The Andes
Ecuador passes new agrarian reform law
Ecuador's National Assembly approved a Law on Rural Lands and Ancestral Territories—hailed as a new agrarian reform but spurned by indigenous dissidents as insufficient.
Tag: land
North America
Paiute land at issue in Oregon militia showdown
The take-over of federal lands in eastern Oregon by a right-wing militia builds on a rancher land-grab that began when the Paiute Indians were usurped in the 1878 Bannock War.
The Amazon
Brazil: ‘zero deforestation’ push
Greenpeace sent 1.4 million signatures to Brazil's congress demanding a "zero deforestation" law—while cattle and timber barons push a bill to further open indigenous lands.
East Asia
Taiwan: indigenous demand land restitution
Taiwan's Aboriginal peoples have launched a new push for restitution of usurped lands and recognition of local autonomy for indigenous communities.
Central America
Belize: Caribbean court rules for Maya land rights
The Caribbean Court of Justice ruled in a land-rights case brought by indigenous Maya elders in Belize, finding that that their communal lands must be recognized.
The Andes
Amnesty presses Colombia on indigenous rights
Amnesty International finds that Colombia's peace deal is unlikely to succeed without restitution of usurped lands—even where they have been opened to mining.
The Andes
Colombia: U’wa Nation land rights case advances
The U'wa Nation claimed a victory as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to hear its land rights case against the Colombian government.
Southeast Asia
Philippines: mining link seen to paramilitary terror
Clergy and rights advocates in Mindanao see army-supported paramilitary groups behind a wave of killings of indigenous leaders opposed to gold-mining operations on traditional lands.
Central America
Nicaragua: Miskito Coast land conflict turns deadly
At least nine have been killed and 20 more wounded in an escalating land conflict on Nicaragua's Miskito Coast over the past month, with hundreds displaced.
Southern Cone
Chile: outrage over repression of Mapuche protest
Mapuche indigenous leaders in Chile are expressing outrage over the violent eviction of protesters who were occupying a government office in the southern region of Araucania.
The Andes
Colombia accord to include trials for rights abuses
Colombia's government and the FARC rebels announced a six-month deadline for a peace deal, including establishment of a special justice system to try human rights abusers.
Central America
Guatemala: activist slain in palm-oil region
An indigenous ecological leader in Guatemala was killed outside a court that one day earlier ordered the closure of a plantation against which he had led protests.