|
News (170)
|
|
States Urge Spain to Respect Saharawi Rights |
|
By :Western Sahara Resources Watch (WSRW) |
| 22 January 2020 |
As a matter of extraterritorial human rights obligation, Namibia and East-Timor have today recommended Spain to respect the Saharawi people`s right to free, prior and informed consent before any exploitation of Western Sahara`s natural resources.
Spain today went through its third Universal Periodic Review, a peer review in the
More...
|
|
CSOs Blast UN’s Corporate Take-over |
|
By :FIAN and various CSOs |
| 16 January 2020 |
WEF takeover of UN strongly condemned. With the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos around the corner, hundreds of CSOs reiterate condemnation of the partnership between the corporate world with the UN.
As corporate executives fly into Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF),
More...
|
|
Outrage over Siemens Backing Adani Coal |
|
By :Deutsche Welle |
| 13 January 2020 |
Climate Activists Outraged as Siemens Backs Adani Coal Mining Project in Australia
Siemens has announced it will remain involved in a controversial coal mining project in Australia, despite massive environmental criticism as the country continues to be ravaged by bushfires.
The German engineering conglomerate has a contract worth roughly €18 million ($20 million) which requires
More...
|
|
Tribute to Ghanimat Azhdari |
|
By :Jimmy Thomson, The Narwhal |
| 10 January 2020 |
‘She was absolutely adored’: Iranian scientist spent her life fighting for indigenous voices in conservation.
Ghanimat Azhdari was born into a nomadic tribe in Iran and was a PhD student at Canada’s University of Guelph, where she was working with indigenous communities in the boreal forest to map cultural sites. This
More...
|
|
OpT: 2019 House Demolitions |
|
By :B`tselem |
| 06 January 2020 |
Israeli house demolitions spiked in 2019 compared to previous years
Irael demolished a record number of homes in East Jerusalem in 2019, also setting a record for homes demolished by their own owners on Israel’s orders. The number of homes Israel demolished in the rest of the West Bank, both over
More...
|
|
Brazil: New Decree to Support Land Grabs |
|
By :Sputnik News |
| 12 December 2019 |
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signs a decree giving title to smallholder farmers, but may encourage land grabbing.
President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree on Tuesday that will allow tens of thousands of small farmers finally to earn title to the land they cultivate, fulfilling a campaign promise to the agricultural sector
More...
|
|
India: Protesting > 40K Trees Cut for Mine, Police Crack Down |
|
By :Newsclick Report |
| 12 December 2019 |
India: Talabira Odisha: Over 40,000 trees removed to pave way for Adani’s Mine. Heavy police force is present on the site to completely cordon off the region. Activists are terming the removal of the trees as a grave violation of community forest rights.
The green lungs of industrial Odisha’s Sambalpur are
More...
|
|
Brazil: 2 Indigenous Guajajaras Murdered |
|
By :Rosa Gauditano, Survival International |
| 09 December 2019 |
Last Saturday, December 7, two indigenous Guajajara men were shot to death and two others injured. The shots were fired by occupants of a vehicle on the side of a road through Cana Brava Indigenous Land. This attack comes just over a month after the murder of Paulo Paulino Guajajara,
More...
|
|
Kashmir: A Land without Internet |
|
By :Peerzada Ashiq, The Hindu |
| 08 December 2019 |
In a land without Internet, the communication blackout is forcing young entrepreneurs out of Kashmir Valley. With the Internet blackout stretching for more than 120 days in Jammu and Kashmir, start-ups that began with much fanfare are closing down. Peerzada Ashiq reports on young Kashmiri entrepreneurs who are leaving behind
More...
|
|
EU Fisheries in Western Sahara "Unlawful" |
|
By :WSRW |
| 20 November 2019 |
Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Mr. Hans Corell (Sweden), has again criticized EU`s approach to fisheries practices in Western Sahara. The statements came in a speech delivered at the annual conference of The Belgian Society of international Law, in Brussels, 14–15
More...
|
|
India: Gov’t. Rethinks Vicious Forest Act |
|
By :Ishan Kukreti, Down to Earth |
| 18 November 2019 |
Government withdraws proposed changes to Indian Forest Act. Minister Prakash Javadekar said draft created misconception among people.
The Union government was withdrawing the officers’ draft of the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927 amendment, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) Prakash Javadekar told reporters on November 15, 2019.
Inspector General of Forests (Forest
More...
|
|
UN Report on Israeli Colonies Speaks Truth |
|
By :Robert Fisk |
| 14 November 2019 |
He’s a very tall man with bright eyes and a broad smile, and he holds out a great paw when he greets you. But Michael Lynk is no gentle giant.
He may teach human rights law at the Western University in London, Ontario, but as the UN’s special rapporteur on human
More...
|
|
Report to UNCERD on Israeli Apartheid |
|
By :Middle East Monitor |
| 14 November 2019 |
Eight Palestinian, regional and international NGOs have submitted a substantial report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ahead of the committee’s upcoming review of Israel’s next month.
According to a statement published this week, the NGOs in question were Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq,
More...
|
|
Major Victory for Ecuadoran Indigenous Peoples |
|
By :DTE Staff |
| 07 November 2019 |
Chinese company pulls out of contract to drill for oil in remote rainforest after protests by indigenous groups
Indigenous leaders from Ecuador’s Amazon declared victory on November 6, 2019, after revealing that the country’s government had granted a force majeure request by Andes Petroleum Ltd Ecuador to stop drilling in a rainforest concession
More...
|
|
Brazil: Loggers Murder Amazon Forest Defender |
|
By :Aljazeera |
| 03 November 2019 |
An indigenous forest defender has been killed and another wounded after they were ambushed by illegal loggers in Brazil`s Amazon forest, according to authorities.
Paulo Paulino Guajajara, a leader of an indigenous group seeking to protect the Arariboia indigenous reserve in Maranhao state from incursions, was shot in the face while on a
More...
|
|
USA: Keystone Pipeline Leaks 383K Gallons |
|
By :James MacPherson, Associated Press |
| 31 October 2019 |
BISMARCK ND—TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of oil in northeastern North Dakota, state regulators said Thursday.
Crews on Tuesday shut down the pipeline that carries tar sands oil from Canada through seven states after the leak was discovered said Karl Rockeman, North Dakota’s water
More...
|
|
Framing the Inquiry into Land Inequality |
|
By :Arantxa Guereña and Marc Wegerif |
| 30 October 2019 |
The International Land Coalition (ILC) has launched a research project on land inequality in the world, beginning with an exercise of framing the approach the many related complexities of land inequality. The result of that initial effort is a coherent framework for research and action with suggested themes and questions for
More...
|
|
Canada: B.C. to Align Laws with UNDRIP |
|
By :Stephanie Wood, National Observer |
| 24 October 2019 |
B.C. tables United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples bill today
British Columbia is the first province to begin legislating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a landmark international document on Indigenous rights.
The province is introducing a bill today that will ensure all provincial laws
More...
|
|
USA: Island Returned to Indigenous Owners |
|
By :Julia Wick, Essential California, Los Angeles Times |
| 22 October 2019 |
Eureka returns an island to a tribe nearly 160 years after a massacre
California is in a moment of long overdue reckoning with the state’s original sin: the blood-soaked treatment of the people who inhabited this land long before any white settlers ever dreamed of Manifest Destiny. In recent
More...
|
|
Adani Coal Takes Native Land as Oz Burns |
|
By :Ben Doherty, The Guardian |
| 31 August 2019 |
While Queensland extinguishes native title over Indigenous land to make way for Adani coalmine
Palaszczuk government did not announce decision Wangan and Jagalingou people say makes them trespassers on their own land
The Queensland government has extinguished native title over 1,385 hectares of Wangan and Jagalingou country for the proposed Adani coalmine in
More...
|
|
What`s Destroying the Amazon? |
|
By :Rhett A. Butler, Mongabay News |
| 23 August 2019 |
Since 1978 over 750,000 square kilometers (289,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana. Why is Earth`s largest rainforest being destroyed?
