Tribal People Urge Indian Government to Take Stand Against Bangladeshi Attacks on Jumma People of Chittigong Hill Tract

Communal attack on Jummas by Military Forces and Bengali Settlers, [2/25/2010]

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New Delhi Feb 25, 2010: All roads led to Jantar mantar today at 11 am, as several hundreds of Peace loving Indigenous people of Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh came out on the streets in New Delhi to protest against the barbaric killing and communal attacks on the thousands of Jumma Indigenous people of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh.

They also submitted an memorandum to the Honourable Prime minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the interventions of the Government of India with the Government of Bangladesh against the communal attacks on the tribals in the Chittagong Hill tracts by the Bangladesh Army and the illegal plain settlers and also to bring an end to the ongoing communal violence against the tribal peoples such as Chakmas,Marmas,Tripuris-who identify themselves as Jummas for practicing Jhum/Shifting cultivation.

The Protest rally was organized by CHTs Support Group,led by Mr Suhash Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights(ACHR) and was backed by the Tripura Students Forum,Delhi(TSFD) with maximum support and co-operation!

The unfortunate killings also raise a legitimate question as to the award of a Peace prize awarded by the Govt. of India to the PM of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina in November 09 2009, for promoting Peace by resolving a long standing insurgency(problem) in Bangladesh by concluding the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, when the Indigenous People are not enjoying any peace but only faced persecution because of their ethnicity and religion.

The Protest groups urged the Government of India to take the following measures:

1. Make a public statement expressing concern about the attacks on the tribal peoples of the CHT and take all necessary measures to bring an end to the violence with full respect for the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

2.Urge the Government of Bangladesh to fully implement the CHT peace accord.

3.Provide a package for implementation of the CHT to ensure that both the communities can live in harmony.

Its been reported that till now 10 innocent persons, Jummas have died in the state riots, One Buddhist temple, One Church, a UNDP run centre and 300-400 houses have been completely burnt down and 2000 indigenous Jummas have been internally displaced in the attacks. Most of the displaced Jumma villagers have taken shelter in to the deep forest fearing further attacks and most of these indigenous victims whose houses have been burnt down have been passing days without food and staying under the open sky in the absence of any help coming from the authorities!

It is reported that on 19 February 2010 afternoon a group Bengali settlers went to the Gangaran Duar area of Bangladesh and put pillars on the land of Indigenous Jumma villagers for construction of house there. When the Jumma villagers protested and opposed the Bengali settlers, hundreds of Bengali settlers led by leaders of so-called Sama Odhikar Andolon under full protection by a group of army from Baghaihat zone of 8 Bir Bengal gathered at Gangaram Duar area and started to set fire on the houses of Jumma villages at night.

Since then the a regular planed attack was carried out by the Bengalis with the assistance of the Military Force on the Jumma Indigenous people which left many death and homeless.
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Source: http://tiprasa.com/articles/viewcomm.asp?identity=359&title=Communal%20attack%20on%20Jummas%20by%20Military%20Forces%20and%20Bengali%20Settlers

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Failure of Peruvian Government to Recognize Indigenous Rights to Ancestral Lands at Heart of Recent Massacre

SOUTH AMERICA: Calls for Justice for Peru's Native Peoples
By Franz Chávez*

LA PAZ, Jun 12 (IPS) - Social organisations in South America are backing the struggle against opening up Peru’s Amazon jungle to mining and oil companies, which resulted in clashes in which at least nine indigenous people and 25 police officers died.

The recent violence near the town of Bagua, in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas, is seen by indigenous organisations in Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador as an attack on people who are defending life, nature, human rights and the rational use of natural resources.

Native communities in the Peruvian rainforest are demanding the repeal of a series of decrees issued by the García administration to promote foreign investment on indigenous lands, in the framework of the free trade agreement signed with the United States.

A two-month protest by indigenous people outside the northern Peruvian town of Bagua ended in bloodshed on Jun. 5, when the police violently broke up a roadblock there.

A multi-party parliamentary committee declared in December that the decrees in question are unconstitutional, as the native groups argue.

In an open letter to the region's presidents, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) called on them to defend native peoples and confirm their commitment to peace and justice in South America.

A congress of the Indigenous Confederation of Indigenous People of Bolivia (CIDOB) urged the United Nations and the Organisation of American States to send a team of investigators to Bagua to verify what happened there on Jun. 5.

While official accounts say that nine indigenous people and 25 members of the police were killed, eyewitnesses who have spoken to the press say the bodies of indigenous protesters were thrown into the river from a helicopter.

"We consider this violent action by the Peruvian government to be a massacre and a flagrant violation of the life, integrity and fundamental rights of indigenous communities," said the Colombian National Authority of Indigenous Government (ONIC) in a letter to President García.

"We join our voices to the Amazonian indigenous communities who are demanding an end to the violation of their rights and the repeal of the free trade agreement decrees that open the doors to the invasion and plundering of their territories.

