"On behalf of the Pastoral Nomadic Indigenous Samburu Community of Northern Kenya: the local leaders, the elders, the counselors, the mothers, the children and our Member of Parliament, The Hon Raphael Letimalo, please accept our heartfelt indigenous greetings: Supa! We convey our gratitude to you and your team of experts for your visit to our pastoral region of Samburu East.
After 13 years of litigation and 122 years of waiting, the United States government is finally paying Native Americans for profits earned on 54 million acres of Native land held “in trust” by the federal government since 1887. The $3.4 billion settlement of the Cobell v. Salazar class-action suit was announced December 8th by Blackfeet Nation banker Eloise Cobell, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Attorney General Eric Holder.
Five Penan communities in Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo have filed a suit against the Malaysian government and three forestry companies operating in the Penan territory. Decades of illegal logging have destroyed most of the Penen's original forest home, and they are fighting to keep what remains. In the suit, to be heard by the High Court of Sarawak and Sabah, the Penan are demanding title to 300 square miles of their lands, a cessation of logging there, and damages. The suit is the latest development in an ongoing campaign by Cultural Survival's Global Response program.
Five rainforest communities of Malaysia's Middle Baram region are suing the Sarawak state government and the Malaysian timber giant Samling for non-respect of their native customary rights. They are demanding land titles for an area of 80'000 hectares, the nullification of four timber and planted-forest licences, plus compensation for damages.
With the proclamation of the park on the island of Borneo, 17 Penan communities are challenging the Sarawak state government that has given away these lands to a logging company.
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The chair of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has spoken out against the OceanGold mine construction that is threatening Indigenous residents of Didipio—the focus of a Cultural Survival Global Response campaign. “It’s time to put an end to this,” said Leila M. De Lima. The ongoing conflict escalated into violence when more than 100 Philippine National Police officers used teargas and truncheons to break up a human barricade on October 1, 2009.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
