February 13 is World Radio Day!

Today marks the 13th annual celebration of World Radio Day as proclaimed by UNESCO. This year's theme is "Radio: A century informing, entertaining and educating."

By Cesar Gomez (Maya Pocomam, CS Staff)

Reposted from www.sirgecoalition.org. 

Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) provides a framework for the considerations and processes required when investors and governments seek to develop projects that may affect Indigenous communities, lands, territories, and resources. For this reason, Indigenous leaders must be prepared to advocate for their individual communities' FPIC priorities on their own terms from a fully informed and proactive position.

By Chenae Bullock (Shinnecock)

By Mariana Kiimi Ortiz (Ñuu Saavi, CS Staff)

Cultural Survival expresses its solidarity with the Maya Peoples, the Maya Leaders Alliance, and the Toledo Alcaldes Association, in southern Belize in demanding that the State of Belize comply with the 2015 Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling and respect Indigenous rights to land and Free, Prior and Informed Consent in every matter that affects Maya Peoples. 

By CS Staff

By Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff)

Content Note: The following includes disturbing information on violence against Indigenous Peoples

By Tokunbo Dada (Yoruba)

In Nigeria, many farmers didn't trust vaccines for COVID-19, making it hard to fight the virus. With financial support from Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Community Media Fund, Paramount 94.5 FM Abeokuta in Nigeria, undertook Project New Hope, which used radio broadcasts to teach about vaccines in a way that was culturally relevant in the Yoruba language. The station built a bridge between doctors and farmers, showing them how vaccines could save lives.

In October 2023, Cultural Survival and Qhana Pukara Kurmi, an association of Indigenous communities of the department of Oruro, Bolivia, submitted an alternative report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The report spotlights the rights violations suffered by the Quechua communities of the Ayllu Acre Antequera for the Committee’s consideration during its 111th session, which took place from November 20 to December 8, 2023.

By Kajkoj Máximo Ba Tiul (Maya Poqomchí')

Guatemala: Years of Contempt and Abandonment

Guatemala has a population of close to 18 million inhabitants, mostly Indigenous, although the last census reported the population at 40 percent. The Indigenous population is made up of four Nations known as the Maya, Xinka, Garifuna, and Ladino Peoples. The Maya Nation is the largest, with 23 distinct Peoples. This composition of its inhabitants makes Guatemala a plurinational country.