Indigenous people protest Brazil not protecting ancestral lands
Brasilia, Brazil Reuters Several thousand Indigenous demonstrators marched chanting to drum beats on Thursday to the seat of power in Brazil’s capital to protest against the government’s failure to protect their ancestral lands. The annual event this year focused Indigenous anger over plans to build a railway to transport grain from farm states to Amazon […]
US Lutherans launch initiative joining Indigenous-led Truth and Healing Movement
RNS The head of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination announced on Wednesday the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is launching its own Truth and Healing Movement to help its three million members better understand the “colonising impacts” the church has had on Indigenous people, both past and present. “We must be in better, right, and healthy relationships […]
Responding to Indigenous, Vatican rejects Discovery Doctrine
Vatican CityAP The Vatican on Thursday responded to Indigenous demands and formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery”, the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimised the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property laws today. A Vatican statement said the papal bulls, or decrees, “did not adequately reflect the […]
Pope concerned for Amazon and Indigenous peoples, says its first cardinal
Manaus, Brazil Reuters Pope Francis will install the first cardinal of Brazil’s Amazon region this month in a sign of his concern for the rainforest and its Indigenous inhabitants, the man whom he picked for the role said. Dom Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of the Brazilian city of Manaus, said in an interview that Francis, the […]
Storm Eta damage pushes small, Indigenous farmers in Central America into hunger
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Ruben Garcia not long ago had small herds of cattle and fields bursting with crops, and now the Indigenous farmer in northern Nicaragua lies awake worrying how long it will be before he and his neighbors run out of food. The wooden homes and tiny farms of the Indigenous Miskito community […]
California bishops say protesters “failed the test” of history in toppling Junipero Serra statues
Los Angeles, USRNS The California Catholic Conference of Bishops is denouncing the toppling of Junipero Serra statues that protesters took down in San Francisco and Los Angeles over the weekend. “If this process is to be truly effective as a remedy for racism, it must discern carefully the entire contribution that the historical figure in […]
Amazon leaders demand illegal miners stay away to protect tribal lives
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Amazon tribal leaders called on governments in South America to ensure illegal miners stay away from their forest lands as they fear outsiders could spread the coronavirus among vulnerable Indigenous communities. At least 10 Indigenous people in Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia have died from the highly contagious COVID-19, according to the […]
Reform of customary laws urged to protect India’s Indigenous land
Shillong, India,Thomson Reuters Foundation Customary laws in the north-eastern states of India are failing to protect Indigenous lands and must be reformed to safeguard the property of women and poorer tribal people, land rights analysts said on Tuesday. Customs related to Indigenous tradition, including those on land use, are protected by the Indian constitution in […]
India drops plan to let forest officials use force after protests
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation India has dropped plans to give forest officials the right to use force against Indigenous people and open up more land for commercial plantations after nationwide protests. Proposed amendments to a century-old Indian Forest Act aimed to give officials the power to arrest and shoot at encroachers and earmark more land […]
Australia’s Uluru opens to climbers for last time ahead of ban
Yulara, AustraliaReuters Hundreds of tourists clambered up Australia’s Uluru on Friday, the day before a permanent ban on climbing the sacred rock takes effect following a decades-long fight by Indigenous people to close the trek. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed 348 metre monolith, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is a top tourist draw in Australia despite […]