For most of human history, deforestation in the Amazon was primarily the product of subsistence farmers who cut down trees to produce
More...
|
|
Brazil: Amazon on Fire |
|
By :CBS News |
| 21 August 2019 |
On Monday afternoon, the City of São Paulo, Brazil, went dark — but it wasn`t some strange cosmic event. Powerful winds carried the smoke from forest fires burning nearly 1,700 miles away, reported the BBC. Almost 73,000 fires have been detected by Brazil`s space research center INPE, according to Reuters. It`s a
More...
|
|
Nagaland Raises National Flag |
|
By :The Hindu |
| 14 August 2019 |
‘Naga national flag’ hoisted across Naga-inhabited areas on ‘Independence Day’
GUWAHATI, Assam—The influential Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) on Wednesday hoisted the ‘Naga national flag’ to celebrate the 73rd ‘Naga Independence Day’ across the Naga-inhabited areas, including Myanmar.
On 14 August 1947, leaders belonging to various Naga tribes came together to unfurl their
More...
|
|
IPCC Agrees with Indigenous Peoples |
|
By :Indigenous peoples |
| 12 August 2019 |
A statement on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land from Indigenous Peoples and local communities* from 42 countries spanning 76% of the world’s tropical forests
Finally, the world’s top scientists recognize what we have always known.
We—Indigenous Peoples and local communities—play a critical role
More...
|
|
PHROC Rebukes Donor States over UNRWA Cuts |
|
By :Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) |
| 04 August 2019 |
Palestinian Refugees must not suffer the consequences of alleged misconduct. Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) criticizes funding cuts to UNRWA over ethics evaluation.
PHROC: Support UNRWA and Ensure Refugee Rights under International Law
A ten-page report was issued by the ethics office of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
More...
|
|
EU Now Funds Israel’s Destruction of Palestine |
|
By :David Cronin, Rights and Accountability |
| 02 August 2019 |
The European Union is financing Israeli bodies that oversee home demolitions and other crimes against the Palestinian people.
Two years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was heard complaining that the European Union was “crazy” for attaching “political conditions” to its relations with Israel. By the prime minister’s yardstick, matters have become less “crazy” since then:
More...
|
|
German Firm’s Crimes against Palestinians |
|
By :Adri Nieuwhof Rights and Accountability |
| 10 June 2019 |
German firm escalates its war crimes against Palestinians
German construction giant HeidelbergCement is expanding its plunder of Palestinian resources, a war crime punishable under German and international law.
HeidelbergCement operates a stone quarry in the occupied West Bank without permission of the Palestinians.
After exhausting the Nahal Raba quarry, the Israeli army has
More...
|
|
A New UN Habitat Stakeholder Compact |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 30 May 2019 |
A group of stakeholder organizations in cooperation with UN Habitat have issued a vision statement for what they are calling a “new stakeholder compact” for implementing the New Urban Agenda (2016) in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals. On 30 May 2019, the stakeholders issued their declaration in a
More...
|
|
"People-centered Partnership" @ 1st UNHA |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 28 May 2019 |
Visions of People-centered Partnership”: HIC-HLRN at the first UN Habitat Assembly, Nairobi, 27 May 2019
NAIROBI—On 27 May 2019, Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network organized a side event at the first UN Habitat Assembly (Nairobi) in collaboration with UN Habitat’s stakeholder Youth Caucus. The inter-active event sought
More...
|
|
Ecuador: Waorani Block Big Oil Destruction |
| 16 May 2019 |
Amazon tribe wins lawsuit against big oil, saving millions of acres of rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest is well known across the world for being the largest and most dense area of woodland in the world. Spanning across nine countries, the Amazon is home to millions of different animal and plant species,
More...
|
|
South Africa Confronts Apartheid Land Legacy |
|
By :Christopher Clark, The Atlantic |
| 03 May 2019 |
ZOLANI, South Africa—On the outskirts of this overcrowded township in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, Phumlani Zota, a 32-year-old pig farmer, sifted through piles of waste in a refuse dump beneath the Langeberg mountains, filling a burlap sack with scraps of food for his livestock. “There is not enough land here,”
More...
|
|
Al-Haq International Law Summer School 2019! |
|
By :Al-Haq |
| 30 April 2019 |
24 June–8 July 2019
Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law is pleased to announce its Fifth International Law Summer School for post-graduate law students, legal researchers and professionals in the fields of international law and human rights. The training will take place over two weeks in Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territory
More...
|
|
DRC: Failed Agro-Industrial Park Model |
|
By :Oakland Institute and HLRN |
| 25 April 2019 |
The Bukanga Lonzo Debacle: The Failure of Agro-Industrial Parks in DRC is a new report of the Oakland Institute that exposes the numerous land rights violations and human rights abuses, pollution and health hazards, misspent funds, charges of embezzlement and corruption, and legal action since the establishment and collapse of
More...
|
|
South Africa: Land Reform Report Rejected |
|
By :Mfuneko Toyana; editing by Kirsten Donovan, Reuters |
| 19 April 2019 |
JOHANNESBURG--South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s push to reduce rural poverty and quell growing anger over unequal access to property faces further delays after a member of an advisory panel on the issue on Friday rejected key aspects of the plan.
Land ownership is a controversial and emotive issue in South Africa
More...
|
|
Waorani People Sue for Survival against Big Oil |
|
By :Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute |
| 11 April 2019 |
Indigenous peoples go to court to save the Amazon from oil company greed
On 27 February, hundreds of Indigenous Waorani elders, youth and leaders arrived in the city of Puyo, Ecuador. They left their homes deep in the Amazon rainforest to march peacefully through the streets, hold banners, sing songs and,
More...
|
|
India Court Orders Adivasi Evictions |
|
By :Climate scorecard |
| 07 April 2019 |
Spotlight Activity: Supreme Court Orders An Eviction of Indigenous Communities from Forest Areas
In February this year, India’s apex court, while deciding on a case filed by hardcore wildlife conservation groups, ordered the eviction of millions of indigenous communities, known as tribals or Adavasis from the forests they have been abiding
More...
|
|
USA: Court Challenge to Israel’s Colonies |
|
By :Mairav Zonszein, The Nation |
| 18 March 2019 |
In a First, Palestinians Challenge Israel’s Settlement Enterprise—in a US Court
The challenge comes in response to a case filed by Israeli settlers against Airbnb.
Randa Wahbe is a United States citizen with West Bank residency who is studying for a PhD in anthropology at Harvard University. Over the years, the 31-year-old
More...
|
|
Australia: Ngaliwurru & Nungali Native Title Ruling |
|
By :RT |
| 15 March 2019 |
Australian Aboriginals to get billions in compensation for land & spiritual loss in landmark case
Aboriginals in Australia have won a ground-breaking case that paves the way for billions of dollars in compensation claims for colonial land loss, as well as loss of spiritual connection.
The High Court of Australia ruled
More...
|
|
Crimea: Destroying Built Heritage, Erasing the Past |
|
By :Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
| 13 March 2019 |
“Closed for Destruction”: Russia is digging up 16th Century Crimean Tatar Khan’s Palace
Video footage has shown new details of Russia’s wanton destruction of the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, with ordinary workers carrying out ‘excavation’ work, without any attempt to record and preserve artefacts found.
Edem Dudakov, the former head of the
More...
|
|
USA: Court Rules IFC Not Immune |
|
By :Diane Desierto, European Journal of International Law blog |
| 28 February 2019 |
SCOTUS decision in Jam et al v. International Finance Corporation (IFC) denies absolute immunity to IFC…with caveats
When it rains, it somehow pours.
February 2019 ended up being such a landmark month for international law adjudication. A day after the International Court of Justice released its landmark Chagos Advisory Opinion (finely discussed by
More...
|
|
Brazil: Tucano Land Defender Assassinated |
|
By :Emtempo |
| 27 February 2019 |
MANAUS—The 53-year-old Tucano chief, Francisco de Souza Pereira, was shot four days ago in the "Urucaia" indigenous community in the Nova Cidade neighborhood of Manaus.
The crime occurred around 01:00 AM. Francisco was sleeping with his wife and a daughter when three hooded men invaded the house on Bahia Street.