"We condemn the violent actions of the Peruvian government against our peoples," says the letter, which also calls for medical attention for the injured and policies to prevent a repeat of the incident.

García's response to the violence was to allege that "foreign meddling" was behind the protests in the Amazon. He later specifically mentioned Bolivia’s left-wing president, the first indigenous leader of that country.

In the midst of the political crisis triggered by the violent incident, García accused Morales of inciting the protests by means of an "inflammatory" letter sent to the Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples, held May 29 in the Peruvian city of Puno, on the border with Bolivia.

Although he was the most important guest invited to the summit, Morales merely sent a letter by the hand of Senator Leonilda Zurita of his governing Movement to Socialism (MAS), who is an activist for women's rights and political and trade union freedoms.

The meeting, held on Peruvian soil but only 200 km west of La Paz, brought together native leaders of the Americas, called Abya Yala in precolonial times.

"That meeting discussed uprisings and insurgency," García maintained. "A president of a neighbouring country sent messages about our countries being governed by indigenous peoples, who are victims of exploitation and utterly neglected, which is not true, because the statistics on employment and welfare have improved in the jungle areas."

In La Paz, Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera, a recognised champion of indigenous rights, said in reply that "letters do not kill," referring to the violence unleashed in the Peruvian Amazon.

"We confirm the contents (of the letter) and we are proud of every word and every letter in it," said the deputy minister for coordination with social movements, Sacha Llorenti, one of Morales’ closest associates.

"From resistance we have gone on to rebellion, and then to revolution. This is the second independence," said Llorenti, in support of Morales' policy of nationalising Bolivia’s abundant natural gas reserves, which were handed over by previous governments to foreign companies.

"It is difficult to rebuild what has been destroyed over 25 years of neoliberal, free market policies," Llorenti said.

Morales' letter to the indigenous leaders' summit also says "free trade agreements break up harmonious human relationships with nature; they commodify natural resources and national cultures; they privatise basic services; they try to patent life itself."

"Some people think globalisation means they have a right to interfere in the politics of neighbouring countries, "said García. "That is regrettable. If they wish, I can interfere too (in Bolivian affairs) and I know how to do so. I don't think it's democratic or legal or positive for international relations."

Sociologist Carlos Laruta, the head of the Centre for Research and Advancement of Peasant Farmers (CIPCA) in the impoverished city of El Alto, Bolivia, said that it is up to Morales to explain the intention of his letter, because he is the representative of a state and therefore subject to the rule of international law.

"A president cannot do things that run counter to international law," Laruta said.

Anthropologist Martín von Hildebrand, winner of the 1999 Alternative Nobel Prize, said the root problem is that the rights of Peruvian indigenous peoples to their ancestral territories have not been recognised in practice, as they have in other countries that share the Amazon basin: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.

"When you look at a big map of the Amazon basin, you can see that Brazil has given indigenous peoples a territory as large as Colombia itself (1.1 million square kilometres)," he said, while Colombia has given them 27 million hectares, and Bolivia and Ecuador have also made progress.

"If you look at a government map of Peru, marking potential lumber, oil, gas and mineral extraction, the country's Amazon area is completely covered with marks," said von Hildebrand, who is also head of the Gaia Amazonas Foundation, which works to strengthen indigenous culture and autonomy as a strategy for preserving the rainforest.

* With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira (Bogotá) and Ángel Páez (Lima).

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Copyright 2009: IPS-Inter Press Service

Native Rights News is making this material from [name of news source] available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
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Peruvian Government Massacres Indigenous Protesters Prior to Conclusion of Negotiations

PERU: Native Protesters Search for Their Dead

By Milagros Salazar / IPS

BAGUA, Peru, Jun 11 (IPS) - Indigenous people taking part in protests near this town in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas that ended in a bloody clash with the police last week are now focusing on drawing up a list of the dead and missing, amidst a climate of fear and mistrust.

Several eyewitnesses said they saw police load the bodies of dead protesters into a helicopter and dump them into the Marañón river, after the Friday, Jun. 5 incident in which both demonstrators and policemen were killed. But authorities from the prosecutors office failed to find any more bodies on their third search in the area, carried out on Wednesday.

For the past two months, native protesters have been blocking roads and access to oil industry installations to demand the repeal of a series of government decrees that violate their land rights, which are protected under the constitution and by international conventions signed by Peru.

"The helicopter stopped at least three times to pick up bodies," Luis Padilla, a member of the Awajun ethnic group from Río Santiago in Amazonas province, told IPS. "That was between eight and nine in the morning on Friday," added Padilla, who said it took three days to reach the town of Bagua from his village.

Padilla, who was wary of the camera, said that on Friday, Jun. 5 the police opened fire on the protesters manning the roadblock at a spot along the highway into Bagua called Curva del Diablo (Devil’s Curve), at around 6:00 AM, and that in response the indigenous demonstrators used their spears. "We defended ourselves," he said.

