According to a recent communique from Friends of the Lubicon, TransCanada officials have decided to proceed with their application to build a new jumbo gas pipeline across unceded Lubicon Territory.

Not too long ago they were asked to alter their ‘project timelines’ until they adequately respond to the social, environment, and cultural concerns held by the Lubicon Cree Nation. However, it would seem Transcanada is no the lest bit interested in doing so, nevermind respect the rights of the Lubicon or hold onto any shred of moral and social …

Today, Survival International released an alert explaining that Kenya’s honey-hunting Ogiek are being targeted in the escalating post-election violence in Kenya.

“An Ogiek leader said today, ‘We the Ogiek people have suffered police shooting, intimidations and threats…. Currently five of our youth have been shot and injured as hundreds of families fled their homes…. We cannot access food, shelter or medicines.’

There have been allegations of rape of Ogiek women by police, and Ogiek houses have been burned down.”

One article posted on the Ogiek website explains that they …

January 4th of this year marked the 16th anniversary of the day more than 300,000 Ogonis participated in “a mass non-violent protest against the devastation of their environment by the heartless multinational, oppressive, genocidal, and apartheid-like policies of both the Nigerian authorities and Royal Dutch Shell towards them.”

Soldiers and mobile police responded to the protest by firing tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd, killing four youths. Over the next year, acts of genocidal violence were repeatedly committed against the Ogoni.

Three years prior to this, Ogoni …

The following is a trailer for the film Ever Decreasing Circles, a documentary that outlines the ongoing health crisis and human rights disaster that’s been thrown on the backs of one traditional farming community in Berezovka, Kazakhstan.

The situation is said to be an example of “the typical environmental and social exploitation occurring in the Caspian region at the hands of western oil consortiums and corrupt local officials. What is not typical about Berezovka is that the citizens are fighting back.”

Located nearly five-kilometers away from the fields, the community …

Two days ago, Correa brought an end to the state of emergency he declared on Nov. 29 in the province of Orrelana, agreeing with human rights organizations and regional leaders to investigate charges of human rights abuse that occurred while the emergency was in effect.

Correa had called the state of emergency after people from Dayuma started taking over oil wells and cutting communication lines on November 26. Before this, the protesters were peacefully calling for the government to spend more revenue from oil on infrastructure (roads and electricity lines), and …

Teshekpuk Lake, located in Northern Alaska, is one of the most important and sensitive arctic wetland complexes in the Northern Hemisphere. A summer home to thousands of migratory birds, the lake region is also an important subsistence hunting and fishing ground for the local indigenous population.

In 1923, Teshekpuk Lake was placed into Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and was designated for use by the military, but the government of the day came to see the area was just too unique to exploit. The Bush Administration, however, sees …

The Dominion has recently published it’s special issue on the Alberta tar sands; and has since last Monday , been publishing roughly one article a day about this massive, barely understood human rights and environmental disaster.

Four of the articles published so far have focused on the impact of tar sands development on indigenous people. In light of the seriousness of this issue and in respect to the effort of the Dominion to raise peoples awareness, I thought I’d briefly outline them…

The first article, “Oil Versus …

A decade-long struggle for the Maya villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz came to an unexpected, hopeful end last week. Chief Justice, Dr. Abdulai Conteh granted the order sought by the villages to have their customary land tenure practices acknowledged and secured under the Constitution.

Historically, the Government of Belize has systematically denied the Maya rights to their land, by claiming they were Guatemalan immigrants, therefore without a valid claim.

Under that premise, in 1993 the Government allowed logging on over 500,000 acres in the Toledo District, and granted …

Fifty years ago, the Waorani lived a lifestyle identical to that of an uncontacted, nomadic people. But with the discovery of oil and an onslaught of Christian missionaries in the years following, the Waorani were abruptly dragged into the modern world. Soon after contact, they were put under missionary control–but only for a few short years.

Upon returning to their Ancestral lands, the Waorani, known to be some of the fiercest Warriors in the Amazon, found that they were no longer allowed to live as they did …

In the video below you’ll find Celina Harpe, an Elder who’s lived in Fort MacKay for all her life, talking about the reality faced by her people today.

Fort MacKay is a community located in Northern Alberta that’s populated by about 500 (mostly Cree) People–a community that exists on top of, and literally surrounded by naturally occurring tar sands (also known as oil sands).

In the 1960’s Companies began to arrive in Fort Mackay to extract the oil. At first there were only a few, but the gettin’ was …