The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomes submissions on the paper being prepared by the Secretary General on indigenous peoples' participation at the United Nations by 9 April 2012. See Human Rights Council resolution 18/8 (2011):

13. Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner, the Office of Legal Affairs and other relevant parts of the Secretariat, to prepare a detailed document on the ways and means of promot...

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The Diplomacy Training Program is calling for applications for Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and Advocacy: A Training Program for Indigenous Advocates in the Asia-Pacific.

The program will be held in partnership with Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) in Sabah, Malaysia, 23 April—2 May 2012.

Applications close: 25 February 2012.

If you have questions about the program, or the application process, please contact dtp@unsw.edu.au

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In December 2011, the Tumpoun people became one of the first three communities in Cambodia to receive land titles for their territory, under a pilot scheme initiated by the Cambodian Government. The 700 hectares of farmland shared amongst 130 Tumpoun families is now secure and one of the country’s most marginalized groups is looking forward to a new era of social justice by being given the means to shape their own future.

For the Tumpoun, and other indigenous peoples, land ti...

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Kirkenes, Norway 9 February 2012. In a keynote speech delivered in Kirkenes, Norway, Professor Anaya underlined the key developments that have taken place in recent decades aimed at safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples, while calling for a new model of development in which indigenous peoples have the opportunity to be genuine partners, especially in the context of natural resource extraction taking place in or near their traditional territories.

The Special Rapporteur'...

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In a press release issued on 7 February 2012, the Special Rapporteur urged the Government of Panama and indigenous peoples to initiate a dialogue due to the situation of tension and violence following indigenous protests. In recent days, Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous representatives have blocked different points of the Inter-American highway in protest of proposed mining and hydroelectric activities on their territories. During these protests, there have been clashes with the police re...

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Land gabbing is happening at a large scale in Ethiopia, among others through leasing out huge tracts of land to foreign investors. The government of Ethiopia claims that this will bring development, improved food security and employment to the local population. However, so far local and indigenous populations have mainly experienced land dispossession and threats to their livelihoods.

Below you find a link to an article about the situation, originally published in French by Le Monde.

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The Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (Fondo Indígena) launches the call for scholarships for the fifth version of the title of expert in "Indigenous peoples, human rights, governance and international cooperation", sponsored by the University Indigenous Intercultural (UII).

The course is directed at indigenous professionals, and will be held from 26 April to 29 June 2012 at the University Carlos III in Madrid, Spain.

The d...

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Please tell us who you are and what we can do for you. This will help us improve our website and communication strategy.

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The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO/CSW/NY), one of three women's committees of CoNGO that advocates for women's rights and gender equality, is proud to announce the 2012 NGO CSW Woman of Distinction awardee. Ms. Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues, is this year's recipient. She will be the keynote speaker at the NGO/CSW/NY Consultation Day (26 February), along with Michelle Bachelet, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Di...

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In the latest newsletter from the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commisioner for Human Rights you can read about the following issues:

· EMRIP at the HRC
· UNIPP Approves Seven propsals
· Access to Justice for Dalits in Nepal
· UNDRIP Handbook validation meeting
· Bolivia consulation: NHRIs and indigenous peoples’ rights
· Congo: On implementing of the indigenous law
· SR on the rights of indigenous peoples
·...

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Today, during its first session, the newly established ‘UN Working Group on the issues of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises’ is holding an ´Informal exchange with other stakeholders’ meeting in Geneva. Among the stakeholders present are indigenous representatives and NGOs working for the rights of indigenous peoples.

During the stakeholder's presentation, several speakers mentioned the need to look at most vulnerable groups an...

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Last Friday and Saturday, around 30 indigenous peoples’ representatives and invited UN experts met in Copenhagen to brainstorm about how best to secure indigenous peoples' full participation in the planning and celebration of the 2014 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

The organizing of a World Conference on indigenous peoples was decided by the UN General Assembly at its 65th session in 2010. It is, however, still very unclear and undecided which for...

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Human Rights Watch has released a major report on Forced Villagization of Anuak and Nuer peoples in Ethiopias' Gambella Region.

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Friday and Saturday, indigenous peoples representatives from all over the world will participate in a brainstorm meeting in Copenhagen to discuss indigenous peoples' participation in the planning of the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

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Some 1.3 million people signed a petition calling for an end to the construction of Brazil’s massive Belo Monte dam in the Amazon. A delegation of Brazilian celebrities and activists delivered the petition Tuesday to the country’s President Dilma Rousseff and called — yet again — for the immediate suspension of the controversial hydroelectric dam in Para state, located in Brazil’s north...

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The deadline for the submission of applications to attend the sessions of all treaty bodies taking place between April and June 2012 as well as the June sessions of the Universal Period Review and the Human Rights Council has been extended to 10 January 2012.

Please make sure you check the latest information available on the webpage of the OHCHR:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx

The applications forms for all these meetings are available on t...

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An Ecuadorean appeals court has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay damages totalling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) over Amazon oil pollution.

Chevron said the judgement was "illegitimate" and "a fraud".

Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

The original ruling ordered Chevron to pay $8.6bn in damages, which was more than doubled after the company failed to make a public apology.

"We ratify the ruling o...

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Famine has swept through much of Ethiopia in the past year, but a new project will see a Saudi Arabian country convert one of the most fertile areas to produce rice for export. The idea is it's better to have people employed and making money.

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The government of Bangladesh has imposed strict restrictions on foreigners’ visit to the Chittagong Hill Tracts and foreign nationals are now banned from holding discussions with any indigenous or religious groups in the region without the presence of a government officer.

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"UNESCO's Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, as well as IUCN's internal procedures as an Advisory Body to the World Heritage Committee, are inadequate for fulfilling the requirements of UNDRIP and the resolutions of the World Conservation Congress." write Stefan Disco (IWGIA) and Helen Tugendhat (FPP) in the recent 9th issue of the CEESP Newsletter.

"Rather than taking a discrete, less vocal approach, IUCN should join institutions s...

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In a press conference a day before the end of the Durban Climate Change Conference, the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) called on state-parties for human rights to be central in any agreement on Climate Change.

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At a press conference ending his visit to the country, James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, urged Argentina to strengthen its measures to protect the human rights of indigenous peoples as well as their rights to land ownership and education, adding that a mechanism to establish dialogue between them and the Government is urgently needed.

“A central preoccupation expressed by indigenous leaders during my visit was the lack of judicial securit...

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For the amount of 10 EURO you can make sure that an indigenous organization receives a paper copy of “The Indigenous World”. All donated funds will be used exclusively for covering international postage costs.

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The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopts concluding observation stating their concern about the displacement of indigenous Baka and Mbororo from their ancestral lands and lack of implementation of their cultural rights.

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Press Release of Tebtebba, Indigenous Peoples Partnership on Forests and Climate Change and the Indigenous Peoples Global Network on Climate Change and Sustainable Development (IPCCSD)

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