More...
|
|
Indian Court Orders Eviction of 1 Million Tribals |
|
By :Rahul Bedi, The Telegraph |
| 22 February 2019 |
Indian Supreme Court orders eviction of 1 million tribal forest dwellers
NEW DELHI—India’s Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of over 1.1 million tribal and other traditional forest dwellers, after it recently rejected their ancient ownership claims on jungle land.
Experts estimate that the 20 February legal fiat could result in
More...
|
|
Petition to Stop Land Grabbing in Sierra Leone |
|
By :Okland Institute |
| 21 February 2019 |
Stop the criminalisation of land rights defenders!
Oakland, CA—One month after violent incidents in the SOCFIN plantations in Sierra Leone leading to brutal repression by security forces, the death of two people and 15 people arrested, Sierra Leonean and international civil society organisations urge the government of Sierra Leone and the
More...
|
|
Mining Grabs Up Land in Central America |
|
By :Edgardo Ayala, Inter press Service |
| 19 February 2019 |
SAN SALVADOR, Feb 19 2019 (IPS) - Like an octopus, metals mining has been spreading its tentacles throughout Central America and dealing a blow to the region’s agriculture and natural ecosystems, according to affected villagers, activists and a new report on the problem.
“Where the mining company is operating was land
More...
|
|
Japan to Recognize Indigenous Ainu People |
|
By :Japan Times/AFP-JIJI |
| 15 February 2019 |
Japan’s Cabinet considers legislation recognizing the indigenous Ainu people for first time.
The government approved a bill Friday to recognize the country’s ethnic Ainu minority as an “indigenous” people for the first time, after decades of discrimination against the group.
The Ainu people, many of whom live in northern Hokkaido, have long
More...
|
|
Palestine/Israel: Fake Justices |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 13 February 2019 |
In early September 2018, after years of legal proceedings, the justices of Israel’s High Court determined there was no legal obstacle to demolishing the structures in the community of al-Khan al-Ahmar, located about two kilometers south of the Jerusalem-choking Kfar Adumim settler colony. The Court delivered that conclusion as the
More...
|
|
Israel/Palestine: Tourism Accommodates War Crime |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 January 2019 |
The Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine constitute a war crime and crime against humanity. They form elements of the serious crime of population transfer, as codified in the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, and which previously was prosecuted at the International Military Tribunals at Nuremburg and Tokyo. The
More...
|
|
World Bank Schemes to Privatize the Commons |
|
By :Oakland Institute |
| 24 January 2019 |
The Highest Bidder Takes It All: The World Bank’s Scheme to Privatize the Commons details how the Bank’s prescribes reforms, via a new land indicator in the Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, promotes large-scale land acquisitions and the expansion of agribusinesses in the developing world. This new indicator is
More...
|
|
Land Grabbing Worsens Climate Change |
|
By :Fredrick Mugira, Annika Mcginnis, Pulitzer center |
| 10 January 2019 |
In Uganda, there were at least 17 “land grabs” since 2000 with contracts totaling 74,831 hectares of land, according to Land Matrix data.
A new report has linked land grabbing to worsening climate change, calling on governments to secure community land rights to protect the world’s natural resources such as “forests”
More...
|
|
S A: Reviews Land-Expropriation Bill |
|
By :Linda Ensor, BusinessDay |
| 24 December 2018 |
The draft Expropriation Bill gazetted by public works minister Thulas Nxesi last week for public comment was a disappointment and would not accelerate land reform, the Land Access Movement of SA (Lamosa) said.
It believes the proposed legislation lacks justice and provides no equity for homeland dwellers.
Lamosa, a federation of rural
More...
|
|
Leading Landless Women |
|
By :Fredrick Mugira,Pulitzer center |
| 13 December 2018 |
Up to 10.3 million hectares of land has been acquired by investors from individuals, communities and governments in the 11 Nile basin countries since 2000. That is according to Land Matrix, a global and independent land monitoring initiative.
Apart from private investors, Land Matrix data shows that several countries outside of
More...
|
|
We`re Celebrating 70th Human Rights Day |
|
By :HLRN |
| 10 December 2018 |
Declaration on Human Rights Day and the Right to the City
We, social movements, civil society and local governments’ organizations are committed to social justice through the promotion, defense and fulfillment of all human rights related to habitat, including the Human Right to Adequate Housing, Land and the Right to the
More...
|
|
Israel Court OKs Evicting 700 Jlem Palestinians |
|
By :Middle East Monitor |
| 22 November 2018 |
The Israeli Supreme Court yesterday rejected a petition submitted by 104 Palestinians against claims by a right-wing Israeli organisation paving the way for 700 Palestinians to be forced from their homes, Haaretz reported.
The 700 Palestinians, who make up 70 families, have been going through a legal battle to protect their
More...
|
|
UN Peasants’ Rights Declaration Adopted in GA |
|
By :HLRN |
| 20 November 2018 |
NEW YORK—The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) passed a draft that would have the Assembly adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. This vote assures that the Declaration will enter the next edition of Human Rights:
More...
|
|
Land Rights, Companies and Social Justice |
|
By :Chris Jochnick, SSIR.org |
| 24 October 2018 |
In 2004, the Newmont Mining Corporation hired me to investigate human rights accusations facing its gold mine operation in Peru, despite the company feeling like it had done everything right. It got the necessary government approvals, made legal land purchases, and launched various philanthropic initiatives, yet widespread protestscontinued to disrupt its efforts.
After meeting
More...
|
|
Liberia: New Law Affirms Customary Land Tenure |
|
By :James Yarsiah, Rights + Resources Initiative |
| 23 October 2018 |
On 19 September, Liberian President George Manneh Weah signed into law the Land Rights Bill (LRB), a landmark piece of legislation that recognizes the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to their customary lands and gives customary land the same standing as private land in Liberia.
This historic victory sets
More...
|
|
Statement of the ICC on Palestine |
|
By :ICC |
| 17 October 2018 |
Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, regarding the Situation in Palestine
I have been following with concern the planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, in the West Bank. Evacuation by force now appears imminent, and with it the prospects for further escalation and
More...
|
|
Ecuador: Chevron to Pay for Environmental Damage |
|
By :Mongabay |
| 14 August 2018 |
Chevron must pay for environmental damage in Ecuador, Constitution Court rules
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has issued a long-awaited ruling in favor of those affected by the transnational oil company Chevron, which operated through its subsidiary Texaco in Ecuador between 1964 and 1990. The court rejected the protection action that
More...
|
|
Myanmar: Struggles against Grabbing Fortress |
|
By :Rina Chandran, reuters |
| 06 August 2018 |
BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Saw Ma Bu’s family has lived in the mountainous forests of Myanmar’s Kayin state for generations, farming and fishing in the Salween river, even as a decades-long armed conflict raged in the region.
Now, he says, they fear their way of life is under threat as
More...
|
|
CSO Contributions Undermined at HLPF |
|
By :Lynn Wagner, Civicus |
| 03 August 2018 |
Unanswered Questions: How Civil Society’s Contributions to Sustainable Development are Undermined at the HLPF. Civil society are often on the frontlines, protecting the most vulnerable in our societies as well as our natural resources– vital work that must be protected and not attacked. Governments should be mindful of their commitments
More...
|
|
Tanzania: Losing the Serengeti |
|
By :The Oakland Institute |
| 02 August 2018 |
OAKLAND CA—Today, the Oakland Institute releases Kuipoteza Serengeti, Ardhi Ya Wamasai Iliyopaswa Kudumu Milele, a Kiswahili translation of the report Losing the Serengeti: The Maasai Land that was to Run Forever.
Based on field research, never publicly-seen-before documents, and an in-depth investigation into Tanzania’s land laws, the report reveals how Tanzania’s
More...
|
|
Expropriation Does Not Equal Land Reform |
|
By :Elmien du Plessis, News24 |
| 01 August 2018 |
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night announced that the ANC plans to go ahead with expropriation without compensation.
Ramaphosa explained that the "ANC reaffirms its position that the Constitution provides for radical transformation both of society and the economy", and that a proper reading of the Constitution "enables the state to
More...
|
|
Palestine: Israel’s Demolishing Khan al-Ahmar |
|
By :Akram Al-Wa`ra, Mondoweiss |
| 05 July 2018 |
Despite international condemnations, Israel prepares to demolish Khan al-Ahmar
KHAN AL-AHMAR, occupied West Bank, Palestine—Scenes of destruction and despair spread over the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar on Wednesday, as armed Israeli forces arrived at the village’s entrance with bulldozers.
