteers
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 13 November 2023 (IDN) — Kenya’s government is illegally evicting members of the Ogiek community from their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest, to profit from carbon offsetting schemes, human rights lawyers say. Members of the Ogiek community say they’re living in “absolute fear” over the […]
Australia Referendum Exposes Flaws of Democracy Architecture
Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY | 17 October 2023 (IDN) — The resounding defeat suffered by the Australian Labour Government on the 14 October referendum to amend the constitution to recognize the “First Australians” (indigenous people) exposes the flaws in the Australian democratic architecture, especially the role of social media and concentration of media ownership […]
Revelations of Australia’s Abu Ghraib Force Gov’t to Act
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – Screening of secretly filmed shocking footage of abuse of juvenile prisoners in a remote northern Australian prison by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC), renowned investigative reporting program ‘Four Corners’, has outraged thousands of Australians who took to the streets to protest and forced the government to act.
The video material filmed between 2010 and 2014 at the Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory in Australia and screened on July 25 has drawn comparisons to the treatment of prisoners in the notorious prisons run by the U.S. government in Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.
Indigenous Peoples Insist on Equality of All Rights
Analysis by Rizwy Raheem
NEW YORK (IDN) – The world’s indigenous peoples – estimated at over 370 million living across 90 countries and accounting for 15 percent of the poorest – remain isolated, both politically and geographically.
So, nearly a thousand participants from Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean gathered together to air their grievances before the United Nations at a two-week long conference, which concluded May 20.
Their plea for inclusiveness was a reiteration of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s appeal to the international community on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a more humane and prosperous world for all – “leaving no one behind”.
The conference ended with a resounding call for greater participation in the United Nations and in UN bodies by some of the world’s most neglected minorities who are increasingly victims of armed conflicts, corporate greed and rising economic inequalities.
Indigenous Peoples Seek Rights and Distinct Identities
By J. Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how it relates to indigenous peoples, will feature prominently in discussions at the fifteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Forum will also focus on issues of peace and conflict, often relating to indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources and to their rights and distinct identities. More than 1,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are attending the gathering at United Nations Headquarters in New York from May 9 to 20.
“Since its establishment, the Permanent Forum has expressed great concern over the continuation of conflicts affecting indigenous peoples in different parts of the world,” said Alvaro Pop, the incoming Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Indigenous Peoples Find A New Dialogue Forum
By R. Nastranis | IDN-InDepth NewsReport
ROME (IDN) – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, has opened a new chapter in its longstanding engagement with indigenous peoples, majority of whom live in rural areas and face the dual challenges of poverty and marginalization. They were offered an important platform of dialogue at the first meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum at IFAD.