HUMAN RIGHTS

Photo: Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: First Informal Interactive Hearing with Indigenous Peoples. 17 April 2018. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Indigenous Peoples in the Grip of 'Criminalization', Warns New UN Report

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – A new United Nations report warns that "in a wide variety of countries," both physical violence and legal prosecution are used against Indigenous Peoples defending their rights and lands. They are "criminalized".

The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to the UN Human Rights Council describes how private sector interests collude with governments in coveting the lands of Indigenous Peoples for economic development projects.

She was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2005 to 2010, and actively engaged in drafting and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 28 August 2018

Photo: Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong settlement in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, hold a sign demanding their repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar. Credit: Caroline Gluck/UNHCR

The Rohingya are Subject to Genocide, International Community Must Act

Viewpoint by Razia Sultana

The author is a Rohingya lawyer, researcher and educator specializing in trauma, mass rape and trafficking of Rohingya girls and women. She has been working with Rohingya women and girls in the refugee camps in Bangladesh documenting the stories of women and girls who fled Myanmar, and has published two reports: in 2017 and in February 2018. She is coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Director of Arakan Rohingya National Organization’s (ARNO) women section, and the founder of Rohingya Women Welfare (ROWW). – The Editor

DHAKA (IDN) – One year ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar with only the clothes on their back and stories of terror, rape, and murder. The UK, the U.S. and others have described the events as ethnic cleansing but I describe them without hesitation as genocide.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 August 2018

Photo: Mary Robinson and Kofi Annan attend Citizens Manifesto event in Zimbabwe in July 2018. Credit: The Elders

The Elders Call for Restraint and Justice in Zimbabwe to Honour Kofi Annan’s Legacy

By The Elders

LONDON (IDN-INPS) – The Elders today urged Zimbabweans at every level in society to uphold the democratic rights to justice and peaceful protest, and refrain from words or actions that could incite violence, drawing on the counsel of their late Chair, Kofi Annan (1938-2018).

Ahead of the ruling by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on the petition filed by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance regarding the 30 July election result, The Elders called on political leaders to act responsibly to avert further bloodshed.

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; Kofi Annan; 23 August 2018

Mozambique Imposing Hefty Fees on Local and Foreign Media

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Press freedom in Mozambique just got a lot less free. Under a new government decree, local and foreign journalists must now pony up thousands of dollars for the right to report in this Southern African country.

The little dribble of news about Mozambique in the foreign press could disappear altogether, ending press freedom at a crucial time. Human rights groups call it an attempt to discourage reporting from the country.

"We think this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion," said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 August 2018

Photo: Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The Indigenous Peoples, TRIPS & Biodiversity Convention

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

The writer is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a Member of the South Centre Board. She has served as chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010). Following are extensive extracts from her presentation at the International Conference on the TRIPS-CBD Linkage: Issues and Way Forward, held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 7-8 June 2018. South Views carried the full text. The conference was jointly organized by the South Centre, the Centre for WTO Studies, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa to the WTO. - The Editor

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 17 August 2018

Photo: Kumi Naidoo. Credit: Amnesty International

Kumi Naidoo Wishes a 'Bigger, Bolder & More Inclusive' Amnesty

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – The human rights movement needs to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive if it is to tackle the challenges that people face today, says life-long social justice campaigner Kumi Naidoo as he officially starts his four-year tenure as Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Amnesty is the largest human rights movement worldwide, with a global presence including offices in more than 70 countries, 2,600 staff and seven million members, volunteers and supporters worldwide. Naidoo wants more.

: Devendra Kamarajan; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 August 2018

Empower Indigenous Women, Strengthen Communities

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - August 9 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. On this occasion, UN Women calls on each of us to commit to making the voices of indigenous peoples, and indigenous women, louder and more impactful than ever before: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/8/statement-un-women-international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples.

At a time of unprecedented human mobility, indigenous women are on the move too, often fleeing violence, environmental disasters and land encroachments that have eaten into their sources of food, water and way of life. The positive economic spin-offs of migration don’t always reach them. Theirs is a move also for justice, as they mobilize to make their voices heard, demand punishment for perpetrators and reparations to restore their dignity.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 09 August 2018

Photo: Members of the Hadzabe community in Manyara region making bows for hunting. The group is among beneficiaries of the mapping project run by the Ujamaa Community Resources Team. Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Tanzania's Indigenous Communities Racing to Secure Land Eyed by Investors

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – Helena Magafu smiled as she held a piece of paper that recognizes her as the sole owner of a disputed farmland in her village was handed over to her, thus resolving a raging dispute with her neighbours.

"I am very happy, I don’t think anyone with ever again claim this is their land," she said

For the past eight years the 53 year-old widow, who lives in Sanje village in the rural district of Kilombero – in Morogoro Region, south-western Tanzania – has been embroiled in a dispute with her neighbours who attempted to take 30 hectares of her family land when her husband died.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 August 2018

Photo: Nikki R. Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addressing the Security Council meeting on 9 July 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

Nikki Haley Blames Rights Groups for Her Misguided 'Reform'

By Kenneth Roth

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries. This article was published in The Hill on 29 July 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Shortly after arriving in New York as Donald Trump’s representative to the United Nations, Nikki Haley said she would be “taking names” of those who stood in her way. Most assumed she was referring to governments that blocked U.S. initiatives at the United Nations Security Council.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 02 August 2018

Photo: Young talented composers and musicians from Afghanistan, Turkey, the United States, Austria, and Japan with IOM Regional Director Argentina Szabados and Bärli Nugent, Assistant Dean and Director of Chamber Music of the Juilliard School, and UNIS Vienna Director Martin Nesirky. Credit: Lanna Walsh / IOM

UN in Vienna Stages World Premieres by Migrant Composers

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – The first-ever musical event of its kind at the United Nations in Vienna has showcased the richness of culture and art that migration brings. Co-hosted by the UN migration agency (IOM) and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), the 'Voices of Migration' concert at the Vienna International Centre on June 28, featured powerful performances. These included two world premieres by migrant composers from Iran and Turkey, performed by a diverse group of world-class musicians.