On August 2, 2017, one of Cultural Survival’s partner radio stations, Radio Jolom Konob’ of Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, hosted the visit of Jesus Orozco, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, both from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The Rapporteurs came to listen to the situation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights violations in the region.
Without electricity or a telephone signal in the vicinity, a community radio station was almost an impossible dream for the Lenca people of Azacualpa, an Indigenous community of Yamaranguila in Intibucá, Honduras, who believed that as an impoverished community, no one would be interested in assisting them in setting up a radio station.
By Rawiri Taonui
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2007). Indigenous Peoples have come a long way. Our individual struggles coalesced during the 1970s in the Indigenous-initiated World Council of Indigenous Peoples. A decade of consultation and negotiation through the United Nations culminated in a first draft. Some of those who had worked on the draft lost their lives in struggles at home.
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.
