Land is Life Celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States
Today, in the United States, we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It is a day that for far too long had been celebrated as Columbus Day, commemorating Christopher Columbus’ landing in the Bahamas in 1492, which for his fellow Europeans marked the discovery of the “New World”. Since the 1940s, Indigenous Peoples have spoken out against dedicating a day for honoring the enslavement, theft, violence, and massacre of Indigenous Peoples across the Americas which was the direct result of European invasion. In 1977, at the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, held in Geneva, Switzerland, Native Americans demanded the replacement of Columbus Day with a day that would express solidarity with Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. This kicked off a movement that, in 1992, led to the city of Berkley, California, to declare the day as “Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People”. Since then, 19 states, and over 50 cities, have rejected official celebrations of Columbus Day and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today”. However, the proclamation did not make it a federal holiday – which Columbus Day still is. Today, Land is Life joins the celebration and honoring of Indigenous Peoples and their cultures. We encourage all states of the US to officially recognize this day as an act of respect to Indigenous Peoples who are the guardians of the Earth. Celebrating Columbus alongside Indigenous Peoples’ Day is paradoxical and should not be tolerated. “Indigenous Peoples’ Day reminds us that we are all Indigenous! Regardless of where we live, our gender, race, age, religion, or species, we are all made of the same basic elements of life: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Ethers. Somewhere in our genetic lineages we come from a small tribal community who knew how to respect the Earth for all that she provides – she is the life giver of all. And today with mass environmental destruction, it is time to return to that basic understanding of how to live and be on this earth as stewards for our future generations. Thank you for supporting Indigenous peoples around the word whose ways will help everyone return to a more simple and peaceful life.” – Lisa Grayshield, PhD, Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn-Nu, Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Land is Life Highlights the Importance of Digital Security for Indigenous Activists
The need for improved security of Indigenous activists has never been greater. Over the past few years, Land is Life’s team and network have experienced first-hand intimidation, harassment, and even violence at the hands of governments and other interests. Digital threats are one of several security issues that Land is Life tries to address in its work. Since its founding, Land is Life has made it a priority to accompany Indigenous leaders under threat, as well as provide funding, legal aid, medical care, and other resources to assist Indigenous defenders, their families, organizations, and communities. Our Indigenous-led Security Fund, for example, is based on small, flexible grants that are quickly and directly disbursed to communities, with few bureaucratic requirements. In recent years, the role and importance of internet and digital technology has grown remarkably in the work of Indigenous peoples in defending their lands, human rights, and the environment. The digital divide, however, is still a major issue. The gap between Indigenous peoples and non-indigenous populations regarding access to the internet, affordability of technology, and digital literacy, is generally wide. The issue was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: “When COVID hit, the offices of our partner organizations had to close their doors and most Indigenous leaders went back to their territories in rural areas. Many of these regions lack access to the internet which meant that the defenders lost a crucial tool to continue their work, including monitoring of their territories, information sharing among Indigenous networks as well as communications to a broader range of allies. In many cases, there was also a lack of devices, such as phones. As a response, Land is Life provided our partner communities in the Amazon region with cell phones, portable internet connection, as well as laptops, so that the defenders were again able to continue their work in their territories. This is also a gender issue. Indigenous women and men tend to have unequal access to the internet or technology. During the pandemic, women activists, in particular, were affected in terms of their security, due to lack of access to the internet or technology. Our digital security strategy allows us to identify and helps us to resolve these issues.” – José Proaño, Land is Life’s Latin America Program Director In addition to the digital divide, another challenge for Indigenous communities tends to be a lack of knowledge about digital security. Indigenous defenders are often vulnerable to online threats, such as phishing, spyware, surveillance, trolling, and disinformation campaigns. With this in mind, Land is Life, together with Citizen Clinic, developed a Digital Security Guide for activists. Although this guide was specifically crafted for indigenous organizations in Cameroon, Kenya, and Uganda, the information it contains and the tips for safer use of the internet and technology is applicable for activists and organizations across the world. Below is a link to our guide. Please use it to increase your security awareness. Digital Security Guide for Activists
