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	Attacks against and criminalization of indigenous peoples defending their rights by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples   Aug. 2019   In the wake of the murder of indigenous leader Emrya Wajapi in Brazil, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has called on the country's authorities to 'react quickly and decisively' to protect the rights of indigenous peoples on their lands.   Emrya Wajapi was killed on July 23 in Amapa, a region in the far north of Brazil, bordering French Guyana.   According to media reports, witnesses saw a number of gold miners enter the protected reserve of the Wajapi community, then stab their leader to death.   'The murder of Emrya Wajapi, leader of the indigenous Wajapi people, is tragic and reprehensible in its own right', said Ms. Bachelet on Monday.   'It is also a disturbing symptom of the growing problem of encroachment on indigenous land - especially forests - by miners, loggers and farmers in Brazil'.   According to the UN human rights chief, the proposed policy of the Brazilian Government to open the Amazon up to mining could lead to 'incidents of violence, intimidation and killings'.   The UN human rights chief underlined that the protection of indigenous peoples and lands is not only an issue in Brazil, but the whole world.   While some progress has been made in recent years, enforcement of existing laws and policies has been weak, and in some cases existing environmental and indigenous institutional frameworks have been dismantled: the statement declared that this appears now to be the case in Brazil.   Ms. Bachelet called on the Government of Brazil to reconsider its policies towards indigenous peoples and their lands, so that Emrya Wajapi's murder does not herald a new wave of violence aimed at scaring people off their ancestral lands.   This could, she continued, enable 'further destruction of the rainforest, with all the scientifically-established ramifications that has, for the exacerbation of climate change'. http://bit.ly/2ZgxePe   Sep. 2018   The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples is gravely concerned at the drastic increase in attacks and acts of violence against, criminalization of and threats aimed at indigenous peoples, particularly those arising in the context of large-scale projects involving extractive industries, agribusiness, infrastructure, hydroelectric dams and logging.   These violations are occurring in the context of intensified competition for and exploitation of natural resources, as observed during country visits and reflected in the increasing number of relatedallegations. In several countries, increased militarization adds to the threats against indigenous peoples.   The Special Rapporteur has therefore decided to prepare a thematic report to draw attention to the escalation of these concerns. The focus of the present report is on the distinctive characteristics of attacks against and criminalization of indigenous peoples defending their rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and under human rights treaties, with emphasis on violations occurring in the context of development projects.   In the report the Special Rapporteur considers the collective and individual impact on indigenous peoples and assesses the effectiveness of prevention and protective measures, identifying good practices and prevailing challenges with regard to protective measures for indigenous peoples.   The Special Rapporteur notes that indigenous peoples are subjected to criminalization in a range of contexts including structural racism and discrimination, areas which may be the subjects of future analysis and reports.   In accordance with the mandate, the Special Rapporteur has continuously addressed in her country reports, communications to Governments, press releases and other public statements concerns over indigenous leaders and members of indigenous communities, and those who seek to defend their rights, who are subject to undue criminal prosecution and other acts, including direct attacks, killings, threats,intimidation, harassment and other forms of violence.   * Full statement by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council: http://bit.ly/2xD0DpX   http://www.iwgia.org/en/news/3283-defending-the-defenders-recommendations Visit the related web page
	Malnutrition, child deaths plague India's tribal people by OHCHR, Reuters, agencies India   July 2019   India must prevent the eviction of millions of forest dwellers, say UN experts. (OHCHR)   UN human rights experts have urged the Government of India to prevent the potential eviction of up to nine million people, most of whom are forest dwellers and members of scheduled tribes with an ancestral link to the land and forest. The threat of evictions follows a 13 February order by the Supreme Court of India in a case brought by wildlife organisations who claim human settlements encroach on protected forest areas.   'The basic premise of this decision, which treats tribal peoples as possibly illegal residents of the forest is wrong, indigenous peoples are the owners of their lands and forests', says the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.   'This is a phenomenon seen around the world. Indigenous peoples and local communities are treated as squatters when in fact the land is theirs, and they have protected and stewarded their holdings for generations and play an important role for conservation'.   The Supreme Court order addressed the rejection of 1.2 million forest rights claims under the Forest Rights Act, a legislation adopted in 2006, which aimed at addressing historical injustice suffered by forest dwelling peoples and scheduled tribes by providing them with an opportunity to recognise their rights to occupy and use the forest.   On 28 February 2019, amid growing tensions over what was seen as a flawed claim process, the Court stayed its eviction order and directed the States to clarify by 12 July the procedure followed by State governments to decide on the validity and merits of claims.   While the Supreme Court's four-month suspension of its order was a reprieve for those who had already been notified of eviction, the experts said they were gravely concerned about the precarious situation of millions of forest dwellers who may be displaced and lose access to their habitat, livelihoods and spiritual culture.   'In 2016, I recommended a national moratorium on forced evictions be instituted', said the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha. 