The police "picked up the bodies of our brothers and sisters and dumped them into the Marañón river," added Joel Tupicá, from the district of Nieva, who along with Padilla and another 24 Indians, including two women, were on their way back to their home villages on Wednesday, five days after the violent incident that left at least 30 protesters and policemen dead.

The number of victims is in dispute, with the authorities saying 10 civilians – including protesters and local residents - were killed and indigenous groups putting the total much higher.

A climate of fear and tension

Oswaldo Bautista, chief prosecutor of Amazonas province, told IPS that around 1,000 indigenous people have returned to their villages over the past few days, and that most of them had taken refuge in local churches for fear of reprisals by the state security forces.

Lawyers with the non-governmental Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos human rights group, who have come to Bagua to verify what happened last week, said more than 50 protesters are still under arrest in four different towns.

The incident, described by Amazon Watch programme coordinator Gregor MacLennan as a "massacre" of peaceful protesters, some of whom were still asleep at the roadblock when the police showed up, while others were shot as they fled, has heightened the tension in the area, because the army and police are still posted here and a curfew remains in place.

Several "apus" (traditional leaders of indigenous communities) have decided not to return to Curva del Diablo, for fear of being arrested. The authorities have blamed the violence on the leaders of the Peruvian Rainforest Inter-Ethnic Development Association (AIDESEP), an umbrella group of 28 federations of indigenous peoples that has led the protests.

AIDESEP’s top leader, Alberto Pizango, has been given asylum in the Nicaraguan Embassy in Lima.

"They burned the bodies of some protesters, over there," said Padilla, who was unable to provide the names of victims due to the chaos and confusion that reigned on Friday and the fact that the demonstrators came from more than 356 different villages and communities.

AIDESEP has set up committees in each community tasked with drawing up lists of people who have not returned to their homes, in order to demand that the state provide information on their fate.

"We want to recover the bodies of our missing people," said Edwin Montenegro, the local leader of Río Kanus in the Amazon district of Condorcanqui, who was directly involved in the Jun. 5 incident.

At the Curve of Death

Some 3,000 indigenous protesters were blocking the Fernando Belaúnde Terry highway at the Curva del Diablo when the police showed up to dismantle the roadblock early that morning and told them, just before opening fire, "you’ll leave here dead or alive," said Montenegro.

He told IPS that in the days leading up to the events of Jun. 5, protesters and local authorities had met with General Víctor Uribe, who was in charge of the operation to break up the traffic blockade, with a view to reaching a peaceful agreement.

Montenegro said a Thursday, Jun. 4 meeting with General Uribe failed to produce results. However, they had agreed to continue the talks on Friday at 10:00 AM – a meeting that never took place, because the attack on the protesters occurred four hours earlier.

The mayor of Condorcanqui, Héctor Requejo, confirmed to IPS that on Thursday they met with Uribe in the camp at the Petroperú oil refinery, and that the general said he himself could not make any decisions, but merely followed orders from Lima.

Montenegro said that when they opened fire on the crowd, the police aimed directly at the protesters, and that people were shot from a helicopter as well, which also launched tear gas canisters.

In the confusion, he was able to save his brother-in-law, prominent Aguaruna leader Santiago Manuin, president of the Condorcanqui Provincial Protest Committee (Comité de Lucha Provincial de Condorcanqui), who was seriously wounded.

Three young indigenous men who are being treated for bullet wounds at the Gustavo Lanatta Hospital in Bagua confirmed that the police launched the attack, without warning.

The three young men are all former members of the army. One of them, 24-year-old Paulo Bitap López from the village of Shusug, told IPS that a group of former soldiers decided to approach the police before the operation to break up the roadblock, to attempt to dissuade them, but that they found themselves caught up in a rain of bullets.

Rosa Mondragón, a 54-year-old woman who lives near the spot where the incident took place, said she saw tear gas being thrown from a helicopter, and showed prosecutor Bautista bullet marks on the walls of her house, as well as more than 20 backpacks and bags of utensils of indigenous protesters who slept overnight at her house for a week but fled after the attack.

The prosecutor searched gullies and ravines near the Curva del Diablo on Wednesday, after doing the same in other areas on Sunday and Monday in response to reports by local residents that bodies had been hidden there.

Bautista told IPS that no bodies were found in the latest search, only clothing and bottles of chicha, a traditional corn liquor.

Shots in the square

One of the wounded interviewed by IPS in the hospital was Daniel Torres Manay, a 55-year-old resident of Bagua who was hit in the stomach by a police bullet on Friday Jun. 5 when he was near the square where the police station is located.

Torres and his wife Amelia Delgado said the police began to shoot that day at around 11:00 AM when a group of people gathered outside the police station, after they heard that the indigenous protesters had been attacked.

According to the head of the Amazonas ombudsman’s office, Roberto Guevara, five of the nine victims acknowledged by the authorities were local residents, not indigenous people, killed by police bullets in the streets around the square.

