Over 400 civil society organisations from more than 50 countries today issued a joint open letter to the seventeen banks providing a US$2.5 billion project loan to Dakota Access LLC. The letter, endorsed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, demands that the banks involved immediately halt all further disbursements of the loan and require the project sponsor to stop construction work until all outstanding issues are resolved to the full satisfaction of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The letter and the full list of signatories can be found below.
On September 15th, 2016, the International Criminal Court broadened its process for selecting and prioritising cases to include land grabbing and environmental destruction. The decision presents an opportunity to curb the deforestation and rights abuses driven by illegally-issued agricultural concessions in Cambodia, likely to be the court’s first credible case. It also has important implications for other countries suffering from the worst excesses of illegal deforestation. Neil Loughlin and Tom Johnson report.
This report was submitted by Roberto Borrero representing the International Indian Treaty Council, non-Governmental Organization in General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, traveling as a Human Rights Observer and in support of Grand Chief Edward John, UN Expert Member, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, about their mission to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the Oceti Sakowin (“Seven Council Fires”) Camp on October 29 – 31, 2016.
In response to an October 28, 2016 letter of invitation to me as an Expert Member of the UNPFII from Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman, David Archambault, Chief Edward John, Expert Member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, traveled from my community to North Dakota to see, firsthand, the conditions that he, his peoples and those from other communities have been facing in relation to the clearing of the right of way and subsequent construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

By Sacred Fire Foundation 

Honoring his leadership and tireless work for the rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, on November 26, 2016 the Sacred Fire Foundation presented Xané leader Marcos Terena with the Wisdom Fellowship award.

The award ceremony took place in Lima, Perú a Gala dinner during the The Latin America Indigenous Funders Conference, a unique event that brings leaders from the Indigenous, donor, and corporate worlds to the same table. 

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