Land rights are crucial to the existence and wellbeing of indigenous peoples around the world. For many communities, securing collective property rights means ensuring cultural survival and gaining a foothold on economic development.
One of the largest indigenous organizations in South America, Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations from the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), has for the first time in its history, elected an indigenous woman to serve in its top post.
This month marks the anniversary of the U.S. endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations adopted the Declaration in September, 2007, but it took three additional years for it to gain the support of the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the only states to vote against it.
Science has proven what indigenous wisdom has recognized for millennia: giving is good for you! Researchers are finding that generosity releases hormones that enhance happiness and ease stress; giving can boost your immune system and make you stronger! Stay healthy and combat the upcoming flu season by becoming a monthly giving member.
Tribal leaders from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and other Minnesota Indian Affairs Council representatives met with Indian Law Resource Center lawyers August 4, 2016, for a high-level workshop about how to engage in the United Nations system to protect tribal lands, sovereignty, and cultures.
Terri Henry, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Secretary of State and chairwoman of the Indian Law Resource Center board of directors, is one of 16 experts tapped to serve on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She will begin her three-year term on January 1, 2017.
This month, the World Bank’s board of directors approved a new Environmental and Social Framework, modernizing a decades old set of policies aimed at preventing Bank-funded development projects from harming the environment and people.
Multilateral development banks play a key role in financing large-scale development projects, such as dams and forestry initiatives, that have often had devastating impacts on indigenous people and their communities. The Center led a workshop on the United Nations System and multilateral development banks for the traditional and ancestral authorities of the Mayan Nation.
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Dec. 16, 2015 marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. announcement of its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since 2010, tribal leaders have been working vigorously to implement the UN Declaration at all levels which includes law and policy reform, changes in administrative practices, and long-term efforts to correct conditions that impede tribal development or that undermine tribes’ right to self-determination, cultural rights, and resource rights.