Rights Violations of Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation Heard for the First Time in the Inter-American Court
This past Tuesday, August 23rd, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) held a historical public hearing in Brasilia, regarding severe rights violations by the State of Ecuador against the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous Peoples. Taromenane and Tagaeri are two of the last known Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) in Ecuador. They inhabit the Yasuní region, in the eastern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. In this historic case of Tagaeri-Taromenane vs. Ecuador, the Inter-American Court heard the first case regarding the rights of PIACI. The PIACI are holders of human rights in a situation of extreme vulnerability, and among the few who are unable to advocate for their own rights. Indigenous peoples from across Ecuador and Brazil, as well as delegates from several organizations, including Land is Life, took part in the hearing to express solidarity and to defend the rights of the Taromenane and Tagaeri. Growing pressure over the use of natural resources in Yasuní has been ongoing since the beginning of Ecuador’s oil boom in the 1970s. Yasuní is not only one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth but it also has some of Ecuador’s largest oil reserves. Despite it being designated a national park in 1979, oil companies have been increasingly entering the area and expanding their drilling operations in Indigenous territories. This has led to displacement of Indigenous peoples, forced contact, diminished territories, and contamination of rivers. Even though the State of Ecuador permanently protected part of Yasuní as the “Tagaeri Taromenane Intangible Zone”, an area where extractive industries are supposed to be prohibited, the Zone does not actually follow the boundaries of the territories of these Peoples. The Intangible Zone is too small and has allowed the oil industry to have major impacts on the rights and livelihoods of the Taromenane and Tagaeri, whose ancestral ways of life necessitate the ability to move across and use their entire territory. The Court Hearing was an attempt to determine whether the State has violated the rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane by allowing extractive industries to enter their territories. The case also considered the killings of Indigenous peoples in Yasuní that took place in 2003, 2006, and 2013, when conflicts between different tribes escalated due to extractive pressures on their territories. Even though the State was informed about a heightened risk of violence, it did not take any measures to intervene, nor did it fulfill its responsibility to appropriately investigate these devastating cases. Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), who testified in support of the victims, stated in his testimony: “Indigenous peoples take care of their territories for the reproduction of life. We take care of the rights of Mother Nature, not only for the benefit of Indigenous Peoples but of the entire humanity. Indigenous territories are continuously threatened by state policies that favor extractive industries. That has forced us to organize ourselves to resist. – – Oil drilling keeps destroying the Amazon and the ways of life of Indigenous peoples living in isolation. These Peoples, their culture, and their spirituality, are integrally dependent on their territories. They are the guardians of their forests, taking care of and protecting them. If these Peoples die, or are forced to leave, the balance that sustains life in the Yasuní, will break down. Humanity will lose one of the most biodiverse places in the world if we do not act in time. That is why we demand that oil companies are kept out of these territories and that the self-determination of the Taromenane and Tagaeri is guaranteed. The State must respect the life and the rights of these Peoples.” After working for the defense of the rights of the PIACI for more than 20 years, Land is Life hopes that this case will make a strong precedent for future cases. As the Secretariat of the GTI PIACI Working Group, we demand justice for the Tagaeri and Taromenane and call for their right to self-determination and to remain in voluntary isolation, to be fulfilled. Any extractive operations on Tagaeri and Taromenane territories must be halted.
