Articles from this category from BurmaNet News)

an edited version of a report by the People's Tribunal on Food Scarcity and Militarization in Burma, which was published by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in October 1999.

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher during May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Saw Th---, a 37-year-old farmer and village elder, who described his experiences living in Tatmadaw-controlled relocation sites for over two years and in a village in a mixed-administration area, in which various Tatmadaw battalions and non-state armed groups operated.

A photojournalist put aside his camera to comfort a young Karen woman at the birth of her son in a jungle hideout...

"It was a makeshift village on the Thai side of the Moei River bordering Burma and Thailand, about 60 miles north of the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Around 100 Karen lived there, so-called “internally displaced persons,” refugees from the excesses committed by the Burmese army and the equally feared troops of the regime-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army...

The last two years have seen a profound deterioration in the human rights situation throughout the central Shan State in Myanmar. Hundreds of Shan civilians caught in the midst of counter-insurgency activities have been killed or tortured by the Burmese army. These abuses, occurring in a country which is closed to independent monitors, are largely unknown to the outside world. Denial of access for human rights monitors and journalists means that the full scale of the tragedy can not be accurately calculated. Therefore the information presented below represents only a part of the story.

This report focuses . . . human rights violations against members of ethnic minority groups. These abuses, including extrajudicial executions; ill-treatment in the context of forced portering and labour; and intimidation during forcible relocations occur both in the context of counter-insurgency operations, and in areas where cease-fires hold. The State Law and Order Restoration Council SLORC, Myanmar's military government) continues to commit human rights violations in ethnic minority areas with complete impunity.

To provide for the upgrading and conversion into ownership of certain rights granted in respect land; for the transfer of tribal land in full ownership to tribes; and for matters connected therewith.
(Afrikaans text signed by the State President.)
(Assented to 27 June 1991.)
BE IT ENACTED by the State President and the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:

Political transformations in most developing nations have been accompanied by vast land claims by indigenous communities who were forcibly detached from their traditional land during colonisation and apartheid-like dispensations. In the context of sub-Saharan African countries (including South Africa), the need for land reform has been aggravated by the great scarcity of farmland. However, most of the reclaimed land is in areas pursuing conservation activities.

The present Law develops the context, principles and procedures for the right to prior consultation to Indigenous peoples or native regard to the legislative or administrative measures that directly affect them.  It is interpreted in accordance with the obligations under Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), ratified by the Peruvian State through the Legislative Resolution 26253.

This report provides an overview of the present state of play of the extractive industries in relation to indigenous peoples, taking as its point of departure the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples(UNDRIP) in 2007, together with the 2009 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues International (UNPFII) Expert Group Meeting on Extractive Industries, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility, and the 2009 International Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Extractive Industries.

This report on harnessing pastoralists’ indigenous knowledge of rangeland management in three countries in East and the Horn of Africa is presented in two parts. The first part presents a review of the literature. The second presents the findings from the Orma in Tana River District of Kenya, the Afar in Amibara and Gawane Districts of the Afar Regional State in Ethiopia and the Karamojong in the Moroto District of Uganda.

This article addresses political rights and identity among Il Chamus of Baringo District, Kenya, a small group of agro-pastoralists related to the Maasai. It discusses an important 2006 judicial ruling from the High Court of Kenya that specified a political constituency and national representation for the community, and shows how the state and its actions undermined its implementation.