One would think that Iraqi farmers, now prospering under “freedom” and “democracy,” would be able to plant the seeds of their choosing, but that choice, under little-known Order 81, would be illegal. But first, it is important to set the context. Most people have never heard of the infamous “100 Orders,” but they help explain…
A story on BBC News yesterday is another good example of how our services could benefit people living in remote areas. Hard Times for Afghan Nomads tells the story of mountain people stuck in the middle of other people’s wars many times, and now ignored by the authorities, whose priority is the population in the…
This morning (oct 5), groups of residential school survivors will be posting and distributing notices at all of the main downtown churches in “Vancouver”, declaring to the officials and members of the Catholic, Anglican and United churches that they are illegally trespassing on Squamish Nation land and are now subject to arrest and imprisonment under…
Our non-interference with traditional culture approach is supported again by news that at least one indigenous livestock breed becomes extinct each month as a result of overreliance on select breeds imported from the United States and Europe, according to the study, “The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources,” conducted by the UN Food and…
One of the guiding principles of our organization is to help people find ways to solve their problems without introducing new problems, one such problem that commonly occurs is debt. India may be the trend-setter here, with an estimated 150,000 debt-ridden farmers succumbing to suicide since 1997. With guns in short supply in rural India,…
The Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months — the first such increase in three years — as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees, officials said Saturday. Some 3,145 square miles of forest were destroyed between August 2007…
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) today welcomed the removal of Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian from his command in West Papua. Siagian faces two indictments in East Timor for crimes against humanity committed in 1999.
Angry Papua New Guinea landowners say they will continue to halt construction at a Chinese owned nickel mine until they meet with the PNG government next week. Police reinforcements have been sent to the mine site to protect Chinese employees, some of who were assaulted by locals.
Two human rights defenders from the Hadzabe people in Tanzania have been acquitted by the Mbulu District Court from all charges brought against them in an attempt for revenge, because they had successfully defended the tribal homeland of their people against a corrupt deal.
An imminent decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court on the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous reservation in the Amazon jungle region has the country’s native communities on edge, because of the precedent it will set.
The 1.7 million hectare reserve was officially demarcated by the government in 2005, after debates that dragged on for nearly two decades. The Supreme Court is set to decide next week whether or not to uphold the demarcation of the reservation as a single, unbroken territory.