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,…
Indigenous Lawyer to Lead USDA’s Tribal Relations Office
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday that it has appointed Heather Dawn Thompson, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as Director of the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR), which reports directly to the Secretary of Agriculture. Thompson is a graduate…
Joe Biden: ‘Tribal sovereignty will be a cornerstone’
The third of four executive orders signed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday focuses on strengthening the nation-to-nation relationships with tribes. It’s only one presidential action of many taken by the administration in week one. Biden signed a presidential memorandum that requires all federal agencies and…
President Joe Biden rejoins the Paris climate accord in first move to tackle global warming
President Joe Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the U.S. into the Paris climate agreement on Wednesday, his first major action to tackle global warming as he brings the largest team of climate change experts ever into the White House. The Biden administration also intends…