Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch BlogPeacemakers Trust posts news, reports or announcements of interest to people studying or working in the field of dispute resolution, conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Inclusion of an item on the media watch blog does not imply endorsement or agreement of Peacemakers Trust with views expressed by authors of posted items.
Peru’s highest court, the Constitutional Tribunal, said the executive branch isn’t fully complying with international conventions that oblige it to consult with indigenous peoples before approving projects, especially in the mining and hydrocarbons sector.
(...more)A total of 145 people are being detained in prisons across the country after their arrests in connection with land disputes since 2008, according to statistics released yesterday by a local rights group.
(...more)Attempts to end more than two weeks of strikes and blockades that have disrupted mining and daily life in south-west Bolivia have so far failed.
Protest leaders, who want more government investment in the Potosi region, and government ministers had gathered for potential talks.
But protesters said they would only talk if President Evo Morales attended.
(...more)The UN expert on Indigenous Peoples, Professor James Anaya, has challenged governments to respect international standards for tribal rights.
Speaking on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Professor Anaya said, ‘Indigenous peoples continue to see their traditional lands invaded by powerful actors seeking wealth at their expense, thereby depriving them of life-sustaining resources.’
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets important standards for countries to follow. Almost all governments now support these principles, after Australia and New Zealand removed their previous objections this year. Canada has committed to supporting the Declaration this year, and the United States is currently reviewing its objections.
(...more)Bolivian government officials will meet protestors from Potosi today in a bid to resolve regional disputes and end roadblocks that have isolated the county’s principal mining region for a week, curtailing zinc and silver production.
The protests are led by the Potosi Civic Committee and residents of the Coroma region, which is engaged in border disputes with the department of Oruro over limestone deposits. Protestors have blocked major roads in the department since July 29. Representatives from Coroma will meet government officials in the capital city of Sucre today, said Minister of the President Oscar Coca.
(...more)In the south-western province of Nor Lipez in Bolivia lies the world’s largest deposit of lithium. The vast and spectacular Uyuni salt flats sit 3,600 metres above sea level. They are shaped like an inverted cone, 400 metres deep, in which layers of salts have sedimented, interwoven between layers of mud and brine, in which the mineral salts have dissolved…
Today, the potential exploitation of Bolivian lithium exposes contradictions within Morales’s government, and the possibility of social conflict, as multilayered as the salt lake itself.
(...more)OTTAWA – Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo marked August 9, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, by calling on Canada to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to work with First Nations peoples to implement the Declaration.
(...more)In Colombia, over two decades of conflict between the government and paramilitary groups has uprooted more than 3 million people. Today the conflict poses an even greater threat of extinction to 34 distinct Indigenous Peoples in Colombia. Among them, in the Uraba region of northwest Colombia, the Tule.
(...more)VANCOUVER – The establishment of a Public Commission on Legal Aid (Public Commission) is announced today in British Columbia. The Public Commission is a joint project of the Canadian Bar Association – British Columbia Branch, the Law Society of British Columbia, the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the British Columbia Crown Counsel Association, the Vancouver Bar Association and the Victoria Bar Association.
The goal of the Public Commission is to engage the people of British Columbia regarding legal aid in the province through a series of cross-provincial Commission Hearings that will commence in September of 2010. Upon completion of the hearings, a comprehensive written report will be prepared and delivered to the governments of British Columbia and Canada.
The president of the Canadian Bar Association – British Columbia Branch, James Bond, notes several reasons behind the formation of the Public Commission. “There are simply not sufficient legal aid services available for British Columbians who need them. Funding which was cut several years ago has never been restored, and government funding has largely remained static in recent years. In addition, economic factors have had an adverse effect on other funding sources, while demand for legal aid services has increased,” says Bond. “There is a recognition however, that unless government hears that the people of British Columbia consider legal aid a priority, it is unlikely that the difficulties which legal aid programs have faced over the last two decades are going to change.”
(...more)Truth and reconciliation are things we think that only faraway, war-torn countries need. Not so. The Indian residential-school system in Canada – a system carried out by churches with the imprimatur of governments – resulted in widespread abuse and loss of aboriginal culture, a national shame that still, today, demands truth and reconciliation.
(...more)PHNOM PENH – Cambodian rights groups and farmers urged foreign donors on Tuesday to press the government to suspend land concessions to investors and use fair and lawful means to settle disputes.
(...more)Indigenous groups in the Colombian Amazon have long suffered deprivations at the hands of outsiders. First came the diseases brought by the European Conquest, then came abuses under colonial rule. In modern times, some Amazonian communities were virtually enslaved by the debt-bondage system run by rubber traders: Indians could work their entire lives without ever escaping the cycle of debt. Later, periodic invasions by gold miners, oil companies, colonists, and illegal coca-growers took a heavy toll on remaining indigenous populations. Without title to their land, organization, or representation, indigenous Colombians in the Amazon seemed destined to be exploited and abused.
But new hope would emerge in the 1980s, thanks partly to the efforts of Martin von Hildebrand, an ethnologist who would help indigenous Colombians eventually win control over 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest…
(...more)Seventeen-year-old Miriam Toaquiza is the only occupant of the teenage mothers’ ward in the public hospital in this Andean city. Beside her in the bed is Jennifer, her newborn baby.
She is relaxed and smiling, in spite of having to stay in hospital longer than expected because of a postpartum complication.
“Are they looking after you all right, dear?” asks Julio Guerrero. “Yes,” she replies. “Have they charged you for any medicines or for anything they have given you?” “No,” she says. “Has anybody asked you to pay for anything at all?” he asks again. “No, it’s all free, because of the free maternity programme,” she says cheerfully.