"President Alan García committed this crime," complained Torres, who has undergone two unsuccessful operations to extract the bullet, and is waiting to be transferred to the northern city of Chiclayo for life-saving surgery.

"After we draw up a list of our brothers and sisters who were killed, we will continue our protest," said Montenegro. "The government thinks that we have chickened out, but that will never happen. The blood of their brothers and sisters is an incentive to the Awajun people. The state has provoked us. We don’t want to talk to either (Prime Minister) Yehude Simon or (Interior Minister Mercedes) Cabanillas."

Two decrees suspended

In a 57 to 47 vote Wednesday, Congress decided to suspend the implementation of two of the decrees protested by the native groups, which according to experts and legislators affect the rights of indigenous people and violate the constitution and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 on indigenous people.

The government decrees, which are aimed at promoting foreign investment in the framework of the free trade agreement signed with the United States, open up indigenous land to private investment by oil, mining and logging companies.

Indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon jungle region, where oil companies are increasingly active, began last year to hold protests to demand that the decrees be revoked.

A multi-party legislative committee also recommended last December that they be overturned.

But AIDESEP vice president Daysi Zapata criticised the legislature’s decision to suspend the two decrees, because her organisation is demanding that they be struck down.

On Thursday, social movements held national demonstrations in solidarity with the indigenous protesters, and an indefinite strike was declared in several areas in the country’s northeastern Amazon region.

"The Amazon represents our market, our pharmacy, our home, our survival; we are defending it for the good of our people and of humanity," said Montenegro.

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Copyright 2009: IPS-Inter Press Service

Native Rights News is making this material from IPS: The Story Underneath available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
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Peruvian Army Sent to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests Against Resource Extraction in Amazon Basin

Amazon Watch: Oil Production Interrupted as Peru Sends in Army to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests


LIMA, Peru, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Peruvian government Saturday authorized the intervention of armed forces in the Amazon to crack down on growing indigenous protests against new decrees aimed at facilitating the entry of oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies into indigenous lands without prior consultation or consent.

On Monday, sustained protests led the state oil company, Petroperu, to shut down its main oil pipeline. This shutdown comes after a month of protests by more than 30,000 indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities have engaged in peaceful actions and blockades of roads and rivers throughout the Amazon protesting new legislation passed to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the USA that undermines their rights.

Videos and photos available on http://www.amazonwatch.org/ show police beating peaceful protesters and firing rubber bullets to break up peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators last week when they blockaded the Corral Quemado Bridge near the northern town of Bagua, resulting in dozens injured and one person missing, who is feared dead.

In a statement, Alberto Pizango, president of the national indigenous rights organization AIDESEP who was criminally charged today for his role in the nationwide protests, stated: "The extraction of gas and oil, logging and the dredging of rivers in search of gold are destroying in a few years social structures, indigenous customs and coexistence strategies that date back thousands of years."

International and Peruvian human rights organizations are widely criticizing the Peruvian government's backward policies on indigenous peoples. In a recent statement President Alan Garcia said that every Peruvian should be entitled to benefit from the nation's natural resources, and not just a "small group of people who had the fortune to be born there."

Atossa Soltani, who heads the human rights and environmental organization Amazon Watch, commented, "Indigenous Peoples are asserting their collective right to determine how and under what conditions 'development' is carried out on their traditionally owned and legally recognized homelands."

"The Garcia Administration is clearly out of step with international conventions on indigenous rights that have been ratified by Peru, not to mention aspects of country's own Constitution. We urge the government of Peru to use restraint and avoid bloodshed, seeking meaningful dialogue to resolve the conflict instead."
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© 2000-2009 Amazon Watch

Native Rights News is making this material from Amazon Watch available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
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Extractive Industries Boycott International Expert Workshop on Violations of Human Rights and Environment

[Forwarded by Western Shoshone Defense Project wsdp@igc.org]

PRESS RELEASE
28 March 2009

International Experts Deliberate on Piles of Human rights and Environment Violations of Extractive Industries

MANILA, Philippines – Officials of the United Nations system, multilateral institutions such as the European Commission, the World Bank, ADB, Member States of the UN, international experts, indigenous peoples and other organizations attending the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Corporate Accountability and the Extractive Industries have started deliberating yesterday on piles of serious issues surrounding the Indigenous Peoples all around the world, and in their bid to find better and lasting solutions to stop large-scale oil, gas and mining companies from further destroying indigenous lands, the environment, and contributing to the alarming problem of global warming.

“Although there have been substantial developments in the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples in recent years, indigenous peoples have continued to suffer violations of their human rights on a regular basis. This is especially the case in the context of extractive industries, such as mineral, oil and gas extraction, which disproportionately impact indigenous peoples,” said Carol Pollack of the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Issues during her opening address.

The Experts and participants are expected to craft stronger recommendations within the three-day workshop that will help solve the problems of the Indigenous Peoples’ rights worldwide and mitigate the effect of climate change which is mainly caused by extractive industries, particularly oil, gas and coal extraction.

