Workshops in 2006

December - COAJ - Jujuy, Argentina

In December 2006, Armstrong Wiggins, Director of the Washington D.C. office, and staff attorney, Leonardo Crippa, conducted a two-day training session in Jujuy, Argentina. The session was attended by more than one hundred and sixty local indigenous leaders and was focused on leadership development and the rights of indigenous peoples under international human rights law. The workshop helped expand the legal knowledge and leadership capacity of young leaders from Kolla, Ocloya, Ava Guarani, Atacama, and Quechua Nations from Jujuy. Center staff also met with leaders from the Laguna de Tesorero community to assist them in further developing their legal strategy regarding a case they are litigating before Argentina's Supreme Court regarding their collective property rights.

October - Maya Q'eqchi' - El Estor, Guatemala

Staff attorney Leonardo Crippa traveled to El Estor Guatemala to conduct further training for Maya Q'eqchi' leaders, over the period of a week, with the objective of building their capacity to submit a major case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

July - Maya Q'eqchi' - El Estor, Guatemala

Center staff were joined by the Director of the Nicaraguan indigenous organization CEJUDHCAN for a workshop with the Defensoria Q'eqchi'-a human rights organization lead by young Maya Q'eqchi' professionals from El Estor, Izabal-in Guatemala City. This workshop came at a critical juncture for the Maya Q'eqchi' communities of El Estor who are caught in the middle of an escalating conflict over their traditional lands and natural resources following the re-initiation of nickel mining in the region. As a result of this conflict, it became necessary for us to return to Guatemala, and provide additional information on not only the legal and political strategies that can be used in domestic courts, but also on those that can be used vis-à-vis the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For this event, the Center drew on its experience with the Awas Tingni case to show participants how indigenous peoples under similar circumstances can advance the legal recognition of their self-governance and collective property rights. In this fashion, the workshop provided a space for Center staff to give critical legal advice and delve deeper into the subject of how the Inter-American System on Human Rights can be used to further the rights of indigenous peoples.

April - Kus Kura - Boruca, Costa Rica

During April of 2006, we conducted a two-day training in Boruca, Costa Rica at the request of Kus-Kurá-a non-governmental indigenous advocacy organization-for over seventeen leaders representing five indigenous nations from different regions in Costa Rica. Indigenous communities in Costa Rica are increasingly facing human rights violations due to the impacts of hydroelectric dams and the related illegal expropriation of their lands. The Center's training in Costa Rica focused on providing the leaders with information about the policies of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and on the UN and Inter-American system mechanisms and procedures available for protecting the rights of indigenous peoples.