(...more)Response, Responsibility, and Renewal: Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Journey
Panel May 5, 2010
UBC First Nations House of Learning
5-7p.m.
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation released its publication, “Response, Responsibility, and Renewal” in 2009 as the second in a two-volume series. It features the perspectives of twenty-five authors, including Richard Wagamese, Taiaiake Alfred, John Ralston Saul, Waziyatawin, Roland Chrisjohn, and Jose Kusugak.
Panelists include:
Greg Young-Ing- Indigenous Studies UBC Okanagan and co-editor; Bernadette Spence- Cree residential school attendee & social worker; Brian Thorpe -United Church Minister; Jonathan Dewar Aboriginal Healing Foundation and co-editor; Paulette Regan Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Brenda Ireland-First Light Initiatives
Vancouver- Coast Salish Territories
Hosts: First Nations House of Learning UBC, Indigenous Studies UBCO, Aboriginal Healing Foundation, SFU Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice Peace and Social Movements This event is free and complimentary copies of the book will be available. Directions 1985 West Mall: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/PROD/index_detail.php?locat1=337 For more info Contact : gregory.younging[at]ubc.ca or alannahearlyoung[at]gmail.com
The traditionally prickly relationship between the provincial government and the Haida Nation was set aside yesterday as the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act put in place a joint decision-making process and officially restored the name Haida Gwaii to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
(...more)The annual United Nations forum on indigenous issues opened today with a call from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Member States to promote development while respecting the values and traditions of indigenous peoples.
(...more)Survival has launched an international ad campaign calling for the protection of one of the last uncontacted tribes in South America.
One ad shows the destruction of forest belonging to Paraguay’s Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe, which is being bulldozed to make way for cattle ranching. The ad states that the tribe will ‘be forced to flee, running for their lives’ and urges supporters to send a letter to Paraguay’s President Lugo…
In 2005 a UNESCO biosphere reserve was created in the area. One of its aims was ‘the recovery, legalization and return of the land to these native people’, and in 2007 Survival presented a petition with 57,000 signatures to Paraguay’s government in support of the Ayoreo. Despite this, satellite pictures have revealed that the Ayoreo’s land continues to be cleared.??
(...more)April 10 marked the launch of a useful new website created by Michael Mulley who aims to make the work of Canada’s Parliament accessible and to encourage transparency in government. “For all its routine and formal trappings, Parliament remains a crucial engine of our democracy,” states the website. “And it all happens in the open. But, too often, information that’s technically available is difficult to find and use. This site aims to make some of that information.”
You can look up government bills and private members’ bills to see their progress through Parliament. Of particular interest to me are Bill C-447, a private member’s bill to Establish a Department of Peace, and Bill C-300 Respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Feeds are available for each Bill.
You can also follow the latest House Transcripts, or the activities of particular Members of Parliament.
This excellent effort makes it so much simpler to follow activities of Parliament. Otherwise one needs to use the publicly accessible but cumbersome Parliamentary website. Thanks to Michael Mulley for this extraordinarily helpful voluntary project.
(...more)Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has issued a written apology to the churches involved in residential schools after the commission’s research director accused them of being uncooperative.
(...more)As the world focuses on the country this year there are unparalleled opportunities for Canada to be a human rights leader, says Amnesty International Canada. The Winter Olympics and Paralympics have captured the world’s attention. And Canada will be again on the world stage as the host to the world’s most powerful countries at the G8 and G20 meetings in June.
“A new vision for politics, economic, security and humanitarianism of global affairs can emerge with decisive leadership,” notes Alex Neve Secretary General of the English branch of Amnesty International Canada. “But to be that champion Canada must reverse the erosion of its own reputation for human rights leadership.”
In a document released today, Canada and Human Rights in 2010: Time to Return to Leadership, Amnesty International Canada outlines how the government should address human rights protection in a number of areas and champion this “new vision”.
Amnesty International welcomed the government’s announcement that the issue of maternal and child health will be a priority at the G8 Summit in June. It is critically important that the tragically high rates of maternal mortality around the world be addressed. Recent reports from Amnesty International have documented how many women die while giving birth in countries like Burkino Faso, Peru and Sierra Leone.
“The solutions to the tragedy of maternal mortality are not simply matters of health policy and economics”, says Beatrice Vaugrante, Director general of the francophone branch of Amnesty International Canada. “They are rooted in discrimination, inequality and violence against women and girls. That is why a human rights approach must be adopted by the G8 summit.”
At the June G20 Summit of the world’s leading economic powers, following the G8 meeting, Canada, should seek agreement to develop standards for business and human rights that are critical to closing the regulatory and accountability gaps within the global and national economies. It is a crucial time for action as countries struggle to recover from the dramatic downturn while one billion people worldwide still live in extreme poverty.
Amnesty International Canada, as part of a broad coalition of organizations, is calling on the government to ensure that poverty eradication, economic recovery for all and environmental justice is at the centre of the Summit agendas, grounded in human rights standards.
“International leadership at the Summits must be matched by efforts to arrest the erosion of human rights protection within Canada”, says Neve. “Canada is only credible internationally if it has a consistent approach nationally.”
The Amnesty International Canada human rights agenda highlights a number of areas where Canada has failed to take the lead. Commitment to the rights of Indigenous peoples has been weakened by the failure to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That position must be reversed. The discriminatory levels of funding for First Nations child protection agencies must be ended. And a comprehensive national action plan to address violence against Indigenous women is needed.
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