Guatemala Accepts Two Recommendations Regarding Indigenous Community Radio at Human Rights Council Adoption of Universal Periodic Review Outcome 

On July 7, 2023, the final outcome of Guatemala’s human rights review was adopted during the 53rd Human Rights Council session. In a historic move, Guatemala accepted both recommendations that Cultural Survival and our partner organization Sobrevivencia Cultural put forth regarding Indigenous Peoples’ right to community radio and will consequently have the international obligation to implement them. Read more. En español.

Open Letter to the European Union: The Critical Raw Materials Act Must Ensure Effective Social, Environmental and Governance Safeguards and Provide Meaningful Participation

To be globally just and sustainable, the Critical Raw Materials Act must ensure effective social, environmental and governance safeguards and provide meaningful participation to local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society in resource-rich countries.  Read more. En español.

Also: A Turning Point: The Critical Raw Materials Act needs to be truly socially and environmentally just  

Open Letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen: Indigenous Peoples Are Key Rights Holders for the Success of the Energy Transition in the EU and Beyond

From Oak Flat to Spiro: Enduring Indigenous Connections to Copper 

On the lands of the San Carlos Apache in southeastern Arizona, a fight continues between Apache Tribal members and two multinational mining giants over the proposed extraction of copper... In Oklahoma Indian Country, one does not need to travel far in any direction to find strong relationships between Native people and copper. Read more.

Cultural Survival and Partners Submit Report on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights for Malaysia’s Universal Periodic Review

Malaysia’s human rights record will be reviewed at the 45th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group of the Human Rights Council in January 2024. Cultural Survival jointly submitted a stakeholder report with Jaringan Orang Asal Semalayasia (JOAS), PACOS TRUST, and MOPOT-Moningolig Pogun Tokou. Read more.

Indigenous Peoples Continue 100-year Fight Against Large-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines

For more than a century, the Kankanaey and Ibaloy Peoples of Itogon, Benguet province in the Cordillera region of Northern Luzon in the Philippines have been waging a struggle against the injustices of large-scale corporate mining. Read more. 

Overcoming Inertia, for the Future of Indigenous Languages

While governments continue their linguicidal practices, Indigenous communities around the world are taking charge of their linguistic future with projects designed according to their own values and the level of endangerment of their native languages. Read more.  En español.

Niwa Maibut: An Ambassador for Global Language, Indigenous Identity in Taiwan

A twenty-minute car ride north from the city of Taitung, Taiwan, is the Indigenous village of Taoyuan, often referred to in the Bunun language by Indigenous residents as Pasikau. Pass under the village gate and a newly opened 7-Eleven, the Pasikau Presbyterian Church, a sprinkling of breakfast joints, and the occasional dog and neighbor precede the route to Niwa Maibut’s childhood home, situated on the corner of the Pasikau village now home to nearly 1,300 residents. Read more.

The Future of Our Past

This past spring, I visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York to see the new Northwest Coast wing created in consultation with my Nation, as well as the Coast Salish, Gitxsan, Haíltzaqv, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nisg̱a’a, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nuxalk, Tlingit, and Tsimshian Nations. Read more.

Fighting for the Protection of Pë’këya and the Right to Return Home

For the Siekopai Peoples in the western Amazon along the Ecuador-Peru border,  the demarcation of ancestral lands is a crucial factor. Read more. 

Public Statement for the Demand for Justice for Samir Flores

On February 20, 2019, Samir Flores Soberanes was murdered. He was one of the founders of Amiltzinko community radio where he was a communicator, a member of the Peoples’ Front for Defense of Land and Water for the states of Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala (FPDTA); a land defender against the Morelos Integral Project (PIM); and a promoter of community education and Indigenous Peoples autonomy. Read more.

Running for Healing: Alinam Cojtí Ren

Meet Alinam Cojtí Ren (Maya K’iche’), a lively spirit who is breaking the norms of gender one run at a time. Cojtí Ren was born and raised in Chichicastenango (also known as Chichci), a small town in a mountainous region of northwest Guatemala... Read more. 

Sign up for a new email newsletter from Sunflower News, a climate news-tracking project that has collaborated with Cultural Survival on various media projects for the past two years. 

The project tracks climate news and solutions that have the most momentum each day, seeks to build connections across climate organizations, and places a special emphasis on highlighting work in Indigenous communities. If you’d like an efficient way to learn about and connect with climate change mitigation and adaptation projects around the world, you may find the free Sunflower News email newsletter useful and inspiring. It’s published twice a week, in English, with translations available on each edition’s web link. See the top toolbar on this edition introducing Cultural Survival, for example.

Indigenous Community Media Fund Grant Partner Spotlight:

Radio Tuklik, Yucatan, Mexico

Radio Tuklik was conceived by a group of young people from the central and southern regions of the Yucatan in 2015 as an alternative to talk about the problems in their communities. Read more. En español.

Keepers of the Earth Fund Partner Spotlight:

Center of Indigenist Development in the Philippines (CIDev-Phil)

CIDev-Phil is an Indigenous organization that focuses on ancestral domains and community development. Read more. 

Youth Fellow Spotlight:

Adonis Clifford Ortiz (Rama) from Nicaragua, Patricia Dinyando (San) from Namibia, and Valentina Balam Poot (Maya) from Mexico

Through our Indigenous Youth Fellowship Program, Cultural Survival supports youth initiatives that respond to the needs of their communities while also gaining skills and competencies for their own development. Read about the experiences of three of our 2023 Fellows. Read more. En Espanol.

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