Among others, the officials will try to find better mechanisms to force extractive industries into complying with relevant provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which includes self determination, right to traditional lands, right to be secure in subsistence and development, right to conservation and protection of the environment and productive capacity of lands and the often violated free, prior and informed consent provision.

“We have lived within nation states which established norms and laws according to their interest. We have suffered disproportionately from the impact of extractive industries as our territories are home to over sixty percent of the world's most coveted mineral resources,” the Indigenous Peoples’ said in the final [Manila] Declaration [attached English Spanish] crafted after the International Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries. “The activities of these corporations have led to the worst forms of environmental degradation, human rights violations and land dispossession,” they added. Although, the extractive industries must play a vital role in addressing these problems, those invited opted not to send their representatives to the international expert workshop, to which Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey from the Cordillera and the current chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), expressed disappointment over failure to do so.

In a statement sent to Tauli-Corpuz, the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), a CEO-led organization representing many of the world's leading mining and metals companies as well as regional, national and commodity associations, said that “it has been working on Indigenous Peoples issues for several years including; producing a Mining and Indigenous People's Review (2005, holding two roundtables on mining and Indigenous Peoples (2005, 2008), seeking legal reviews of FPIC, approving a Position Statement outlining our member's policy on Indigenous Peoples and recently we have produced a first draft of a Good Practice Guidance on Mining and Indigenous Peoples.”

Along with ICMM, transnational mining corporations such as Rio Tinto, among others, were also invited to sit in the international expert dialogue. However, they declined saying that, “In view of the global financial crisis, we are cutting on costs and prioritize activities that are essential.”

Tauli-Corpuz said, “They did not see the importance of attending a dialogue with the World's Indigenous Peoples, where 60 to 70 percent of the world's minerals, oil and gas are found in their territories. It is sad that they undermined the importance of this event.

“It is in the interest of the extractive industries corporations to listen to indigenous peoples affected by mining, oil and gas projects so that there would be less conflict, less human rights violations and more equitable-sharing and sustainable use of resources if a dialogue with them is to happen,” she added.

For inquiries, please contact: Jo Villanueva
Mobile: 09194111660
Email: jomvillanueva@gmail.com

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Source: IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com

Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with a Press Release. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
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Call to Action: Demand OAS Support a Strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Demand a Strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous rights to life, land, equality, natural resources, self-determination, and religious freedom are under attack. A strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will help prevent human rights violations in the Americas.

• Gross violations of human rights are occurring against Indian and other indigenous peoples in North, South and Central America.
• Developers deprive Indians in the United States of their right to religious freedom by desecrating sacred places such as Bear Butte and the San Francisco Peaks.
• One in three Indian women in the United States will be raped in their lifetimes. This epidemic of violence violates Native women’s rights to life, security of the person, and equal treatment.
• The United States continues to try to take Western Shoshone HOMELANDS for military testing, gold mining and nuclear waste disposal in violation of Western Shoshone property rights.
• More than 1,244 indigenous people have been assassinated in Colombia in the past five years.
• Maya Q’eqchi’ people suffer death threats, the burning of their homes, and forced removal for defending their land rights from mining interests in El Estor, Guatemala.
• Canada continues to ignore Innu land rights, resulting in the forced relocation of Innu families and the loss of their traditional hunting grounds and homelands.
• More than 3,000 illegal miners threaten the survival of the Yanomami people in Brazil by invading their lands, contaminating their rivers, introducing fatal infectious diseases, and murdering their people.
  
  This persecution is not unique to particular countries. It is part of an alarming trend of human rights violations against indigenous peoples in North, Central, and South America. Indigenous rights to life, land, equality, natural resources, self-determination, and religious freedom are under attack. The Organization of American States, a regional body made up of the 35 countries of the Americas, is currently negotiating an American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Countries of the Americas must commit to the recognition and implementation of indigenous rights by adopting the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  

ACT NOW FOR A STRONG AMERICAN DECLARATION by sending letters to OAS member countries urging them to support a strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [click here to send letter]

Following is a copy of the letter you will be sending to the government of every nation that is a member of the Organization of American States (OAS). (You will also have to opportunity to include any personal comments or statements.)

"Dear Ambassador,

I am seriously concerned about the widespread violation of indigenous peoples' human rights in the Americas and the need for a strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I strongly urge your country to commit to the adoption of a strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by actively engaging in negotiations immediately.

A strong American Declaration is crucial to recognize indigenous human rights, including the right of self-determination, treaty rights, cultural and religious rights, rights to lands and resources, and more. Further, a strong American Declaration will address the particular regional issues in the Americas that are not dealt with in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, such as gender equality, violence against Native women, and indigenous peoples under internal armed conflict.

