14 April, 2011
Lands held and managed under custom in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are regularly quoted as covering the vast majority of the country’s land mass, 97% is the usually accepted figure. The remaining 3% of lands, no longer governed by tradition and custom, are referred to as ‘alienated lands’ and come under the management of the Department of Lands and Physical Planning. However these remarkable figures of land tenure security hide a grimmer truth. Over the past 13 months alone almost 10% of the land mass of Papua New Guinea has been issued out as concessions under an arrangement known as ‘Special Agricultural and Business Leases’ (SABL). Under these lease agreements, the government leases customary lands from traditional owners and re-leases the same lands, often to a third party, with customary rights to the lands suspended for the term of the lease.
Comité para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial
11 March, 2011
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The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) / Friends of the Earth PNG, the Bismark Ramu Group, Greenpeace Australia Pacific and the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP)
15 February, 2011
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Association of Indigenous Village Leaders in Suriname (VIDS)
10 February, 2011
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Fergus MacKay, Forest Peoples Programme
3 February, 2011
This document contains Volume IV of the series of compilations of United Nations human rights bodies’ jurisprudence pertaining to indigenous peoples and covers the years 2009 and 2010. It includes all of the UN treaty bodies and the recommendations of the Human Rights Council's Universal Peer Review mechanism.
Also see Volume I: 1993-2004, Volume II: 2005-2006, Volume III: 2007-2008 and Volume V: 2011-2012 under related reports.
Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) & The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR)
31 January, 2011
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7 December, 2010
After years of waiting, during which they suffered from violent attacks and the degradation of their ancestral lands, the Ingaricó, Macuxi, Patamona, Taurepang and Wapichana indigenous peoples of Raposa Serra do Sol received a favorable decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. During its last session at the end of October, the Commission issued an admissibility decision in their case against the Government of Brazil. In doing so, the Commission signaled not only that the Government’s treatment of indigenous peoples in Raposa may constitute a violation of their human rights, but that the Commission is now ready to enter its final stage of review of the case and issue a concluding report.
6 December, 2010
For over 40 years, the Costa Rican government has planned the construction of one of the largest hydroelectric dams in Central America. The plan has been modified several times due to serious criticism for its potential negative environmental and social impacts – especially on indigenous peoples. In 2008, the government of Costa Rica declared the Diquís Dam as being of public interest and national convenience, giving full support for its construction. The proposed Diquís Dam will flood more than 10% of the traditional and titled lands of the Teribe people and more than 5% of those of the Cabécar People. The Teribe people consider the Diquís Dam as a grave threat to their survival as a people, since the Teribe total around only 750 individuals.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
22 November, 2010
The new orders show that while Suriname has partially complied with the Court's judgment, it has failed to comply with the most crucial of those orders and that it has not fully complied with the Court's jurisprudence on collective land rights in a number of respects.
17 November, 2010
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopts precautionary measures in favour of the indigenous community of Maho in Suriname. Precautionary measures are granted in situations where there is a threat of irreparable harm.
