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Philippines: Peasant leaders killed in the Philippines
November 2006
Two weeks after the killing of a leader of a farmers' group in Cagayan province, another farmer-leader was gunned down in Gonzaga town on November 27. With the recent killings, the number of indigenous activists killed reaches 26 this year.
 Read the statement from Cordillera Peoples Alliance
Read the newspaper article
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Vietnam: Hydropower project means resettlement of 100,000 indigenous peoples
November 2006
A new report points out that the resettlement policy and practice in connection with Southeast Asia's largest hydropower dam have not adequately reconciled customary laws and practices of the ethnic minorities in the region and are thus creating conflicts with regard to land-related issues.
Read the article
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Malaysia: Forest-dwellers count cost of Borneo's Bakun dam
October 2006
Eight years after the government forced thousands of tribal people from their homes in the jungles of Borneo island, many of them still find it difficult to adapt to a cash economy, a world away from their former life of farming, fishing and hunting.
Read the article
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Philippines: Natives fight for their own piece of paradise lost
October 2006
While tourists frolic in the crystal clear waters lapping the tropical island of Boracay, local natives forced from their land by developers are fighting for their piece of paradise lost.
Read the article
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Philippines: Cordillera leaders seek probe on titling
October 2006
Cordillera congressmen are seeking an investigation on the alleged midnight issuance of certificates of ancestral lands by former officials of the National Commission on Indigenous People.
Read the article
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Nepal: Community Forests 'Threatening' Livelihood of Janajatis
September 2006
While Nepal's community forests are known worldwide for effective forest and biodiversity conservation effort, community forests have been forcing out many indigenous people, including the Chepangs and the Rautes, from their traditional jobs and threatening their livelihood.
Read more
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Nepal: Parliament passes resolution on ratification of ILO Convention 169
September 2006
On 28th August, 2006, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the resolution directing the Government of Nepal to ratify the International Labour Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989 (No. 169).
Read more
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India: Habitat loss, sexual exploitation threaten Jarawas
August 2006
A newly released report says time is running out to save the Jarawas, one of the four tribal groups inhabiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who not only face the danger of losing their habitat but also have to ward off sexual exploitation.
Read the article
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Indonesia: West Papua Information Kit
August 2006
A new website has been established where documents related to the West Papuan struggle for self-determination are collected.
Visit the website at: http://fandom.net/
Read the Human Rights Feature on West Papua prepared by Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network
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Malaysia: Police uses force against the Penan
July 2006
Road blockades set up by the Penan to prevent logging in their areas, which contain some of the last remaining primary rainforest areas of Sarawak, have been forcefully dismantled by logging companies and the police.
Read the press release
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Philippines: Yet another activist killed
June 2006
June 8, the coordinator of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) elders desk became the 682nd victim of political killing since 2001, and the 99th for this year, according to the documentation of KARAPATAN (Philippine Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights). Likewise, more than 140 activists have been abducted and remain missing.
Read CPA's update and request for support
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India: Government rejects repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
June 2006
The Government of India has extended the ‘Disturbed Areas Act’ in Northeast India and rejected the demand for repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Read the news release by the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR)
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Philippines: CHR: Government must be held accountable for killings
May 2006
Responding to 143 reports of extrajudicial killings of activists and journalists from 2005 up to March 2006, the Commission on Human Rights said the government must be held accountable for the killing.
Read the news coverage by the Inquirer
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Philippines: Protest against unjust Peace Accord in the Philippines
May 2006
The campaign Speaking 4 Earth is calling for online petitions to protest against unjust Peace Accord in the Philippines. In April 2006 more than 700 indigenous Téduray and Lambangian marched against the robbery of their lands and forests in the name of peace in Mindanao. In 1996 the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) reached a Peace Accord in western Mindanao and a former MNLF-commander was given a concession to log 5.500 hectares of forest in the indigenous areas, in exchange for dropping arms. Now new peace negotiations are going on between the government and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front). At stake for the latter are ancestral domain, self-governance and access to natural resources. None of the indigenous peoples in the territories claimed by MILF have been invited to the negotiation table, despite the fact that many of them have pending land claims themselves.
