As Malaysia commemorates its 46th anniversary, 15 indigenous Sarawakians were detained and later released by Kuching police on September 16th, 2009 for trying to send a memorandum of protest to the Sarawak Chief Minister. Among those arrested were Mark Bujang (BRIMAS), Raymond Abin (BRIMAS) and Hellan Empaing (WADESA), all leaders of the Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia) as well as representatives from the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan communities of Sarawak.
For the past few months Cultural Survival has been in merger discussions with a Colorado-based international nonprofit organization called Global Response. We are very pleased to announce that this month Global Response becomes a new program of Cultural Survival.
We just received word that our petition with the Ngobe people of Panama has passed another hurdle at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Ngobe are fighting a dam being built on their land by a partnership between the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the American energy giant AES.
In particular, the Penan aim to stop planned plantation projects. Where the valuable trees have logged out, the companies are starting to clear the land for oil palm, acacia and eucalyptus plantations.
In a 17-page brief filed in June, the government of Panama made clear its refusal to heed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demand that it suspend all work on the Chan-75 hydroelectric dam that is destroying the homes, territory, and way of life of Panama’s Ngöbe communities living in the Changuinola River valley.
The situation in Ngöbe communities abutting the Chan-75 hydroelectric dam construction site remains tense, notwithstanding the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) decision on June 17, 2009 calling on the government of Panama to immediately suspend construction and to guarantee the personal integrity and freedom of movement of the Ngöbe inhabitants in the area.
The situation in Ngöbe communities abutting the Chan-75 hydroelectric dam construction site remains tense, notwithstanding the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) decision on June 17, 2009 calling on the government of Panama to immediately suspend construction and to guarantee the personal integrity and freedom of movement of the Ngöbe inhabitants in the area.
In June, the 400,000 indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon won a significant victory: after ten weeks of protests, strikes and bloodshed, they persuaded Peru's President and Congress to repeal laws that ignored their rights and threatened the Amazon rainforest.
The struggle cost scores of lives (the exact number is yet to be established). The non-violent indigenous protesters gained broad support both nationally and internationally as military attacks on the protesters became more brutal and deadly.
Washington, D.C.—After two years of brutal government repression and destruction of their homeland, the Ngöbe Indians of western Panama won a major victory yesterday as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Panama to suspend all work on a hydroelectric dam that threatens the Ngöbe homeland. The Chan-75 Dam is being built across the Changuinola River by the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the Virginia-based energy giant AES Corporation.
Washington, D.C.—After two years of brutal government repression and destruction of their homeland, the Ngöbe Indians of western Panama won a major victory yesterday as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Panama to suspend all work on a hydroelectric dam that threatens the Ngöbe homeland. The Chan-75 Dam is being built across the Changuinola River by the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the Virginia-based energy giant AES Corporation.
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.