The nightmare that the village’s 200 residents had feared for over
More...
|
|
World Bank Evaluation: Things Fall Apart |
|
By :Sophie Edwards, Devex |
| 18 June 2018 |
World Bank failing to follow watchdog advice, says IEG report
WASHINGTON — World Bank managers are failing to properly implement, and in some cases ignoring, the recommendations of its own independent watchdog, according to evaluators.
In a report presented Thursday, the Independent Evaluation Group, the body tasked with evaluating the performance of all parts of the World
More...
|
|
World Bank Evaluation: Things Fall Apart |
|
By :Sophie Edwards, Devex |
| 18 June 2018 |
World Bank failing to follow watchdog advice, says IEG report
WASHINGTON — World Bank managers are failing to properly implement, and in some cases ignoring, the recommendations of its own independent watchdog, according to evaluators.
In a report presented Thursday, the Independent Evaluation Group, the body tasked with evaluating the performance of all parts of the World
More...
|
|
Uganda: In Defence of Land Grabbing |
|
By :Andrew M. Mwenda, Independent Uganda |
| 28 May 2018 |
Our country has a new villain: the land grabber! In the popular imagination, this is a rich and powerful individual grabbing land from poor helpless victims. There are strong incentives for journalists, academics, politicians, activists, pundits, etc. to position themselves as champions of the poor masses against the rich and
More...
|
|
Tibet: New Report “Access Denied” |
|
By :International Campaign for Tibet |
| 26 May 2018 |
ICT has published its latest report, "Access Denied." It’s a troubling yet necessary account of the full extent of China`s efforts to prevent news of human rights abuses in Tibet from getting out.
China’s government doesn’t want anyone to know that international journalists are being detained by police, as two New
More...
|
|
Tanzania: Maasai Losing Lands to Tourism |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 25 May 2018 |
The indigenous Maasai people of Tanzania face appalling levels of human rights abuses, including intimidation, violent evictions, arrests, beatings, and starvation, by the Tanzanian government and some of the safari businesses that operate in the country, the Oakland Institute said today in a new report.
· In the past year, tens
More...
|
|
HICtionary Newly Updated |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 06 May 2018 |
HIC-HLRN has just updated the HICtionary: Key Habitat Terms from A to Z. This reference work is the result of deliberation and debate across multiple specializations, regions and cultures within the membership of Habitat International Coalition (HIC). The purpose of that debate—and this reference work—have been to consolidate and harmonize
More...
|
|
Unearthing Truths: Israel, Nakba and JNF |
|
By :The Editors of Moving Forward |
| 01 May 2018 |
The monthly Moving Forward is published with support from Jews Say No! That organization engages in community education, street theatre, and organizing to make their members’ voices heard in Jewish communities and as partners in the broader movement for justice in Palestine/Israel. The following article is the editorial to Moving
More...
|
|
30 Cities Join Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day |
|
By :Platform No to the Destruction of Sur, Istanbul Sur Solidarity, Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, and Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive |
| 30 April 2018 |
DIYARBAKIR / AMED—As part of the Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day in almost 30 cities, actions have been organized on 28 April 2018. Activists and civil organization raised awareness on the ongoing destruction of the two antique cities Sur and Hasankeyf at the Tigris River in North (Turkish) Kurdistan.
More...
|
|
UN Reaffirms Indigenous Peoples` Land Rights |
|
By :UN News |
| 16 April 2018 |
In her opening remarks to the Forum in New York, the chairperson, Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine, a medical doctor from Timbuktu, Mali, called the land husbandry of Aboriginal peoples “part of our history and heritage.”
But few countries have acted to defend these peoples’ collective rights, she added.
“Law enforcement is inadequate or
More...
|
|
Indonesia: NGOs Call for Action on Indigenous Lands |
|
By :Stephen Then, Star online |
| 16 April 2018 |
MIRI: About 30 social activist groups nationwide have issued a joint declaration urging political parties from both the ruling government and opposition parties to give more attention to resolve land right woes affecting indigenous communities.
The non-governmental bodies from Sarawak, Sabah and the peninsula held a dialogue here and issued the
More...
|
|
Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
|
By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
| 14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently
More...
|
|
Land Day: 17 Fallen in 2018, as the 6 in 1976 |
|
By :Al-Arabiya net |
| 30 March 2018 |
In Palestine, "the Return March" is emerging, and Israel is killing the demonstrators. Three thousand occupation soldiers deployed in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip with orders to fire live bullets. Thousands of Palestinians marched Friday near the border between Gaza and Israel in a protest march called
More...
|
|
USA: Alaska Natives Continue Land Fight |
|
By :Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News |
| 27 March 2018 |
Alaska’s landless communities continue fight for land
Representatives of five Southeast Alaska communities continue their fight for recognition under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. But they’re still facing opposition.
It’s been almost a half-century since Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which created more than 200 corporations with land,
More...
|
|
1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 28 February 2018 |
Dubai Land Department announces the conclusion of the first Arab land governance conference
The conference, organized in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, UN-HABITAT, the League of Arab States and the Arab Surveying Association, was attended by more than 300 participants, representing several regional and international bodies.
Dubai
More...
|
|
Peru: Shipibo-Konibo Forced from Forest to Slum |
|
By :Jack Guy, Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 20 February 2018 |
Forced from rainforest, Peruvian tribe faces new woes in Lima slum
LIMA—Wedged between the rubbish-choked Rimac River and lanes of traffic belching fumes, the Cantagallo slum in downtown Lima is a far cry from the Amazon rainforest land that the Shipibo-Konibo people were forced to flee two decades ago.
Hundreds of
More...
|
|
Kenya: Eviction Threats against Sengwer Continue |
|
By :Chris Lang, Redd monitor |
| 15 February 2018 |
The Sengwer indigenous people who live in the Embobut forest in the western highlands of Kenya continue to face threats of violence and evictions. The latest round of violent evictions started at the end of December 2017. The evictions, carried out by the Kenya Forest Service, are supposedly in the name of
More...
|
|
Canada: Trudeau’s New Indigenous Rights Initiative |
|
By :John Paul Tasker, CBC News |
| 14 February 2018 |
Trudeau promises new legal framework for Indigenous people “We need to get to a place where Indigenous peoples in Canada are in control of their own destiny,” PM says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a fundamental rethink of how the federal government recognizes Indigenous rights and title, vowing to work
More...
|
|
Peru: Chaparrí Land Defender Tortured, Killed |
|
By :Dan Collyns, The Guardian |
| 14 February 2018 |
José Napoleón Tarrillo Astonitas murdered for opposing land traffickers seeking to clear land in the Chaparrí Ecological Reserve, say local witnesses
A criminal gang involved in land trafficking has tortured and murdered a community leader in northern Peru, according to his wife and local villagers who witnessed the killing.
José Napoleón Tarrillo
More...
|
|
France: Equality Law Fails, Roma Evictions Increased |
|
By :ERRC |
| 08 February 2018 |
Paris, Budapest 6 February 2018: In the last year 11,309 Romani people were evicted from their homes in France, the majority of which (8,161) were forcefully evicted by authorities. A further 2,055 left their homes before the arrival of authorities, under pressure of an imminent eviction.
Last year saw a 12% increase
More...
|
|
South Africa: The Great Land Grab Cover-up |
|
By :Michelle Hay, Land and Accountability Research Center |
| 05 February 2018 |
The great land grab cover- up: how the government is helping chiefs and mining companies to steal your land
You’re sitting at home, minding your own business, reading the news on your phone. If you are part of an unfortunate 30% of the population, you could, at any time, get a
More...
|
|
USA: Trump`s Utah Land Grab Begins |
|
By :Fred Hamble, act.tv |
| 02 February 2018 |
Trump`s ”Gold Rush” style land grab in Utah begins today
The Trump regime`s decision to withdraw federal protections from millions of acres of public land in Utah last year will kick off a Wild West-era land claim process starting on Friday.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, on Friday
More...
|
|
China’s OBOR Project Dispossesses, Displaces Tibetans |
|
By :David Brewster, Inside Policy |
| 24 January 2018 |
China’s Belt and Road Initiative will result in important strategic consequence for the countries of South Asia, writes David Brewster. But its impact on China itself should not be ignored.