More importantly, we need a strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to prevent the grave treaty and human rights violations that Indian and Alaska Native nations currently face in the United States and throughout the Americas. In the United States, the government is allowed to confiscate certain Indian lands in violation of the Constitution, one in three Native women is raped in her life time, and developers deprive Native peoples of their right to religious freedom by desecrating sacred places such as Bear Butte, South Dakota.

The situation is even more appalling in Central and South America. Extractive industries threaten the survival of many indigenous nations, including the Yanomami in Brazil and the Maya Q'eqchi' in Guatemala, and indigenous peoples are being assassinated in Colombia. A strong American Declaration will help to secure Indian rights and prevent further human rights abuses. The OAS and OAS member countries must commit to the adoption of a strong American Declaration.

It is more important than ever to have a strong American Declaration which enjoys widespread support. In 2007, 143 countries affirmed their commitment to indigenous rights through their historic adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Only four countries voted against the Declaration. Three of those four -- the United States, Canada, and Colombia -- belong to our region, which has some of the largest indigenous populations in the world. All countries of the Americas must take their obligations to respect and promote indigenous rights seriously.

Thank you in advance for your country's commitment to the negotiation and adoption of a strong American Declaration.

Sincerely,

[Your Name, Organization, Address, Phone & Fax]"

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The Indian Law Resource Center is a non-profit law and advocacy organization established and directed by American Indians. We provide legal assistance to Indian and Alaska Native nations who are working to protect their lands, resources, human rights, environment and cultural heritage. Our principal goal is the preservation and well-being of Indian and other Native nations and tribes.

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This article has been adapted from Indigenous Notes
the newsletter of the Indian Law Resource Center

Native Rights News is making this material available with the express permission of the Indian Law Resource Center . This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
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Central Electric Cooperative Cuts Power to Crow Creek Indians in Dead of Winter Endangering Lives of Sick Elders and Children

Families Freezing in Nation's Poorest County: CAN-DO Documents Public Utilities Cut on Crow Creek Reservation

(Los Angeles, CA) Electric company caught "pulling meters" in the poorest community in the nation, leaving America's most vulnerable people without power in the dead of winter. According to CAN-DO, electric companies continue to conduct these practices amid growing public outcry and damning national media scrutiny. Headlines in newspapers across the country highlight unnecessary tragedies as arctic winter months reveal the electric company's controversial conduct of shutting off the community's power, despite the rest of South Dakota having Seasonal Termination Protection Regulations.

Crow Creek, South Dakota (PRWEB) February 25, 2009 -- This winter, the Crow Creek Indian Reservation is experiencing record-low temperatures reaching fifty below zero. Hundreds of families living in government housing have had their electric meters removed by Central Electric Cooperative, the local electric cooperative. When these power meters are pulled the families are left in the cold; the propane heaters do not run; pipes freeze; and there is no water for cooking, drinking, bathing or flushing toilets. Many of these households have family members whose lives depend upon electronic medical equipment such as defibrillators.

Ironically these families are paying some of the highest electricity rates in the country even though they live adjacent to the Big Bend Hydro-Electric Dam on the Missouri river. These homes are poorly insulated causing electric bills in excess of $300.00 in the coldest months.

Median income in the region is approximately $5,000 a year (typical of the thirteen Lakotah (Sioux) Reservations in the "Great Sioux Nation" as defined in the Treaties of 1851 and 1868 with the US Government).

"I've been to disaster areas around the world including Sri Lanka after the tsunami, hurricane Katrina, and after the Iowa floods, but I have never witnessed such blatant disregard for human life as I have here in my own country on the Crow Creek Reservation," stated Eric Klein, Founder and CEO of Compassion into Action Network - Direct Outcome Organization (CAN-DO). "Especially now, with the new administration focusing on the development of America's infrastructure, we need to focus our energies and resources immediately to address these critical situations where such infrastructure is being blatantly manipulated."

Appalled by the abuse and neglect, one US Marine and Crow Creek resident took action to publicize the exploitation. Using a hand-held video recorder, he documented local power companies physically cutting electricity lines and removing meters in the peak of winter.

Watch the footage at: YOU TUBE

Utilizing their proven approach to providing lasting solutions with full accountability, efficiency and results, CAN-DO is addressing the operation at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation on the local level to raise the nation's awareness of the urgent human right abuses taking place in the South Dakota region.

"We are calling for a collaborative effort by ethical individuals, organizations, schools and political leaders to assure that this damage is reversed," said Klein. "Together, we can contribute to real change here at home."View the complete Crow Creek plan at CAN-DO.ORG.

South Dakota Law states:

LAWS OF SOUTH DAKOTA TITLE 49

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS

49-34A-2. Service required of utilities. Every public utility shall furnish adequate, efficient, and reasonable service.

49-34A-6. Rates to be reasonable and just - Regulation by commission. Every rate made, demanded or received by any public utility shall be just and reasonable. Every unjust or unreasonable rate shall be prohibited. The Public Utilities Commission is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to regulate all rates, fees and charges for the public utility service of all public utilities, including penalty for late payments, to the end that the public shall pay only just and reasonable rates for service rendered.Source: SL 1975, ch 283, § 16.

