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It has been just over a month since I joined Cultural Survival. I just returned from an inspiring trip to Guatemala, meeting with our staff, our partners, and local Maya Indigenous leaders and wanted to share some reflections with you. 

By Victor Maquin

Communication is a human right and is a fundamental element for the exchange of knowledge and information, in the pursuit of sustainable development of the people of Abya Yala. Knowledge makes us free and ignorance makes us slaves by denying our freedom of expression and the free exchange of thought, promulgated in international law. These ideas were promoted during the International Summit of Indigenous Communication, which was held on October 10-12 in Cusco, Peru, within the framework of the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Cristina Bautista (Facebook)

 

Cultural Survival strongly condemns the ongoing violence against Indigenous Colombians. According to Colombia’s human rights ombudsman, 486 activists and human rights defenders have been murdered since January 2016. A majority of those killed have been Indigenous. 

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) reports that 121 Indigenous people have been murdered since President Duque took office in August 2018. 

Kanahus Manuel held for hours without proper medical attention for wrist injured in arrest

For Immediate Release: October 21, 2019

(Unceded Secwepemc Territory / Blue River, BC) – At 9 a.m. on October 19, 2019 Kanahus Manuel and Isha Jules of Tiny House Warriors were arrested on Highway 5. They had stopped to tell construction workers they had no Secwepemc consent to flag in preparation for roadwork. Police arrived on the scene and within minutes arrested Manuel and Jules for the crime of “bugging.”

“The government of the U.S. has repeatedly failed to protect the human rights of the Gwich'in"

New York, NY -- In a submission sent on October 3 to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Indigenous rights groups raised concerns about human rights violations against the Gwich’in Nation as a result of the Trump administration’s push to sell off the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. 

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