In geopolitical terms, South Asia has long functioned like an island, nominally attached to Eurasia but not really part of it.
More...
|
|
Belgium Supports UNRWA as USA Defunds |
|
By :Haaretz |
| 17 January 2018 |
Belgium has stepped in to help out the UN Agency assisting Palestinian refugees with an immediate disbursement of $23 million Wednesday a day after the Trump administration suspended $65 million in aid for the international organization.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Wednesday that "for a lot of
More...
|
|
USA: Water Security v. Energy Independence |
|
By :Jennifer Veilleux, Center for Humans and Nature |
| 04 January 2018 |
In late 2016, I attended government-to-government meetings in Rapid City, South Dakota, between several Plains Tribal Government representatives and US Federal Government officials. I listened to a tribal elder testify that her young grandson was hospitalized with an E. coli infection caused by hydraulic fracturing water contamination in her community
More...
|
|
South Africa: Constitution-based Land Restitution? |
|
By :Alet Janse van Rensburg, news24 |
| 20 December 2017 |
ANC`s land expropriation decision an admission of its own failures
The ANC’s decision at its national conference to go ahead with the expropriation of land without compensation is an admission of its own failure to pursue real land distribution, experts say.
The ruling party announced on Wednesday evening that its committee on
More...
|
|
Canada: New 10-year $40B Housing Strategy |
|
By :Peter Zimonjic, CBC News |
| 22 November 2017 |
Liberals detail $40B for 10-year national housing strategy, introduce Canada Housing Benefit. New strategy aims to build 100,000 new units, repair 300,000 and cut homelessness by 50%.
The federal government has announced the details of its ten-year national housing strategy, which includes the introduction of a housing benefit for families that
More...
|
|
Out of Africa: Human Rights Habitat Struggles |
|
By :Marie Huchzermeyer, CUBES/Wits Univ. and Joseph Schechla, HLRN |
| 07 November 2017 |
From Africa to the World: Struggling for Human Rights to Housing, Land and the City
Mid-October 2017, Nairobi was host to an intense engagement on housing rights, social justice and the right to the city. This was amid political turmoil in Kenyan towns and cities, and unrelated to this but largely
More...
|
|
Kenya: AG Enjoined in Samburu Eviction Case |
|
By :Joseph Wangui, The Nation |
| 01 November 2017 |
Githu Muigai enjoined in Samburu eviction case
Attorney-General Githu Muigai has been enjoined in a case in which retired President Daniel Moi was sued by the Samburu community for transferring 17,105 acres (69,217,493.44 square meters) of their land in Laikipia North to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
The Environment and Land Court
More...
|
|
EU States Demand Israel Pay Demolition Costs |
|
By :Barak Ravid, Haaretz |
| 19 October 2017 |
Eight European Union countries wrote an official protest letter to Israel, demanding over €30,000 ($35,400) in compensation for confiscating and demolishing structures and infrastructure which the countries had built in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control.
A senior European diplomat told Haaretz that the letter,
More...
|
|
Food Companies Threaten Environmental Activists |
|
By :Oxfam International |
| 07 September 2017 |
Despite committing to deforestation-free supply chains, the top 10 food and beverage companies lack policies to protect the activists and communities caring for the environment from intimidation, threats and attacks, according to a new Oxfam report.
Commercial farming of some everyday food ingredients, like soy and palm oil, are driving massive
More...
|
|
Peru: Six Land Defenders Shot Dead |
|
By :Dan Collyns, The Guardian |
| 07 September 2017 |
The victims were targeted by a criminal gang who wanted to use their lands to grow lucrative palm oil, according to local indigenous leaders
Six farmers have been shot dead by a criminal gang who wanted to seize their farms to muscle in on the lucrative palm oil trade, according
More...
|
|
Tanzania: Forced Evictions of Loliondo Maasai |
|
By :Chris Lang, Conservation Watch |
| 30 August 2017 |
“Forced evictions of Maasai people in Loliondo, Tanzania”: Urgent Alert from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
The International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) last week put out a short report about the violent evictions of Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo, Tanzania.
According to reliable information received by IWGIA, forced and
More...
|
|
Nicaragua: Future Canal Threatens Mass Eviction |
|
By :Amnesty International |
| 03 August 2017 |
Nicaragua: Country’s future for sale as canal threatens thousands with forced eviction
The Nicaraguan government must stop placing business before the future of the country and its people, Amnesty International said in a new report today looking at a secretive deal that will lead to the construction of a canal
More...
|
|
No SDGs without Major Progress on Land |
|
By :Luca Chinotti, International Land Coalition |
| 28 July 2017 |
Land and the SDGs: Key takeaways from the 2017 HLPF and what we need to do next
This was the clear and strong message that was brought by the land community into the major global forum on the SDGs, the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which is the central platform for
More...
|
|
USA: EPA Dumps, Drops Duties |
|
By :The Indigenous Americans |
| 15 July 2017 |
EPA Refuses to pay claims after mine spill dumps 3,000,000 gallons of toxic waste into water on Native American land
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has refused to pay more than $1.2 billion in claims filed against it in response to the Gold King Mine spill, reported the Farmington Daily Times.
The EPA says the
More...
|
|
“Spotlight” on UN High-Level Forum, SDGs |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 10 July 2017 |
As the UN High-Level Forum opens in New York, a global civil society report spotlights the role of big business in hindering development and deepening economic and social disparity.
Unbridled privatization, corporate capture and mass-scale tax abuse are blocking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, argues a new report by a
More...
|
|
Brazil: Indigenous Amazon Protectors v. Loggers |
|
By :Chris Arsenault, Karla Mendes, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 09 July 2017 |
Inside Brazil`s Indigenous Reserve 124, Chief Geraldo Apurina walks along a muddy footpath, past towering trees as yet untouched by Amazon loggers. Much of the land around the reserve has been cleared of trees. Grazing land for cattle now stretches as far as the eye can see from the highway,
More...
|
|
UNESCO: Hebron Palestine World Heritage |
|
By :UNESCO/Peter Beaumont, The Guardian |
| 07 July 2017 |
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Krakow, has inscribed Hebron / Al Khalil Old town (Palestine) on 7 July 2017. The Committee simultaneously added the site of Hebron/al-Khalil to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Hebron/al-Khalil Old Town (Palestine)
The use of a local limestone shaped the construction of the old town
More...
|
|
CSOs Denounce Brazil Urban Policy Regression |
|
By :GPR2C |
| 27 June 2017 |
Since the 1980s, Brazil has been developing its legal frameworks and structuring policies progressively to reflect the international agreements that protect human rights and address the inequalities of cities, which exclude millions of people from accessing adequate standards of living. All the steps forward, closely related to the organization and
More...
|
|
Western Sahara: Ruling against Plunder |
|
By :WSRW |
| 15 June 2017 |
A panel of judges in the High Court in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, judged this morning that the cargo on board the vessel NM Cherry Blossom is rightfully detained, and that a trial to determine its ownership is to take place.
A panel of judges in South Africa ruled today
More...
|
|
China Evicts More Tibetan Nomads for “Development” |
|
By :RFA |
| 15 June 2017 |
Tibetan nomads forced from resettlement towns to make way for development
Tibetan nomads previously forced from traditional grazing lands in a state-directed resettlement scheme in Qinghai are now being told to go back, as authorities begin to target their current homes for development as tourist centers and housing for government employees,
More...
|
|
NUA Reporting in 2018 Crucial |
|
By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 11 May 2017 |
2018 reporting period will prove critical for New Urban Agenda, advocates say
Labels
NAIROBI—Although 2017 is not yet halfway over, advocates for the New Urban Agenda on sustainable cities already are looking to next year as critical for embedding the agreement aims among national governments.
