The U.N. said 113 rights activists were killed last year, many were land rights activists campaigning for the return of property they say was stolen by illegal armed groups
BOGOTA - Slow implementation of Colombia's peace accord and a lack of government presence in rural areas is putting land and human rights activists in danger, the United Nations said on Thursday.
DARWIN, AUSTRALIA - Australia’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that Aboriginal owners stripped of land rights should be compensated for “spiritual harm,” in a landmark ruling that could spark a slew of cases countrywide.
The court ruled that the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples in the Northern Territory were entitled to compensation for being disconnected from their lands by the government.
In El Estor, Guatemala, women lead fight for land rights despite added risk of sexual violence and stigma.
El Estor, Guatemala - Since her teen years, Maria Magdalena Cuc Choc, now 39, has defended the natural resources of El Estor, a predominantly Mayan Q'eqchi' community on the western edge of Lake Izabal. The calm, blue water surrounded by lush forest cover is home to hundreds of species of freshwater fish, lizards, crocodiles, manatees and more.
Indigenous Náhuatl land and water defender Samir Flores Soberanes was a vocal opponent of the "Proyecto Integral Morelos" (the integral project for Morelos) in Mexico.
The project includes the construction of the 160-kilometre Morelos Gas Pipeline that would start in the state of Tlaxcala and run to the town of Huexca (in the state of Morelos) where it would supply a proposed gas-fuelled thermoelectric plant.
Protesters seek land rights under Forest Rights Act, roll back of decision to give land to corporations for farming
Gujarat Police allegedly detained 19 members of Jamin Adhikar Jumbesh — a network of land rights organisations like Gujarat Dalit Sangathan, Saurashtra Dalit Sangathan and Adivasi Mahasabha Gujarat — on February 18, 2019, around 2 pm.
The People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move), a grassroots group campaigning for land rights for the rural poor, has asked the government to help 486 communities that are waiting for land title deeds.
These forest dwellers, who have been living on national park land for generations, now find their homes are classified as encroaching on protected land following policy changes over the past 30 years.
Johannesburg - Wherever she goes, Nonhle Mbuthuma expects to feel the cold metal tip of a gun pressed against her head.
The land and environmental rights campaigner knows she could pay the ultimate price in her unwavering fight to protect her unspoilt, ancestral land from mining.
“I don’t feel safe at all,” says Mbuthuma, a founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), of the threats she receives from pro-mining interests.
“My voice is now the loudest. I’m seen as a ‘nuisance’ because I’m protecting my forefathers’ land and my children’s land.”
Authorities have claimed that some 100 families who clashed with police in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district last week have no legal rights to the land as they do not possess proper titles.
However, the villagers claim to have lived there for a significant time after having paid for their plots – something not recognised by the authorities, with one vowing to die for his.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.
The Chilean delegate recognized that there's still a long way to go and regretted Catrillanca's murder by Carabineros.
Delegations from U.N. member states recommended that Chile should stop discriminatory practices against the Mapuche and other indigenous peoples in the South American country, after the universal periodic review at the Human Rights Council meeting in Ginebra.
The delegations showed concerns for the “discrimination and human rights violations against indigenous peoples” in key issues such as access to education and health.
The move is aimed at ending decades of deadly conflict and granting greater control over land and natural resources
BANGKOK - Nearly three million minority Muslims in southern Philippines voted on Monday in a referendum on autonomy, a move that is aimed at ending decades of deadly conflict and granting them greater control over their land and natural resources.
The suit seeks the legal recognition of the Temiar Orang Asli's land rights
BANGKOK, Jan 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Malaysian government said on Friday it would sue the local government of Kelantan state for failing to uphold the land rights of its indigenous people, a move that activists said was unprecedented and that could lead to more protection measures.