According to UN Special  Rapporteur on Business and Human Rights John Ruggie, when extractive companies have problems with local communities surrounding their development, about 80% of time can be devoted to conflict resolution: not an effective time strategy. Companies can lose up to $20 million a week due to shut down costs as a result of social conflict.

Traditional Mayan authorities from Huehuetenango, Guatemala traveled to Spain in early July on a tour to raise awareness about the systematic human rights abuses experienced by their peoples at the hands of Spanish companies including Hydro Santa Cruz, a hydroelectric company operating in Santa Cruz Barillas, Guatemala. The Plurinational Government of the Q’anjob’al, Chuj, Akateka, and Popti’ and Mestizo peoples of Huehuetenango, including a representative of the community of Santa Cruz Barillas, and Santa Eulalia, visited Madrid and Barcelona on their tour.

By Amanda Stephenson

"If the dam is to be built, our homeland, our longhouses, our burial ground, our places of interest, all will be under the water. This will definitely put an end to our livelihood, our cultures. We want the government to respect our boundaries, to respect our rights upon our land." --James Usang, Tanjung Tepalit community leader, Baram, Sarawak

By Ben Ole Koissaba, PhD Student, Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University, South Carolina 

In a decision delivered on Thursday, June 26, 2014, Canada’s Supreme Court has granted aboriginal title to the Tsilhqot’in Nation of British Colombia for 1,700 square kilometers of land that they can prove they have traditionally occupied or used for hunting, fishing, or spiritual ceremonies.

By Sophia Mitrokostas

President Obama visited the Standing Rock Lakota reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota on June 13, 2014, taking part in Flag Day celebrations and addressing issues surrounding the experience of Native Americans in the US.

This was President’s first visit to a Native American reservation since first taking office in 2009 and is the first presidential visit to a reservation since Bill Clinton visited the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in 1999. Obama visited the Crow reservation in Montana before his election to the White House.

By Public Citizen

Over the last two weeks of May, residents of Santa Cruz Barillas, Guatemala have been surprised on three separate occasions by military presence in their communities. The area has been under high surveillance ever since a state of martial law was declared in the month of May 2012 and community members active against a hydro-electric dam were named “terrorists and drug traffickers” by the Perez Molina administration.

Our friends at the Peruvian organization Alianza Arkana have published a report outlining the deception of Argentinian company Pluspetrol as they manage their reputation as a socially responsible company, despite the years of contamination of Indigenous territories in the Amazon.

The lead up to this summer’s World Cup is already dominating international news with every manager’s squad selection being scrutinized while analysts attempt to predict the tournament’s winner.

Greenpeace has been closely monitoring another world-wide phenomenon: illegal deforestation.

The Navajo Nation Council voted on May 30, 2014 to approve a $544 million settlement reached with the Federal Government over mismanagement of the tribe’s trust fund assets. The settlement is considered the largest made by the government with an individual tribe.

The suit was filed by the tribe in 2006 for “damages, interest, fees, costs, and other relief against the United States”. The terms of the agreement include the demand for a report of assets that continue to be held in trust by the government.