That’s because the recent Habitat III conference set
More...
|
|
Land Haunts Germany`s Namibia Genocides |
|
By :Joe Brock, Reuters |
| 02 March 2017 |
Land haunts Germany`s effort to atone for Africa genocide
OKAHANDJA, Namibia—Namibia’s Herero people are heartened that Germany is keen to atone for the genocide of their ancestors, but they expect something Berlin says it is not in a position to give.
“What we want is our land,” said 74-year-old Alex Kaubtauuapela, whose
More...
|
|
Pope: Indigenous People Sovereign in Their Lands |
|
By :David Hill, The Guardian |
| 15 February 2017 |
Pope says indigenous people must have final say about their land
Francis echoes growing body of international law and standards on the right to "prior and informed consent."
In the 15th Century papal bulls promoted and provided legal justification for the conquest and theft of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources worldwide
More...
|
|
Report: Forced Evictions Fuel Land Disputes |
|
By :Kieran Guilbert, Rights Resources |
| 09 February 2017 |
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Forced evictions of local communities from their lands by foreign companies fuel around two-thirds of land ownership disputes across Africa, often sparking strikes or violence which can prove costly to investors, activists said on Thursday.
Pushing people off their land drives more conflict over land rights
More...
|
|
Report: Land Rights in a Turbulent World |
|
By :Rights and Resources Initiative |
| 09 February 2017 |
Acknowledgment that insecure land rights among the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities contribute to conflict, discourage investment, and impede progress on global goals of sustainable development, poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation is growing. In 2016, this consensus found a powerful new ally: major institutional investors are beginning to
More...
|
|
EU’s Biggest Pension Funds Invest Big in Colonies |
|
By :Mikkel Bahl, Hanan Chemlali & Kristoffer Marslev, Danwatch |
| 31 January 2017 |
Europe’s largest pension funds heavily invested in illegal Israeli settler colonies.
Europe’s five largest pension funds have €7.5 billion invested in companies with business activities in and around illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is at odds with United Nations guidelines, clear warnings from 18 European countries, and undermines
More...
|
|
Colombia: Seeking Justice from Chiquita Banana Wars |
|
By :Matt Kennard and Nick MacWilliam, In These Times |
| 27 January 2017 |
Chiquita made a killing from Colombia’s civil war. Will their victims finally see justice? A long-running case against the banana giant is moving forward in U.S. court.
Getting an interview with Anabel (not her real name) is not easy. In Colombia, witnessing paramilitary violence against your family generally means you keep
More...
|
|
fb Zuckerberg Sues to Take Native Hawaiian Land |
|
By :Nathan Wellman, U.S. Uncut |
| 19 January 2017 |
Mark Zuckerberg is suing to force native Hawaiians off their ancestral land to build an island resort
Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg ended 2016 by suing hundreds of people native to Hawaii, apparently so that he can have 700 acres of land all to himself.
The billionaire’s lawsuit, filed on 30 December, was
More...
|
|
World Bank’s Agriculture Initiative Criticized |
|
By :Brettonwoods Project |
| 18 January 2017 |
Civil society has called on the World Bank to terminate its Enabling the Business of Agriculture initiative.
In mid-January, 157 organisations and individuals sent a letter to World Bank president Jim Yong Kim calling for the termination of the Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture initiative (EBA, see Bulletin May 2014,
More...
|
|
USA: Trump Calls for More Drilling, Taps Protest |
|
By :Annie Knox and Kim Palmer, Reuters |
| 15 January 2017 |
US President-elect Donald Trump taps a well of protest with his calls for more oil and gas drilling in the country`s national parks
President-elect Donald Trump aims to open up federal lands to more energy development, tapping into a long-running and contentious debate over how best to manage America’s remaining wilderness.
The
More...
|
|
Namibians Sue Germany for Land Grab, Genocide |
|
By :Al Jazeera |
| 06 January 2017 |
The Ovaherero and Nama people of Namibia launch lawsuit against Germany for alleged land theft and killing of 100,000 people more than 100 years ago.
Two indigenous groups in Namibia have filed a lawsuit against Germany, accusing it of genocide committed by colonial rulers more than a century ago.
The suit was filed
More...
|
|
Cameroon: OECD Inquiry into Complaint about WWF |
|
By :Survival International |
| 05 January 2017 |
In an unprecedented move, a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)* has agreed to investigate a complaint that the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has funded human rights abuses in Cameroon, beginning a process that until now has only been used for multinational businesses.
Survival submitted the complaint in February 2016, citing numerous
More...
|
|
UNSC Votes to End Israeli Settler Colonies |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 24 December 2016 |
It was the first time in eight years that the UN Security Council had passed a resolution condemning Israel’s illegal construction of settler colonies in occupied Palestine. The vote came on Friday, following an unprecedented intervention of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that had U.S. President-elect Donald Trump "advising" Egyptian
More...
|
|
ECJ Rejects Morocco`s Western Sahara Claim |
|
By :Dominic Dudley, Forbes |
| 21 December 2016 |
European Court of Justice dismisses Morocco`s claim to Western Sahara, throwing EU trade deal into doubt. The ruling on the bloc`s trade deals with Morocco means they do not apply to Western Sahara, which occupied territory is notable for its fish stocks, mineral extraction, agricultural exports and potential oil reserves.
Morocco’s
More...
|
|
Mexico: Ranchers, Indigenous Contest Land |
|
By :Tracy Barnett, Thomas Reuters Foundation |
| 19 December 2016 |
Both sides say the government is responsible for the dispute in Mexico`s Sierra Madre mountain range - but the government won`t get involved
LA YESCA, Mexico—Audelina Villagrana has run her ranch in Mexico`s Western Sierra Madre Mountains on her own since the death of her husband 23 years ago, herding livestock,
More...
|
|
Land Rights Defender Killings Tripled in 2016 |
|
By :PANAP |
| 10 December 2016 |
2015 had been the worst year on record for killings of land and environmental defenders who are struggling to protect land, forests and rivers from privately interested takers. But, in 2016, roughly 16 land rights advocates have been killed each month from January through November.
PENANG, Malaysia—Advocacy group PAN Asia Pacific
More...
|
|
Nigerian King Sues Shell in London |
|
By :Alice Ritchie, Phys.org |
| 22 November 2016 |
Nigerian tribal king Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi has flown to London for a High Court hearing in which lawyers for more than 40,000 Nigerians are demanding action from Shell to clean up oil spills
King Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi holds up a plastic bottle containing contaminated water from his community
More...
|
|
Indigenous Rights Key to Saving Forests |
|
By :Jonathan Watts, The Guardian |
| 02 November 2016 |
Indigenous rights are key to preserving forests, climate change study finds. Leaving forests in communal hands cuts carbon emissions from deforestation, helps communities and offers long-term economic benefits: “Everyone wins.”
RIO DE JANEIRO—The world’s indigenous communities need to be given a bigger role in climate stabilisation, according to a new study
More...
|
|
Our Precious Urban Lives |
|
By :Lisa Pryor, The New York Times |
| 29 October 2016 |
SYDNEY, Australia—Down the hill from my house, there is an old building with a saw-toothed roof that once warehoused trams, back when the bay was heavy with industrial waste and working-class people could afford to buy a home this close to the city and harbor of Sydney.
Now that building has
More...
|
|
Alternative Forums outside of Habitat III |
|
By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 14 October 2016 |
Even as governments adopt the New Urban Agenda next week, multiple groups plan protests and contrary discussions.
A large crowd gathers at the Urban Social Forum in Rio de Janeiro, which took place as an alternative to the World Urban Forum in March 2010. More such events are expected at next
More...
|
|
US: Protests of Native Community on Water |
|
By :Mary Annette Pember, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork |
| 28 September 2016 |
Benjamin Conrad, 20, only brings out his grandfather’s war bonnet for special occasions. Today was such a day.
Conrad of the Northern Arapaho, Choctaw and Creek tribes joined about 300 water protectors in a peaceful direct action opposing continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River near the
More...
|
|
Murder and Eviction: New Era of Global Land Rush |
|
By :Oxfam international |
| 26 September 2016 |
Millions of people face being displaced from their homes as new data shows land sales covering an area the size of Germany are now under contract, warns Oxfam.
