At least 60 vigils were held, on October 4, in Canada, from Prince Edward Island to Haida territory, to commemorate and ask for investigation into the at least 720 aboriginal women who are known to have been murdered and disappeared. This was the anniversary of the day that Sisters in Spirit, the initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) who first documented and totaled up statistics on the overwhelming proportion of aboriginal women subject to violence compared to the rest of the population, designated to honor the fallen and disappeared, and the sixth year the vigils have been held. The day included a Unity March on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, that wended its way to Victoria Island, led by the NWAC, Amnesty International Canada and other groups. The groups called for a comprehensive, cohesive plan to eliminate such violence, including improving public awareness and accountability; funding the organizations that provide assistance to indigenous girls and women; address root causes of violence, especially by closing the economic gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, and eliminate inequities in the child-welfare system so as to better serve aboriginal children. NWAC was joined by Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA), the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Families of Sisters In Spirit (FSIS) KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Minwaashin Lodge, National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Area: Work, Educate and Resists (POWER) and Project of Heart. The events capped the annual 30 Days of Justice campaign, organized by Families of Sisters in Spirit, to raise awareness of the issue while honoring the women’s memories and demanding a cessation of violence toward aboriginal women. ( Valerie Taliman, “Nationwide Vigil for Missing and Murdered Women,” Indian Country Today, October 4, 2011, http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/nationwide-vigil-for-missing-and-murdered-women/).
The Third National Forum Building Resistance to Protect our Land was held in Capulalpam de la Sierra Juárez in Oaxaca, Mexico, May 20 and 21, 2002 with villages, communities and organizations from all parts of Mexico, including many indigenous people represented. The goal of the event was “a critical analysis of the current model of development, and the compilation of a list of demands so as to allow the communities to form a united front in the defense of their lands.” People from Oaxaca and all over the country came together with the common goal of protecting their land against politicians and projects that threaten their natural resources. While the participants held a variety of views, wide spread were concerns about threats and damage from mining, including to sacred sites ( style='color:windowtext;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none'>Miguel Ángel Vásquez, “Capulalpam, the Babel of Land Disputes,” Americas Program, June 15, 2011, http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4822).
Survival International lodged a formal complaint with the British regulator the Press Complaints Commission, in October, over the “highly offensive and ludicrous” claims in the world’s press that a German tourist missing in the South Pacific has been ‘eaten by cannibals,’ suggesting that newspapers that have described the indigenous people of the Pacific as ‘cannibals’ are promoting “a false and offensive notion that tribal people are primitive savages” (Survival International, “Survival and tribal people denounce ‘ludicrous‘ cannibal claims,”October 20, 2011, http://survival-international.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444&id=0512ef3f53&e=CqQTrZoCrQ).
The UN launched a campaign, in August 2012, to protect 35 indigenous tribes from extinction in Colombia. The campaign responds to a barrage of threats that could wipe out the Indians, including internal displacement, disappearances, massacres, anti-personnel mines and forced recruitment of youngsters into armed groups. a UN article prior to the campaign warned that “‘the risk of physical or cultural disappearance remains, and in some cases has risen”. The tribes it singled out as being in critical danger included the Nukak-Maku, Guayaberos, Hitnu and Sicuani. Colombia’s national indigenous organization ONIC also claims, that as of August, 60 indigenous people had been murdered in the last eight months. Guerrilla groups, such as the FARC are often blamed for much of Colombia’s crime, but ONIC’s findings link paramilitary and state forces to majority of the killings. Through its campaign, the UN hopes to raise awareness of Colombia’s most vulnerable tribes. Its desire to “join people in solidarity with actions that promote their (tribes) protection’, is reinforced by the campaign’s title: ‘If they disappear, a part of you disappears.” In one instance, Colombia’s civil war has driven many of the Nukak people from their traditional homes, placing them in extremely difficult conditions on the outskirts of towns. Contact with outsiders has been fatal for the Nukak. Since their first meeting with outsiders in 1988, more than half the Nukak have died of common illnesses. Now, the once nomadic hunter-gatherers suffer constant bouts of ill health and depression, and face an uncertain future. For more information contact Chloe Corbin: T (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504543367, style='text-decoration: none'>c.corbin@survivalinternational.org, http://www.survivalinternational.org/, or in the U.S.: Christina Chauvenet (202)525-6972, cc@survivalinternational.org (Survival International, “Anti-extinction campaign launched to protect 35 Colombian tribes,” August 31, 2011, http://survival-international.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444&id=1f0074c2d4&e=CqQTrZoCrQ).
