News & Articles

A Belgian commission of inquiry was set up last November for a six-month period to investigate the impacts of illegal mineral exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A shipload of 928 Kurdish immigrants arrived at the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday, March 18, calling for political asylum from Iraq. The group was bused to a military base in southern Italy where they will live temporarily in mobile homes, while their claims are processed.

The U.N. Planning Mission this week released a proposal for the establishment of a Special Court in Sierra Leone later this year, to address crimes committed against humanity during its 10-year civil war.

During a meeting between representatives of the government and the Amazigh region of Kabyle last week, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that the Algerian constitution will be amended to recognize Tamazight as an official national language alongside Arabic following elections in May.The announcement brings closure to decades of struggle on the part of Algerian Imazighen for recognition of their cultural and lingual rights.

The Maku Indians live in Brazil and are considered a precolombian, ethnic culture. They comprise around three thousand people, divided into different groups -the Hupdu, the Yuhupdu, the Duw and the Nadub. Generally speaking, their homelands are located close to the Colombian border, covering a total of 10.6 million hectares. The groups live separated from one another in spaces of land between the rivers Alto Rio Negro, Médio Rio Negro I, Rio Téa and Rio Apapóris.

After months of international pressure, the Sudanese government has agreed to allow relief workers in Sudan access to an expanded area. Flight bans imposed by the government have until now restricted aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of needy civilians throughout the country.

A recent environmental impact assessment study of the Amalia Falls hydro-electricity project shows that native capacity for hunting and fishing in that area would be curtailed.

Talks concerning the repatriation of Vietnam’s highland refugees, the Dega, have recently taken a new turn, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Hanoi continues to demand that the U.N. repatriate Vietnam’s central highland refugees by April 30. The U.N.