Seventy-five percent of the more than 1500 land deals sought over the last sixteen years now have contracts and their intended projects are getting
More...
|
|
Thailand: Karens to Appeal Eviction Verdict |
|
By :Forest Peoples Programme |
| 13 September 2016 |
Karens to appeal court verdict legalizing their forced evictions; indigenous organizations call for effective redress
Karen representatives today vowed to appeal against the recent Thai court verdict that ruled the authorities did not break the law in burning their properties to forcefully evict them from Kaeng Krachan National Park. Indigenous rights
More...
|
|
World’s Indigenous People and Profit Enterprise |
|
By :Elika Ansari, Undergroundreporter.org |
| 22 August 2016 |
9 August 2016 marked the 12th International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, a day pronounced by the U.N. to promote the rights of the indigenous peoples of the world, while also celebrating their contributions to environmental protection.
Meanwhile, over a hundred indigenous men and women dressed in traditional garb marched in Baguio City, Philippines, in
More...
|
|
Native Americans Block Oil Pipeline Construction |
|
By :Matt Agorist, The free though project.com |
| 21 August 2016 |
The Camp of the Sacred Stones has swelled from a few dozen to more than 2,500, according to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe officials. They are calling for further review of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the end of July without a
More...
|
|
Rio’s Indigenous Trapped in Social Housing |
|
By :Alix Vadot, Rioonwatch.org |
| 15 August 2016 |
In Estácio, a centrally located neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, Block 15 of the Zé Keti social housing complex, part of the Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV) program, has been the home of some of the city’s remainingindigenous families since June 2013. Its residents have described the complex, built on the grounds of the former
More...
|
|
WB Retreat from Indigenous Rights |
|
By :Gretchen Gordon and Prabindra Shakya, telesurtv.net |
| 08 August 2016 |
There are many within World Bank staff and management who see Indigenous peoples as obstacles to development.
While recent years have shown a steady advancement in recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples, last week the World Bank adopted a new policy framework that threatens to undermine this progress and put
More...
|
|
World Bank Policies Imperil Land Defenders |
|
By :Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR |
| 04 August 2016 |
Just 5 months since the murder of Honduran environmental defender Berta Caceres, the Bank is passing new safeguards that do more harm than good.
The World Bank is expected to approve Thursday its new “Environmental and Social Framework” which civil society groups say weakens human rights protections and will likely endanger the very communities the safeguards are intended to protect.
At issue
More...
|
|
HIC Addresses Habitat III PrepCom3 |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 27 July 2016 |
The “New Urban Agenda,” from its inception, is inconsistent with historic agreements, today’s global priorities and the “world we need.” Particular interests have narrowed the Habitat Agenda to urban priorities, subordinated rural areas and ignored issues of forced migration, presuming that urbanization is “inevitable” and beyond human will or policy
More...
|
|
UN: Agriculture and Forestry for Food Security |
|
By :UN News Center |
| 18 July 2016 |
Agriculture and forestry can improve food security, according to a new United Nations report released today, at the start of World Forest Week.
Farming is globally the most significant driver of deforestation, but promoting a more positive interaction between agriculture and forestry can build sustainable agricultural systems and improve food systems,
More...
|
|
China: Profiting from Confiscated Tibetan Lands |
|
By :Radio Free Asia |
| 11 July 2016 |
In the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China is confiscating lands at a low price and then reselling at a profit to Chinese developers. Newly built apartments in these lands are then sold back at high prices to the Tibetans from whom the land was first taken. The
More...
|
|
India Mine Displaced 400 Adivasi Families |
|
By :Elizabeth Puranam, Al Jazeera |
| 07 July 2016 |
The mine that displaced India`s indigenous people. About 400 Adivasi families once lived near the Chaal coal mine, but blasting and water contamination forced them to leave
The earth-shattering sound of dynamite welcomed us to the small village of Lath, which sits on the edge of an open-cast coal mine.
More...
|
|
MEQ Issues New Report, Maintains Old Inertia |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 01 July 2016 |
In line with their decision announced in Munich on 12 February 2016 and underlining their commitment to support a comprehensive, just, and lasting resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the representatives of the Middle East Quartet (MEQ) has issued its 2016 report today. The report issued by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
More...
|
|
Israel: Water as a Tool to Dominate Palestinians |
|
By :Camilla Corradin, Al Jazeera |
| 20 June 2016 |
Israel deliberately denies Palestinians control over their water sources and sets the ground for water domination.
Occupied West Bank—As temperatures rise and summer months approach, yet again this year, thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are being deprived of their most basic need - access to water - as
More...
|
|
Brazil: Fundão Dam Devastation |
|
By :Ingrid Fadnes, Al Jazeera |
| 14 June 2016 |
MARIANA, Brazil—On November 5, 2015, the Fundao dam burst in the inland municipality of Mariana in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The Brazilian mining company Samarco, owned by two of the world`s biggest mining corporations, Vale SA and BHP Billiton, operated the dam.
Tcharly do Barmo Batista, a 23-year-old father,
More...
|
|
Choctaw v Climate Change: “The earth is speaking” |
|
By :Emily Crane Linn, Al Jazeera |
| 13 June 2016 |
In the United States, members of the indigenous Choctaw nation fight to reclaim their relationship with the land in a world without seasons.
Durant, Oklahoma—It`s nearly June. Every day, the Earth brings Darryl “Grey Eagle” Brown closer to the Sun, to heaven, to the Creator. That means it`s nearly time
More...
|
|
Brazil: Guarani & Kaiowá Face Forced Eviction |
|
By :FIAN International |
| 12 June 2016 |
With no access to their legitimate territory, the members of the Guarani and Kaiowá Apyka`i community will be prevented from exercising their fundamental rights as indigenous peoples, including feeding themselves adequately.
Despite intensive and coordinated international action, the sentence by the 1st Federal Court of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul has followed
More...
|
|
“Luminous Fog” Makes Milky Way Disappear |
|
By :Nicola Davis, The Guardian |
| 11 June 2016 |
It has inspired astronomers, artists, musicians and poets but the Milky Way could become a distant memory for much of humanity, according to a new global atlas of light pollution.
The study found 60% of those living in the EU and almost 80% of North Americans cannot see the glow of
More...
|
|
Nigeria: Herdsmen, Land Use and Human Rights |
|
By :Spaces 4 Change |
| 01 June 2016 |
Fulani herdsmen, herdsmen, hoodlums, intruders from Chad and neighbouring countries, or whatever appellation ascribed to their murderous activities, these names emit fumes of terror, anguish and fear. The fear they evoke is well founded. What started out as recurrent violent clashes between nomadic herdsmen and their host farming communities in
More...
|
|
Myanmar: Human Rights Should Be "Top Priority" |
|
By :Karen News |
| 09 May 2016 |
Prominent human rights advocacy organization, Human Rights Watch calls for new civilian government to push for human rights reforms.
In a statement released today, Human Rights Watch has called on the new National League for Democracy government to make human rights a “top priority.”
Mr. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights
More...
|
|
4 Tibetan Land Defenders Get Suspended Sentence |
|
By :Tibetan Center for Rights and Democracy |
| 14 April 2016 |
Four Tibetan men have been given suspended jail sentences for petitioning against government confiscation of their land in Ka Bharma nomadic camp in Thangkor (Ch: Tangke) Township in Dzoege (Ch: Ruoergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The four Tibetans are identified as Phurkho, Rinchen
More...
|
|
World Bank Accountability @ Spring Meetings |
|
By :Oakland Institute |
| 12 April 2016 |
World Bank Accountability on Forced Resettlements Must be a Priority at Its Spring Meetings
Oakland, CA—World Bank accountability on forced resettlements resulting from its programs must be front and center at its spring meetings, taking place this week in Washington DC.
Between 2004 and 2013, nearly 3.4 million people were physically or economically
More...
|
|
Panama: Ngäbe Communities Facing Evictions |
|
By :Jennifer Kennedy, International Solidarity |
| 08 April 2016 |
The Barro Blanco Dam will have a disastrous effect on Ngäbe communities inside the Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle and campesino communities also living on the banks of the river.