About CAN-DO:
Founded by Eric Klein, CAN-DO has set a new standard for humanitarianism and is changing the face of philanthropy. It quickly has become an organization people can trust and depend upon to "get it done" fast and effectively. It is a 501c3, relief organization dedicated to working on the local level to provide lasting solutions, with full accountability, efficiency, and results.

Video footage, photographs and the web site offer documentation of the organization's efforts at every phase. CAN-DO supporters take pride in watching their generosity directly affect the lives of those in need through the organization's VirtualVolunteer.tv.

CAN-DO's successful missions to bring immediate and direct relief to areas in need have captured the attention of renowned philanthropists including Oprah Winfrey and former president Bill Clinton. The organization was recently awarded the Global Compassion Award at the United Nations for its global impact, unparalleled transparency and accountability. For further information, please visit CAN-DO.ORG or email Eric Klein at ek@can-do.org.

About the Republic of Lakota:The Republic of Lakota is an organization from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana dedicated to serving the Lakota communities through political activism, education, health, energy/economics, international awareness, and the promotion of sustainable/energy efficient housing. For further information, please visit republicoflakotah.com or call 605-867-1111.
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Copyright © 2009 Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

Native Rights News is making this material from Entrepreneur Network available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.

Residential School Survivors Occupy Vancouver Church

International Media Statement, For Immediate Release

The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Vancouver)

Sunday, February 15, 2009 - on Squamish Nation territory ("Vancouver, Canada")

Residential School Survivors Occupy St. Andrew's Wesley United Church to Protect the Remains of Children Killed at the Alberni Residential School

Two dozen aboriginal survivors of the Indian residential schools non-violently occupied St. Andrew's Wesley United Church in Vancouver today to stop the destruction of the grave sites of children who died at the former Alberni Indian Residential School.

The protestors entered the church sanctuary as the worship service commenced and unfurled a banner declaring "All The Children Need A Proper Burial". After leafletting the congregation and making a statement, the protestors left, vowing to return if the United Church did not surrender the remains of native children who died under their care and halt further destruction of their burial sites.

The occupation was prompted by the partial destruction this week of the last building of the United Church's former Alberni Indian residential school, where eyewitnesses claim that the remains of former students are buried.

"They're destroying the evidence of their crime, and under the law, that's a crime" said Bingo, a survivor of the Alert Bay residential school. "We're not listening to their bullshit anymore. We'll be back with more people next time."

Squamish hereditary Chief Kiapilano, who legally evicted the United Church from his territory last March, endorsed the occupation and called for similar actions by other residential school survivors. These occupations of United Churches during their Sunday services will continue and will escalate until the fallen children are brought home, their killers are brought to justice, and the residential school crime sites are all protected.

Issued by The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Vancouver)

Contact: 1-888-265-1007 or 250-753-3345 http://www.blogger.com/www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Note: A video transcript of today's occupation will be posted this week on the website, above, and is available on request.

Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at thiswebsite: http://www.blogger.com/www.hiddenfromhistory.org

"Kevin [Annett] is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than many who have received it in the past."- Dr. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"A courageous and inspiring man." (referring to Kevin Annett)- Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Belfast, Northern Ireland"

The very lands we all along enjoyed

they ravished from the people they destroyed ...

All the long pretenses of descent

are shams of right to prop up government.

'Tis all invasion, usurpation all;

'Tis all by fraud and force that we possess,

and length of time can make no crime the less;

Religion's always on the strongest side."

- Daniel Defoe, Jure Divino (England, 1706) From: Eagle Strong Voice

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Story Source: The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Vancouver)

Image Source: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Native Rights News is making this material available as the result of a press release issued by The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Vancouver). We are publishing the image from http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.

Thousands of Displaced Villagers Attack Barrick Gold's North Mara Mine in Tanzania

[Editor's Note: Although this article is somewhat dated, we are publishing it for two reasons: (1) it was virtually "blacked out" by the corporate news media in the United States and Canada, and (2) it concerns a company whose greed and ruthlessness, coupled with its complete disregard for the rights of indigenous peoples and the planet and its ecosystem, make it a poster child for everything that is wrong with unrestrained global capitalism. We shall continue to publicize this company's crimes against people and nature in the hope of bringing public and investor pressure to bear upon the company. -- Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN]

The Dominion

December 24, 2008

Civilian Uprising against Barrick Gold in Tanzania

Mine security shoots young man, villagers respond by destroying $7 million in equipment

by Sakura Saunders

photos: Allan Cedillo Lissner

NEW YORK–Last week, reports surfaced in the mainstream press that thousands of villagers had raided a gold mine in Northern Tanzania, setting fire to $7 million* worth of mine equipment. Most reports blamed problems with crime in the area, calling the intruders "gold-seekers."

