Indigenous Leaders and Goldman Prize Recipients Send Open Letter Demanding BlackRock Act on Deforestation and Human Rights

BlackRock has yet to produce concrete policy addressing land rights, deforestation, and human rights abuses in its portfolios Today, over 80 renowned Indigenous and frontline activists from around the world issued a public letter criticizing BlackRock’s role in violating the land rights and human rights of…

Deb Haaland Becomes First Native American Cabinet Secretary

The Senate confirmed Ms. Haaland to lead the Interior Department. She’ll be charged with essentially reversing the agency’s course over the past four years. WASHINGTON — Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico made history on Monday when the Senate confirmed her as President Biden’s…

Indigenous peoples call on Nornickel’s global partners to demand environmental action

Nornickel does not invite us to meetings, so now we urge international shareholders and buyers of their metals to take action, says Pavel Sulyandziga, President of the Batani Foundation, an exile group working for the rights of indigenous peoples in the Russian north. Nornickel’s…

Senate Committee Votes To Confirm Haaland. Here’s Who Voted For and Against Her and What Happens Next.

With two key Republican women in the Senate now pledging to support Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary, her nomination is almost certain when it reaches the full Senate. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski will cross party lines and buck powerful energy industry interests to support…

Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights as a Minimum Standard for Corporate Practice

By building strategic alliances with investors and shareholders, Indigenous Peoples are proactively protecting their rights by urging corporate respect of those rights in routine operations. When the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, it was the first time Indigenous…

‘It’s cultural genocide’: inside the fight to stop a pipeline on tribal lands

Dressed in a ribbon skirt and mask, Tara Houska gazed down at the trickling waters of the Mississippi near its headwaters. The great American river that eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico is just a stream in these parts of northern Minnesota. A pipeline…

Covid-19 takes the life of the last male from Brazil’s indigenous Juma tribe

The elder Aruká, who died last week in a hospital in the upper Amazon River basin, leaves behind three daughters who are now the only survivors of a group that counted on thousands of members just three centuries ago Aruká Juma, a native Brazilian, was…

More Native Americans Named to Key Posts in Biden Administration

In a slow rollout of appointments since taking office last month, President Joe Biden has added an additional three Native American members to various department and task force positions in February, making good on “the Biden-Harris commitment to diversity.” Department of the Interior On Feb. 3, former…

Indigenous community wins recognition of its land rights in Panama

A ruling by Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice in November 2020 led to the official creation of a comarca, or protected Indigenous territory, for the Naso Tjër Di people in northern Panama. The 1,600-square-kilometer (620-square-mile) comarca is the result of a decades-long effort to…

Philippines: Drop murder charge against indigenous rights defender, UN experts urge

GENEVA (28 January 2021) – UN human rights experts today called on Philippine authorities to drop a reportedly unwarranted murder charge against an indigenous rights defender who submitted himself to police after a “shoot to kill” order had been issued if he resisted arrest,…