Ngäbe communities in western Panama are calling for support from the international community after officials from the Honduran-owned energy company, GENISA, warn that they
More...
|
|
Israeli Plunder of Palestinian Homes “Concerns” U.S. |
|
By :David Alexander, Reuters |
| 02 April 2016 |
Crackdown on what Israel claims is illegal construction has already pitied Jerusalem against the EU, who funds some of the structures.
JERUSALEM—The United States is "concerned" about Israel`s demolition of Arab buildings in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a State Department spokeswoman said on Friday, adding that it raised questions
More...
|
|
Struggle in the City for Tibetan Nomads |
|
By :Benjamin Haas, AFP |
| 23 March 2016 |
ABA (OCCUPIED TIBET)—By mid-morning, Lobsang’s leather cowboy hat is askew, his black robes dishevelled, and his breath stinks of booze. Once a nomad herder roaming the high Tibetan plateau, instead he stumbles around his sparse new concrete house.
For decades he and his wife grazed yaks and sheep, living a life
More...
|
|
A Last Chance for the World`s Forests? |
|
By :Bill Laurance, CounterPunch |
| 13 February 2016 |
An alarming new study has shown that the world’s forests are not only disappearing rapidly, but that areas of “core forest”—remote interior areas critical for disturbance-sensitive wildlife and ecological processes—are vanishing even faster.
Core forests are disappearing because a tsunami of new roads, dams, power lines, pipelines and other infrastructure is
More...
|
|
HLRN-India Launches Habitat III Status Report |
|
By :HLRN-India |
| 05 February 2016 |
New Delhi—On Friday, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched its first Habitat III country report titled, Housing and Land Rights in India: Status Report for Habitat III. The United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)—the third bidecennial international conference on habitat issues—will be held
More...
|
|
UNCERD: Holy See Liable to Indigenous Peoples |
|
By :Apache-Nde-Nnee Working Group |
| 15 January 2016 |
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has declared the Holy See legally responsible and accountable to Indigenous Peoples for effects and the legacy of racist, colonial Papal Bulls and Doctrines.
Geneva—As the result of a comprehensive parallel report and presentations by members of the Apache-Nde-Nnee Working
More...
|
|
Ethiopia`s Development Crackdown on Dissent |
|
By :Charles Stratford, Al Jazeera |
| 10 January 2016 |
Rights groups say 140 people killed in recent weeks as government moves forward with controversial development plans.
Wolonkomi, Ethiopia—Security forces have killed at least 140 people during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Ethiopia in recent weeks, activists and rights groups say.
The protests by members of the country`s largest ethnic group,
More...
|
|
Ethiopia: Reacts to Sudan Land-giveaway Rumour |
|
By :Tesfa-Alem Tekle, Sudan Tribune |
| 25 December 2015 |
December 25, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn dismissed on Friday circulating rumours that his government secretly gave away part of the Horn of Africa’s territories to stakeholders in neighbouring Sudan.
Desalegn’s remarks came while responding to queries raised by members of the House of People’s Representatives
More...
|
|
Total Withdraws from Western Sahara |
|
By :WSRW |
| 21 December 2015 |
The French multinational oil company has announced that it is no longer pursuing oil search offshore Western. "More good news for the Saharawi people. We urge the remaining oil companies to follow suit," Western Sahara Resources Watch (WSRW) has stated.
"Total has informed the Moroccan authorities that it would not request
More...
|
|
Morocco: EU Court Annuls Trade Agreement |
|
By :WSRW |
| 10 December 2015 |
BRUSSELS—The European Court of Justice has this morning ordered the annulment of a trade agreement between Morocco and the European Union since it includes the territory of Western Sahara. "A landmark decision in the history of the occupation of Western Sahara," states Western Sahara Resources Watch (WSRW).
The judgment was
More...
|
|
Tibet: Climate Change Challenges China Policies |
|
By :ICT |
| 10 December 2015 |
As the world’s leaders meet in Paris this week for critical climate change talks, new findings by the International Campaign for Tibet reveal that Tibet’s fragile environment, which is warming faster than anywhere else, is of critical global importance. But almost unnoticed by the rest of the world, China’s policies
More...
|
|
COP21: Land & Water Convergence Speaks |
|
By :Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles |
| 08 December 2015 |
Parallel to the climate conference in Paris, social movements and allies within the “Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles” stand up for climate justice and real solutions to the climate crisis. This alliance of struggles has delivered its message to the COP21 currently meeting at Paris. Their statement follows.
The
More...
|
|
HIC Takes on COP21 |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 December 2015 |
HIC is participating in the current Conference of Parties, also known as COP21, which is gathering the 195 countries that have joined and ratified the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. In an effort address climate change, the states and organizations convened are
More...
|
|
Philippines: 2 Yrs. after Haiyan, Still Waiting |
|
By :Astrid Zweynert, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 08 November 2015 |
Nearly 2 Years After Typhoon Haiyan, Many Still Waiting for Rehousing in Safer Areas. Experts are calling for a closer monitoring system of how aid funds are being spent.
TACLOBAN, Philippines—Arsenjo Francisco has lived near the sea all his life, but the retired Filipino fisherman lost his love of the ocean
More...
|
|
Democratic Land Control and Human Rights |
|
By :Jennifer C. Franco, Sofía Monsalve and Saturnino M Borras, sciencedirect.com |
| 02 November 2015 |
Democratic land control is inseparable from human rights.
It is important to understand demands for democratic land control in the context of broadly distinct political conditions that in turn each requires distinct political intervention, namely, respect/protect, promote, and/or restore democratic land control. In addition, we also argue that broader institutional
More...
|
|
New Extractionism in Occupied Western Sahara |
|
By :WSRW |
| 31 August 2015 |
Amid Saharawi protests, San Leon Energy has begun to drill an on-shore well in occupied Western Sahara on 21 August.
The El Aaiun-4 conventional well is located on the so-called Tarfaya licence, near Foum el Oued, just above Western Sahara`s capital city El Aaiun. The drilling rig, a Cabot 750
More...
|
|
Sami People’s Land Rights at Stake |
|
By :OHCHR |
| 28 August 2015 |
Land and resource rights are key to Sami people’s self-determination, United Nations rights expert says HEMAVAN / GENEVA—The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, today expressed concern at the land rights situation of the Sami people in Finland, Norway and Sweden, given the increased drive
More...
|
|
Food Firms Back Plan to Stop Land Grabbing |
|
By :Chris Arsenault, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 17 August 2015 |
TORONTO--Global food giants and international NGOs have drafted a framework to prevent land grabs just as hedge funds, companies and plantation owners race to acquire new territory.
Drafted by senior figures from Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola and other large firms, along with researchers from Oxfam, Global Witness and the other international organizations,
More...
|
|
HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third
More...
|
|
Myanmar: New Land Confiscation Report |
|
By :Karen Human Rights Group |
| 30 June 2015 |
Villagers in Karen areas of southeast Myanmar continue to face widespread land confiscation at the hands of a multiplicity of actors. Much of this can be attributed to the rapid expansion of domestic and international commercial interest and investment in southeast Myanmar since the January 2012 preliminary ceasefire between the
More...
|
|
Do RAI Principles Meet the Task? |
|
By :Sylvia Kay, rightingfinance |
| 06 May 2015 |
On 15 October 2014, the Member States of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), hosted at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, approved the “Principles on Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems.” (“RAI” or “RAI Principles”)
In a recent assessment of the principles, the Transnational Institute (TNI) exposes
More...
|
|
CFS Develops Protracted-crisis Policy |
|
By :HIC-HLRN |
| 01 May 2015 |
In October of this year, the Committee on Global Food Security is expected to adopt the new Framework of Action [to ensure] Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises. That global policy promises to usher in a new approach that formally operationalizes humanitarian, development and human rights principles combined to
More...
|
|
The Right to the City: Jerusalem |
|
By :Joseph Schechla |
| 26 October 2014 |
HIC-HLRN has produced a new report from an ongoing study on the prospects of realizing the principles of the “right to the city” for specific cities in several regions.
This report finds that applying the "right to the city" in Jerusalem challenges the current governance grounded in discrimination against, and dispossession of
More...
|
|
Land. That’s What Habitat Was About |
|
By :Moira Farrow, The Vancouver Sun |
| 23 June 1976 |
More...
|