Read more on Speaking 4 Earth's website and sign the online petition
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Philippines: Indigenous peoples protest against Philippine seat in UN body
May 2006
An alliance of indigenous Lumad organisations is criticizing the inclusion of the Philippines in the newly created UN Human Rights Council in light of the intensified violations, including destruction of property, forced evacuation and relocation, threats and harassment, and general disruption of the cultural and social life of the community, in Mindanao and the rest of the country.
Read the article in Sun Star
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India: Rapidly deteriorating situation of the Jarawa of the Andaman Islands
May 2006
For the around 300 Jarawa living on the Andaman Islands the situation is rapidly deteriorating. A new epidemic of measles has struck them, they have no food security, their forest has become overrun with poachers and the Andaman Trunk Road is being widened - in flagrant violation of the 2002 Supreme Court Order to close the road.
Respond to the urgent call for action
Read the BBC article
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India: Government rejects repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
June 2006
The Government of India has extended the ‘Disturbed Areas Act’ in Northeast India and rejected the demand for repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Read the news release by the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR)
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Thailand: Report and documentary on the situation of the Hmong Lao refugees
April 2006
A comprehensive Report on the Genocide on the Hmong Lao, produced by human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker Rebecca Sommer (Earth Peoples) was submitted to the UN system. The report documents the shocking situation of the Hmong Lao, hiding for over 31 years in the mountainous region in Laos, chased and attacked by Vietnamese and Laotian military forces. As the UN Representative for the Society for Threatened Peoples International Rebecca Sommer compiled alarming video recorded testimonies from the fugitives, solar panel satellite telephone calls and videotapes directly from the conflict area, and is currently finalizing a documentary on the situation of the Hmong Lao, which will be screened during the next Sessions of the Security Council and the General Assembly.
Download the report (PDF)
See video clips of the 75 min. long documentary on the Hmong Lao , by Rebecca Sommer © 2007 : "HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS"
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The Philippines: Heightened Surveillance and Harassment of Cordillera Political Activists Could Lead to More Political Killings
February 2006
Over the recent period, many incidents all point to a heightened surveillance and harassment of Cordillera leaders, activists and organizations. There is a now clear trend and pattern, possibly leading to the worst scenario of more political killings of activists. While the military is expected to deny outright any military plan to liquidate Cordillera activists, the threat remains very real and serious. There have been unabated killings of activists, human rights defenders, and NGO workers in the different regions of the country since 2001, with 272 documented cases.
Read the Action Alert prepared by Cordillera Peoples' Alliance and write letters of concern and protest
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Video on the Indigenous Land Crisis in Ratanakiri, Cambodia
January 2006
In in Cambodia's northeastern province of Ratanakiri the indigenous peoples still form a majority. However, they have come under increasing pressure by logging and other forms of resource exploitation, and above all by outsiders who are trying to get hold of the fertile land for the establishment of plantations. Illegal land sales are taking place on an ever increasing scale and the indigenous communities are ill-prepared to withstand the pressure. All this takes place despite the fact that according to Chapter 3 Part to of the 2001 Land Law, indigenous communities should be granted collective ownership rights to their lands.
The Phnom Penh based NGO Forum on Cambodia has produced a video in VCD format entitled "Crisis: Indigenous Land Crisis in Ratanakiri". The video documents the accelerating alienation of indigenous peoples' communal land and it has been designed so as to give indigenous people in Ratanakiri an opportunity to explain what they are experiencing in relation to land alienation.
If you wish to get a copy of the video, write to:
Mr. Ek Yothin
Indigenous Minority Rights Project Officer
Land and Livelihoods Programme
NGO Forum on Cambodia
Email: yothin@ngoforum.org.kh Website: http://www.ngoforum.org.kh
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West Papuan report highlights genocide
January 2006
A recent report by the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and Elsham, the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy based in Jayapura, titled "Genocide in West Papua? The role of the Indonesian state apparatus and a current needs assessment of the Papuan people" details the ongoing human rights abuses, the systematic violence, including rape, arson and torture, in the Indonesian-occupied territory of West Papua. It is hoped that the report's release will focus the international community's attention on West Papua. With the increasing number of troops being deployed to the province, the creation of pro-Jakarta militias, new migrants arriving daily, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the exploitation of the natural resource of the province, the West Papuan people need support now more than ever.
The full report can be found at http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/centres/cpacs/wpp.htm
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