Survival International reported, in August, that thousands of people around the world protested against building of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, that would displace many thousands of Indigenous people. In Brazil, groups across the country called on Brazil’s President Rousseff to halt the construction of the destructive dam on the Xingu river. Earlier in 2011, Survival supporters joined Amazonian Indians in their protest outside the London office of Brazil’s state development bank BNDES, which is providing much of the funding for the Belo Monte project (Survival International, “Worldwide protests against Amazon mega-dam,” August 22, 2011, http://survival-international.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444&id=d0a9cb15a9&e=CqQTrZoCrQ; and http://survival-international.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444&id=97da5f55c7&e=CqQTrZoCrQ).
Grassroots International, style='text-decoration: none'>listmanager@grassrootsonline.org, is organizing against land grabs in Africa, including AgriSol Energy attempt to purchase 800,000 acres of land in Tanzania that is currently home to 162,000 people, mostly small farmers. Grassroots is concerned that “one of the major contributors to the food crisis in Africa is the theft of farmland from local communities by foreign industrial agriculture giants.” For more information go to: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BAnm6nrkcbUV3qu1UutSY3W69orrQqy8.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is Search For Common Ground’slargest program, with seven offices across the country. “We are actively engaged in retraining the Congolese army to prevent sexual violence against women and to carry out a broad array of other peacebuilding activities. This spring, we scored a great success in Equateur Province where two tribal groups had been fighting over fishing rights. There had been scores of deaths, and more than 130,000 Congolese had become refugees. With support from the UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency – the UN Stabilization Mission, and the National Endowment for Democracy, we used mediation, facilitation, participatory theater, film screenings, and music to help defuse the violence. We went so far as to organize a traditional ritual to "cleanse" the region of bad spirits. All this culminated in the signing of a non-aggression pact, which includes creation of an inter-tribal management committee for the disputed fishing ponds. (To learn more about the process, please go to: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=e3Bkl2iQLNLsDw5WyPDOgsG%2BO2U3w%2BvT) (Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Fall 2011 Common Ground Newsletter, http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2Bb4Jxr%2BEEy5ezvB%2BTdhBE4q5zeXrcSf%2B).
Activists from Bangladesh, Great Britain, and the United States gathered at Amnesty International's headquarters in London , December 12, 2011, to educate the public about the dangers of Global Coal Management Resources' (GCM) proposed Phulbari coal project in Bangladesh. The seminar was organized by the
Phulbari Solidarity Group, the London Mining Network, and International Accountability Project, just days prior to GCM's annual shareholder meeting on December 15. Speakers informed the public about potentially dire consequences of the British company's Phulbari project. Independent
researchers estimate that 50,000 Indigenous people's lives and livelihoods would be altered drastically by the project, which would also be devastating for the
environment.
For details, a new Phulbari Fact Sheet is available at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/bangladesh/campaign-update-bangladesh-protests-gcms-shareholders-meeting (“Campaign Update - Bangladesh: Protests at GCM's Shareholders Meeting,” Cultural Survival, December 13, 2011, http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/bangladesh/campaign-update-bangladesh-protests-gcms-shareholders-meeting).
Survival International reported in late September that tourists arriving on the Andaman Islands were being given leaflets about the 'human safari park' boycott. Exotic beaches make the archipelago a top holiday destination, but tourism is also leaving tribes increasingly vulnerable, as sightseeing tours turn into ‘human safaris.’ This trend means recently contacted tribes are now in immediate danger from outside influences. Some tour operators treat the Jarawa like animals, encouraging tourists to ‘spot’ them and throw biscuits and sweets as they drive along the Andaman Trunk Road. A local Andaman organization called Search is working with Survival to put pressure on the Indian government to develop a new route, which will not disturb the Jarawa. Leaflets appealing for a tourism boycott of the road have been distributed at the islands' airport, to coincide with this year’s World Tourism week. Four out of five of the Andamans’ main tour operators have come out in support of the boycott. For more information go to: http://survival-international.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444&id=88e82001dc&e=CqQTrZoCrQ>http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7724.
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