African descendants in the Americas: A Struggle for RecognitionThe United Nations and the Organization of American States has decreed 2011 to be the Year of African descendants.There are over 150 million people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean   with the largest numbers concentrated in Brazil, Colombia and VenezuelaAfrican descendant peoples in the region, display consistent realities and are affected by currents...

Interview with Chief Wilton Littlechild - Member of Canada's Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.Photo courtesy of Neeta Lind"We are still marginalized. The poverty for example  of indigenous children is on the rise.  The taking away of the child is still going on. We still fill the prisons, .... I went to an institution for young offenders and 100 percent of the inmates were...

Kucaca Phulu visited Budapest on the 28th February, as a delegate of the Zimbabwe Europe Network. Also stopping by in Geneva and Brussels, as part of its European-wide advocacy tour, the network aimed to ensure that progressive policies and actions were taken by the European Union concerning Zimbabwe. Phulu is the president of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association and a member of the country's...

We, the undersigned call on the Government to take immediate action to prevent the destruction of the Wilpattu National Park, while continuing to provide access through the road from Puttalam to Mannar via the park. We believe that through taking corrective measures the Government can ensure that both issues are addressed in order to protect the rights of the expelled Northern Muslims and the...

Martin Macwan, an Indian lawyer and activist, is the founder of Navsarjan, a grassroots Dalit organisation, based in Gujarat state, India. Being a Dalit himself, he learnt the hard way as a child what caste discrimination means. Dalits, the former "untouchables" in pre-independence India, make up around 166 million of those living in the country, and together with other disadvantaged groups they make up...

Irene Nadunga from the Uganda Coalition for Crisis Prevention highlighted the discrimination faced by pastoralist women in Karamoja in her speech at the 3rd UN Forum on Minority Issues held in Geneva in December 2010. To read her full speech click here “The economic disadvantage of pastoralist is most felt by the marginalised and vulnerable pastoralist women of Karamoja who are economically discriminated within...

Dildora Khamidova, on behalf of both the Centre for Multicultural and Multilingual Education and the Foundation for International Tolerance, spoke at the UN Forum on Minority Issues. She highlighted how last year’s inter ethnic violence is affecting the economic life of marginalised communities in Kyrgyzstan, consequently making them more vulnerable. To read her full speech, click here.  “The consequences of June's tragic events have negatively affected...

Ilona Kochoy, from the Union of Kurdish Youth of Georgia, spoke at the UN Forum on Minority Issues highlighting the situation of Kurdish minorities, with reference to work and social security. To read her full speech, click here.  “Some of the representatives of the Kurdish community have been fired, as they tried to protest together with the trade unions, which also unfortunately have low...

Minority Rights Group International, in March 2011, announced the winner of the Minority Voices Young Journalist Award - a prize for young professionals and student journalists keen to cover issues affecting minorities and indigenous communities in developing countries.The three-member panel of judges, formed both from journalism and development experts, recognised the excellent level of the entries received. In particular the committee named five applicants...

Minority Rights Group International, in March 2011, announced the winner of the Minority Voices Young Journalist Award - a prize for young professional and student journalists keen to cover issues affecting minorities and indigenous communities in developing countries.The three-member panel of judges, formed both from journalism and development experts, recognised the excellent level of the entries received. In particular the committee named five applicants...

Racism, xenophobia and racial discrimination in Argentina English language audio interview with activist Nengumbi Celestin Sukama, president of IARPIDI (Instituto Argentino para la Igualdad, Diversidad e Integración).  The NGO works in Argentina to defend the rights of asylum seekers and political refugees from the African continent, and to combat racial discrimination against native Afro-Argentinians and African descendants from other countries in the hemisphere. The...

Afro-Argentinian reaction to latest census exercise.For the first time since 1895 the Argentina national census of 2010 took measures to include a count of people of African descent.  In October the many thousands of census-workers who fanned out across every province were supposed to collect data on the number of people in the country including those who self-identify as Indigenous people  and African descendant....

Nepal's government has failed to achieve justice for the victims of communal violence that exploded in 2007 in the Kapilvastu district. On June 2, human rights groups met to discuss their efforts to push the government to take action. The Kapilvastu Violence Victim Struggle Committee (KVVSC) reported that the organization was able to obtain official government reports on the violence that killed 13 people...

Transcript of an interview with Ras Rolando, an artisan and tourist guide on the Colombian administered Caribbean island of San Andres.  The Colombian controlled Caribbean islands of San Andres and Providence are located some 500 miles from the South American coastline. In contrast, they are just 80 miles from the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua in Central America.After some 120 years of semi isolation and...

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled repression in Burma have no protection from abuse , starvation, and detention in Bangladesh because of a lack of documentation, Refugees International highlighted in a recent report. In the report, Bangladesh: The Silent Crisis, Refugees International is urging the international community to work with the Bangladeshi government to register undocumented refugees and improve protection for...

Activists are calling on Nepal’s government to make special provisions for the rights of Dalit in the new constitution. A recent conference organized by the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) yielded the “Kathmandu Proclamation”, which will be submitted to authorities in charge of formulating Nepal’s new constitution.Among other measures, the proclamation suggested that the constitution ensure proportional representation for Dalit women in all government bodies...

United Nations human rights officials and their counterparts in Nepal welcomed a new law prohibiting discrimination against people who are considered members of low castes and are known as “untouchables” or “Dalits.” The Bill on Caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability that was passed May 25 had been before Parliament for the past two years, according to a joint statement issued by the UN Office...

As Southern Sudan prepares for independence it faces many challenges, including ethnic tensions that often lead to violence. During a research visit to Boma, Jonglei State, MRG found that competition for scarce resources is often at the root of incidents such as cattle raiding attacks. In this interview, Boma community leader Paul Oleyo Longony speaks about tensions between ethnic groups - and what can be...

Improving the quality of life of Afro Colombian communities in the zones that they have occupied ancestrally depends on effective mobilization by the social organizations that represent them, such as Community Councils.  Community Councils generate processes related to the institution of long term policies, programmes and public projects and also facilitate the presentation of demands, interests and necessities, including protecting their territories from dispossession. ...

The Hon. Patrick Kensenhuis of the Republic of Suriname, represents a district with a majority indigenous and African descendant population.During the era of Dutch colonization of the Guiana region of South America, many enslaved Africans escaped into the rainforests of what is now the Republic of Suriname. These self liberated Africans (also known as "Maroons", "Djukas" or "Bakabusi Nengre") set up independent communities and...