Land is Life Celebrates the Landmark Victory of the Ogiek People in the African Court
On June 23rd, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that the Kenyan government must grant the Ogiek people collective land title to the Mau forest and pay them $1.3 million as compensation for historical injustices. This is a landmark victory for the Ogiek who have been suffering continuous evictions from their ancestral territories. The Mau forest, in south-western Kenya, has been home to the Indigenous Ogiek people since time immemorial. The Ogiek, who depend on hunting, gathering, and small-scale farming for their livelihoods, have faced countless evictions from their ancestral homelands since the beginning of British colonial rule. Throughout the last century, the reasons for evictions have been multiple, such as industrial agriculture and logging, but the most recent cases have been about the Kenyan government blaming the Ogiek for deforestation and ecosystem degradation. In 2009, following another eviction order from the Kenya Forest Service, the Ogiek brought a case to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights which was later taken to the African Court. Finally, in 2017, the Court ruled that the Mau forest is the ancestral home of the Ogiek; that the Government of Kenya had violated the rights of the Indigenous people to their lands; and that their evictions have not supported protecting the forests. However, rather than implementing the Court’s decision, the Kenyan government has continued violating the Ogiek’s rights. In July 2020, for example, more than 100 Ogiek families were violently evicted and 300 Ogiek infrastructures destroyed in the Mau forest. The government’s failure in implementing the decision from 2017 led to a further judgment by the same court last week. This time, the African Court ruled that the Kenyan government must pay 158 million Kenyan shillings ($1,3 million) to the Ogiek people for material and moral damages. This was the first time that the Court has called for compensation for an Indigenous community. The Court further stated that: · The government must take all necessary measures to identify, delimit and grant collective land title to the Ogiek community and, by law, assure them of unhindered use and enjoyment of their land. · The government must recognize, respect, protect and consult the Ogiek in accordance with their traditions and customs, on all matters concerning development, conservation or investment on their lands. “The judgment is a big relief to the Ogiek community. We have been in and out of courts and it has been costly for us. The next step after the landmark is for the government of Kenya to move in and start implementing the ruling of the African Court by consulting us, the Ogiek community.” – Daniel Kobei, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) Land is Life celebrates this landmark victory with the Ogiek people and demands the Kenyan government to fulfill the obligations set in the ruling. We hope that the case will set a powerful precedent in Africa where various Indigenous peoples, such as the Batwa and the Maasai are continuously suffering forced evictions from their territories. The 13-year-long court process is one of the many tools that the Ogiek have used for fighting for their rights to their lands. Another relevant tool has been the ongoing process of developing an autonomous, Ogiek-led Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) Protocol that aims to support the communities in responding to increasing land use pressures from their own governance mechanisms and worldviews.
Land is Life Stands in Solidarity with the Maasai who are Threatened by Eviction from their Ancestral Lands in Ngorongoro, Tanzania
“This is our territory, territory means life; our identity and we can’t survive without. The fortress conservation model pushes our people out of their land. We need local and global synergies to stop land grabbing and eviction of the Indigenous pastoralists of Ngorongoro.” – Maasai Leader (name withheld for security reasons) The Indigenous Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania keep resisting the government’s efforts to displace them from their ancestral lands. Until now, the Maasai herders who practice traditional livestock grazing, have been coexisting with the wildlife of the conservation area, which also is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Government of Tanzania claims that the rising Maasai population and their livestock are threatening wildlife protection. At the same time, Ngorongoro has become one of the most intensively visited conservation areas in Africa where tourism rates have exploded from 20,000 yearly visits to 650,000 visits in the past 30 years. It thus seems that the displacement of the Maasai is not about nature conservation but about expanding tourism revenues. This is nothing new – in 2009, for example, thousands of Maasai families were evicted from Loliondo to allow a United Arab Emirates -based luxury tourism and trophy hunting company OBC to fully operate in the area. In addition, it was in 1959 when Maasai pastoralists were forcibly resettled from the Serengeti plains to Ngorongoro due to the establishment of the national park. It is now some of the very same Maasai who are facing threats to be evicted from home for the second time. “Evicting the Maasai of Ngorongoro means violating their native rights of territory ownership. The women and children are the most suffering. Both the people of this community and their livestock are in great danger of losing their livelihoods.” – Maasai woman (name withheld for security reasons) Land is Life stands with the Maasai pastoralists of Ngorongoro and joins their demands on the Government of Tanzania to halt the eviction plans immediately. We also request the UNESCO – that claims to integrate the protection of cultural and natural heritage and to preserve the balance between nature and people – to intervene. We would like to ask them, what is the role of a World Heritage Site without its living cultural heritage? Land is Life joins the calls for the establishment of a Maasai-led steering committee to find the right balance between the pastoralists’ livelihoods, tourism, and biodiversity in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Land is Life at U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2022