While the spokesman for Barrick Gold** Tanzania, Teweli Teweli, describes these villagers as "well-organized groups" who attacked the pit following the blasting of high-grade ore, others paint Barrick as the aggressor in this event, citing immediate and historic causes that have been largely ignored by the international community.

According to several witnesses, the immediate cause of the civilian uprising was the killing of a young man named Mang'weina Mwita Mang'weina. Human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu, who represents many of the villagers, explains that Mang'weina and some friends were engaged in an argument with Barrick security when one of the guards shot Mang'weina, who was unarmed at the time. This incident caused an uproar within the community, which immediately took up stones, overpowered mine security (who then fled), and attacked the mine, setting fire to millions worth of equipment.

Mang'weina himself is a part of the legacy of the North Mara mine. He was one of the thousands of unemployed locals in the area, angry over the mine's recent history of forced displacement, loss of livelihoods, human rights abuses and ongoing repression. He is the seventh person killed at the hands of mine security since July 2005, when the killing of a local boy sparked a similar uprising that resulted in the destruction of mine equipment and the subsequent detention of over 200 villagers.***

Eyewitnesses to the 2005 killing told The Guardian (Tanzania) that "the boy who was shot dead was walking past the company premises when company security guards, suspecting him of stealing oil, stopped him. When the boy failed to heed the order, the guards called the police who, before even questioning him, shot him in the chest."

Not one year later, security guards employed by Barrick Gold allegedly shot – five times in the back – another villager who was alleged to have illegally entered the mine complex, bringing the death toll to six.

According to Lissu in a letter written in June 2006:

The killings represent a major shift in Barrick's strategy for dealing with the troublesome locals who have always opposed the Mine. In the period after the forced evictions of the villagers in August 2001, hundreds of villagers, particularly community leaders and prominent locals were targeted for illegal arrests, criminal prosecutions and long term imprisonment. Numerous local leaders including the area's [late] Member of Parliament Chacha Zakayo Wangwe and elected Member of the Tarime District Council Augustino Nestory Sasi were harassed this way, with the latter being sentenced to 30 year jail before we got him out on appeal to the High Court of Tanzania in December 2004.

Calculating from media reports, Lissu estimates that over 10,000 artisanal miners, peasant farmers and their families were kicked out of the area to make way for the North Mara mine in 2001. Since that time, there has been ongoing tension between the mine and the local communities.

According to Allan Cedillo Lissner, a Toronto-based photojournalist who recently interviewed families surrounding the North Mara mine, "Ongoing conflict between the mine and local communities have created a climate of fear for those who live nearby." Since the mine opened in 2002, one family told Lissner that they live in a state of constant anxiety because they are repeatedly harassed and intimidated by the mine's private security forces and by government police. "There have been several deadly confrontations in the area and every time there are problems at the mine, the Mwita family say their compound is the first place the police come looking. During police operations the family scatters in fear to hide in the bush, 'like fugitives,' for weeks at a time waiting for the situation to calm down," Lissner explains.

The Mwita family explained that they used to farm and raise livestock, telling Lissner that "now there are no pastures because the mine has almost taken the whole land ... we have no sources of income and we are living only through God's wishes. ... We had never experienced poverty before the mine came here." They also told Lissner that they would like to be relocated, but the application process has been complicated, and they feel the amount of compensation offered was merely "candy."

According to Tanzanian journalist and community advocate Evans Rubara, this latest uprising "is a sign to both the government of Tanzania and the International community (especially Canada) that poor and marginalized people also get tired of oppression." He hopes that the recent conflict will inspire Barrick "to start another strategy that will bring a good and constructive relationship with the local communities by implementing programs that do not enhance more looting and belittle Tanzania, leaving thousands in destitution."

Since this most recent uprising, dozens of villagers have been arrested. According to Lissu, who plans to represent those arrested, "They have arrested dozens of people; [Barrick is] on a war path; these people have been denied bail, they are targeting the youth and repression is on."

Lissu also spoke about reports of weapons making their way into the North Mara area. "Two days ago, we got information that [Barrick is] importing weapons: a ton and a half of tear gas, and hand grenades were transported to the mine on Thursday. The hand grenades were seized by customs on the way to the North Mara Gold Mine, but have since been let through," he told ProtestBarrick.net on the phone from Tanzania.

Sakura Saunders is an editor for protestbarrick.net, an all-volunteer news site that networks organizations and community groups organized against Barrick Gold around the world.

* On December 17, 2008 Barrick Gold said it had revised down the damage to its North Mara Mine in Tanzania during an attack last week to about $7 million from an earlier estimate of $15 million.

** In January 2006, Barrick Gold merged with Placer Dome, who previously owned the North Mara mine.

*** By mid 2006 all of the villagers detained after the 2005 uprising had been released by the courts after the authorities failed to prosecute them.

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Article source: The Dominion, December 24, 2008

Native Rights News is making this material from The Dominion available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.

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Posted By Perry Chesnut, Editor NRN to Native Rights News at 2/03/2009 07:54:00 AM