Learn more aboue global processes, the Indigenous Peoples' movement and IWGIA's work in countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia and how Indigenous Peoples are reacting to and are affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Indigenous Peoples at increased risk due to coronavirus
Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders are more at risk of being targeted as movement is restricted and governments broaden laws.
Already marginalised, Indigenous Peoples chronically lack proper access to health resources and information, further exacerbating the risk to their communities in times of emergency.
Indigenous Peoples are responding to the pandemic using self-determined protection mechanisms.
As large parts of the world’s population are sitting at home in self- and authority-imposed isolation watching the development of the major public health crisis, governments in some countries are taking advantage of the situation and moving on with their repressive agendas cracking down on opposition groups, silencing human rights defenders and independent media, and subjecting entire ethnic groups to brutal military campaigns.
IWGIA echoes the essential call forresponses to the COVID-19 Pandemic to consider Indigenous Peoples and their human rights, as Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) resolution states:
The Americas experience the highest levels of inequality in the world, characterised by profound social divides where poverty and extreme poverty are problems that cut across all countries of the region. The COVID-19 pandemic is having different, intersectional impacts on the realisation of the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights of certain groups that are particularly vulnerable.
The Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa (Working Group), a Special Mechanism of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), is closely following the situation of the COVID-19 epidemic in Africa.
The fast-spreading COVID-19 poses much higher health risks to Indigenous Peoples, Persons with Disability, elders and women making them the most vulnerable groups. These groups not only face challenges in accessing information on time and in their own language; but also, of discrimination and deprivation of basic health services.
In this flash update from Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, they share critical lessons learned from the response to COVID-19 so far.
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights. Read more.
Indigenous World
IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for indigenous peoples worldwide. Read The Indigenous World.