Civil & political rights

Relevant resources

Request for Consideration of the Situation of the Karen Indigenous People Forcibly Evicted from the Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand, under UN CERD's Urgent Action and Early Warning Procedure

Karen Network on Culture and Environment, Inter Mountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association (IMPECT), Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples Network (IKAP), Northern Farmers' Network, Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation for Education and Environment (I.P.F), Forest Peoples Programme

13 February, 2012

Click here to read the Request to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Request to CERD - English (0.3 MB)

Request for Further Consideration of the Situation of the Indigenous Peoples of Merauke, Papua Province, Indonesia, and Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia in General, under UN CERD’s Urgent Action and Early Warning Procedures

Forest Peoples Programme, AMAN, Sawit Watch

6 February, 2012

Please click here to read the Request

Request - English (0.4 MB)

Karen People forcibly expelled from the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand

31 January, 2012

In January, indigenous peoples’ organisations sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, asking her to take immediate action to redress the forcible expulsion of Karen people from their ancestral territory in north-western Thailand, which is now overlapped by the Kaeng Krachan National Park.

According to sources that have visited Kaeng Krachan National Park and collected information, the harassment of Karen villagers has been going on for some time and became severe in May, June and July 2011, when many of the villagers’ houses and rice stores were burned and money, jewellery, fishing and agricultural tools were stolen by a group comprising National Park wardens and military forces. As a result, some of these villagers moved away and are now staying with relatives elsewhere and a number of them (allegedly around 70 people) are hiding in the forest in fear of meeting government officers, and are without sufficient food and shelter.

International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) Letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand regarding the forced relocation of Karen people from Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand

International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB)

15 January, 2012

Click here to read the IIFB Letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand

IIFB Letter - English (0.2 MB)

Updated Press Release: Bali Declaration acclaimed at Agribusiness and Human Rights in Southeast Asia Workshop

1 December, 2011

The international meeting of South East Asian Regional Human Rights Commissions on ‘Human Rights and Business: Plural Legal Approaches to Conflict Resolution, Institutional Strengthening and Legal Reform’ hosted by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (KOMNASHAM), in conjunction with Sawit Watch and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) was held in Bali, Indonesia, from 28th November to 1st December 2011.

Updated Press Release - English (0.2 MB)

Press Release: Agribusiness and Human Rights in Southeast Asia Workshop brings together Human Rights Commissioners, indigenous peoples’ representatives, academics and NGOs from across the world. November 2011

28 November, 2011

PRESS INFORMATION – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A landmark workshop, “Human Rights and Business: Plural Legal Approaches to Conflict Resolution, Institutional Strengthening and Legal Reform”, is taking place at the Santika Hotel, Kuta, Bali, from today until 1 December 2011, convened by the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and supporting NGOs SawitWatch and Forest Peoples Programme. The event will be attended by over 60 participants, from the National Human Rights Commissions of the Southeast Asian region, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, notable academics, representatives of indigenous peoples, as well as members of supportive national and international NGOs.

Nur Kholis, Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), said,

“We are taking this initiative in collaboration with the other human rights commissioners of South East Asia as a way of ensuring a more balanced approach to development based on respect for peoples’ rights, with an emphasis on the need to secure livelihoods and the right to food.”

Press Release - English (1 MB)

New Publication: Divers Paths to Justice - Legal pluralism and the rights of indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia

Marcus Colchester & Sophie Chao (Eds) with Ramy Bulan, Jennifer Corpuz, Amity Doolittle, Devasish Roy, Myrna Safitri, Gam Shimray and Prasert Trakansuphakon

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), RECOFTC - The Center for People and Forests & Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)

26 November, 2011

CLICK HERE TO READ DIVERS PATHS TO JUSTICE

If you would like to purchase a hard copy of this book please email info@forestpeoples.org or telephone +44 (0) 1608 652893

Divers Paths to Justice - English (3.9 MB)

Beragam Jalur Menuju Keadilan - Bahasa Indonesia (5.1 MB)

Conflict and the Importance of Tenure Reform in Indonesia, Ahmad Zazali (Scale Up)

7 October, 2011

Residents of Suluk Bungkal were forcely evicted by the Riau Police, based on the request of PT Arara Abadi (APP) in December '08

Scale Up, an Indonesian partner of Forest Peoples Programme, has been monitoring the evolution of social conflict in Indonesian oil palm plantations over recent years. Studies on conflict over natural resources in Riau province conducted by this partner over the last four years have shown a trend towards an increase in frequency and extent of disputed land each year, with a slight decline in 2010. Based on Scale Up’s annual report of 2007, 111,745 hectares of land in the Riau area were subject to conflicting claims to natural resources, an area which increased to 200,586 hectares in 2008 and to 345,619 hectares in 2009. In 2010, the disputed land area decreased slightly to 342,571 hectares, compared to 2009. This was largely due to the fact that a large number of disputed areas and ensuing conflicts in that year were not identified or documented.