The 21st session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) was held April 25 – May 6 at United Nations headquarters in New York. After two years, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous delegates from around the world were able to once again gather in person for the Forum. The UNPFII is a high-level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to address issues related to Indigenous Peoples’ economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. Land is Life and our delegation was able to participate in a number of dialogues and meetings throughout the forum. Deep concerns were expressed on the threats that the extractive industries, infrastructure mega projects, loggings, and large-scale agriculture pose to Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI). Land is Life, as the Secretariat of the International Working Group GTI PIACI, applauds the forum’s recommendations on human rights where it was recommended that the Human Rights Council (OHCHR), in cooperation with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Indigenous people’s organizations, start a process of evaluating the progress made, identifying implementation gaps and making recommendations to advance the protection of PIACI and to guarantee their rights. This adoption marks one step closer towards the protection of the PIACI whose ways of life are exposed to extremely high vulnerability. Land is Life at UNPFII 2022: Strengthening the Collective Security of Indigenous Defenders Recording Indigenous Voices on the Global 30×30 Initiative and Philanthropy’s Response Unfree, Late and Uninformed Consent from Ethiopia to Asia Human Rights Violations of Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation by Companies in the Amazon and Gran Chaco Autonomous Protocols of Free, Prior and Informed Consent: An Alternative Tool towards Regulation for Indigenous Communities
Land is Life stands with the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
While the war in Ukraine has been claiming lives and deteriorating all aspects of the well-being of the Ukrainian people for more than a month now, the human rights violations of Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia itself have not halted. As a result of the war’s impacts on the government, the ongoing land seizures, as well as the environmental and human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples within Russia, will be even more difficult to address. In Russia, Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices have been silenced since the outbreak of the war. However, Indigenous peoples living in exile have stood up and are raising their voices to condemn the immoral acts of Vladimir Putin. They have collectively decided to withdraw from all Russia-based organizations that have approved the actions of the Russian Government, and to establish a new, independent organization, the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia. Land is Life joins the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia in condemning the war and firmly stands in solidarity with the Ukrainians, Russians and all the Indigenous and non-Indigenous victims who suffer from the vile acts of Putin and his allies. Please find below an open statement of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia. * * * Statement of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia WE – the undersigned representatives of the Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East living outside of Russia against our will—are outraged by the war President Putin has unleashed against Ukraine. At the moment, the entire population of Ukraine is in grave danger. Old people, women and children are dying. Cities and towns of an independent country are being destroyed because their inhabitants did not want to obey the will of a dictator and a tyrant. As representatives of Indigenous peoples, WE express solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their struggle for freedom and are extremely concerned about ensuring the rights of Indigenous peoples during the war on Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that remains illegally occupied by Russia. As representatives of Indigenous peoples, WE are outraged by statements of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) on March 1, 2022 and the statement of civil society leaders on March 2, 2022 in support of the decisions of President Putin. Such public statements can only be considered as direct support for the military aggression against the Ukrainian people, and their signatories are accomplices of the murderers of civilians in Ukraine. WE believe that the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) has become an adjunct of the Russian Government domestically and internationally. Once a leader in the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, it is today became an organization whose main purpose is to justify the actions of the Government and extractive companies that feed President Putin’s regime and destroy the traditional lands of indigenous peoples. WE believe that the leaders of RAIPON—Grigory Ledkov, Alexander Novyukhov, and Anna Otke who signed the letter should be also treated as war criminals, not merely accomplices of the war, because they voted for military action as members of the Russian Parliament. From now on, WE will consider any statements on any international platforms made by RAIPON and its representatives or by representatives of other organizations of Indigenous peoples which supported Vladimir Putin’s decisions regarding Ukraine as falsehood and propaganda as their main purpose is maintaining the prestige of the Russian authorities at the international level. WE call on any international organizations, nonprofit and intergovernmental, scientific, environmental, human rights and others, including institutes and branches of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Arctic Council to ignore the statements of RAIPON representatives and spokespeople of other organizations which supported Vladimir Putin’s decisions. Those statements are propaganda originating in the Russian political regime. We appeal to the international community to no longer consider RAIPON a legitimate representative of the Indigenous peoples of Russia. WE also declare that we are withdrawing from all Russia-based organizations and networks of Indigenous peoples of Russia in which we were previously members. We announce the creation of a new, independent organization—the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia. Tjan Zaotschnaja – Itelmen Dmitry Berezhkov – Kamchadal Pavel Sulyandziga – Udege Yana Tannagasheva – Shor Andrey Danilov – Saami Vladislav Tannagashev – Shor Irina Shafrannik – Selkup Please find the Russian version of the statement here.