'Evictions are only human rights compliant after all alternatives to eviction have been exhausted'.   'Governments must seek free prior and informed consent from the indigenous people affected, ensure compensation is adequate and that any resettlement plans are determined through a process of meaningful consultation. Any eviction resulting in homelessness is a serious violation of human rights', the experts warned.   The experts said many indigenous peoples in India have already lost their homes in the name of conservation, often to make way for tiger reserves. Yet again research shows that the presence of indigenous peoples actually improves tiger populations.   'For generations, India's tribal peoples have lived in harmony with the country's wildlife, protecting and managing vital natural resources. It is because of their sustainable stewardship that India still has forests worth conserving. To truly protect wildlife, recognising the rights of forest guardians would be a far more effective strategy than rendering them homeless', the experts said.   'We urge the Government of India to uphold the spirit of the Forest Right Act by safeguarding the inherent rights of scheduled tribes and other traditional forest-dwelling peoples'.   The government must provide the necessary resources to conduct a transparent and independent review of the rejected claims and to ensure no indigenous peoples are aggrieved. Where there is absolutely no alternative to eviction consent of affected people, adequate redress, and compensation are required.   The Ministry of Environment has recently proposed a series of amendments to the 1927 Indian Forest Act, which, if adopted, would result in further violation of rights of tribals and forest-dwellers, the experts said. 'The draft law would significantly increase the policing and discretionary powers of Forest officers against local communities'. http://bit.ly/2Z3fkPG   Feb. 2019   'Disaster as Indian Supreme Court orders eviction of 8 million tribespeople' - Survival International   India's Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of up to 8 million tribal and other forest-dwelling people, in what campaigners have described as 'an unprecedented disaster', and 'the biggest mass eviction in the name of conservation, ever'.   The ruling is in response to requests by Indian conservation groups to declare invalid the Forest Rights Act, which gives forest-dwelling people rights to their ancestral lands, including in protected areas. The groups had also demanded that where tribespeople had tried and failed to secure their rights under the Act, they should be evicted.   The groups reportedly include Wildlife First, Wildlife Trust of India, the Nature Conservation Society, the Tiger Research and Conservation Trust and the Bombay Natural History Society.   In an extraordinary move, the national government failed to appear in court to defend the tribespeople's rights, and the Court therefore ruled in favor of the evictions, which it decreed should be completed by July 27.   The order affects more than 1.1 million households, with experts estimating this could mean more than 8 million individuals will now be evicted and the number is likely to rise, as some states have not provided details as to how many will be affected.   Survival International's Director Stephen Corry said today: 'This judgement is a death sentence for millions of tribal people in India, land theft on an epic scale, and a monumental injustice. It will lead to wholesale misery, impoverishment, disease and death, an urgent humanitarian crisis, and it will do nothing to save the forests which these tribespeople have protected for generations'. http://bit.ly/2VvlFmb   Sep. 2018   Malnutrition, child deaths plague India's tribal people, by Roli Srivastava. (Reuters)   India's indigenous children are far more likely to die or suffer from malnutrition than those from other communities, according to the first government study on health among tribal groups.   Among indigenous communities, 57 out of every 1,000 children die before age five, compared to 37 deaths in other social groups, according to the report released last week.   The national average for malnutrition among children is 35 percent, while researchers found that 42 percent of indigenous children are underweight.   Researchers examined health conditions for India's 104 million indigenous people, and called for resources to be directed specifically towards improving healthcare and food security among the country's 705 tribal groups.   "Most states do not have funding for tribal health, nor is there any separate account of how money (from the health budget) has been spent on them," said Abhay Bang, a physician and public health expert who headed the research.   The government should allocate 8.6 percent of its annual budget for improving conditions among tribal people who account the same percentage of India's population, the report recommended.   The researchers pointed to a number of challenges that indigenous people have in accessing healthcare and adequate food.   Almost 90 percent of the country's tribal people live in rural areas, which are often in rugged and remote regions where doctors are reluctant to serve, the researchers said.   Many communities have been "robbed" of food, shelter and livelihoods due to "deforestation and forest laws that limit access to forest produce," according to the report.   Campaigners have called for better protection for tribal lands.   "These are traditional and free sources of food, but they have depleted," said Milind Thatte, founder of Vayam, a charity that works on tribal development. "Conserving these resources and giving tribals rights over them will go a long way in improving their health," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.   Tribal homelands have been eroded over the past few decades with the development of mines and major infrastructure projects say campaigners. Floods and famines have also taken a heavy toll on indigenous communities, forcing many to migrate, the report pointed out.   Migration often undermines nutrition among children, because they are deprived of the free meals provided by the government in schools and daycare centres in their home villages, the researchers found.   Some 146,000 children from tribal communities die each year, according to the report, which cited a study from 2011, the last year that data was available. http://tmsnrt.rs/2QOPDP3 Visit the related web page
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