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Making Peace on Indigenous Terms:<br>Reconciliation in Guatemala

Out of the ashes of the death and destruction of the 36-year civil war in Guatemala, one positive element has emerged: after 500 years of relative silence, the Maya have begun using their voices forcefully to promote their rights.

The war, which formally ended in 1996 with the Accords for a Firm and Lasting Peace, devastated the entire nation. According to the U.N. Historical Clarification Commission, over 200,000 people died or disappeared, and 83 percent of those identified were Maya; 626 Maya communities were wiped off the map.

Dialogue Brings Hope to Colombia’s Embera Katío

More than 500 Embera Katío peacefully occupied the grounds of the Colombian Environment and Development Ministry in late December to press the government to resume talks about compensation for the Urra hydroelectric dam on the Sinu River that has forever changed their ancestral lands. The dam, which was built on Embera Katío territory 10 years ago, displaced the community into a violent zone of Colombia's armed conflict where members are threatened by murder and forced military recruitment.

Legislating Gender Equality in Saami Land

I have been a member of the Swedish Saami Parliament since 2001. I am from the southern Saami area and from a traditional reindeer herding family. My father herds reindeer and I have a few of my own, but my father cares for them because I am too busy with my other work. Only a minority of the Saami people are reindeer herders now, but it is the traditional living of the Saami.

Today reindeer herding has become modernized and male-dominated. Traditionally, of course, the whole family was engaged in herding.

Indigenous Women as Peacekeepers

Nepal’s armed conflict between government forces and rebel Maoists has had a devastating impact on indigenous communities. As men and boys flee to avoid forced recruitment by both sides, only women, children, and elders remain in the war zone. But, women’s mediation and negotiation skills provide hope that peace will be restored.

Helping Victims of Ethnocide<br>Anuak Refugee Women Defend Those Displaced by Tragedy

On December 13, 2003, in the Gambella area of Ethiopia, 424 educated Anuak men were murdered by government security forces and members of highland ethnic groups, some of them in front of their wives and children. Some of the boys who survived ran away. Most women were left with children and no husbands. Some of them are not educated and they have no means of supporting themselves or getting food. Anuak live in the southeast of Sudan and southwest of Ethiopia.

FGM: Maasai Women Speak Out

Female circumcision is a rite of passage among the Maasai that marks change from childhood to adulthood. Though some groups such as the Christian Church, educators, and some non-governmental organizations have made an effort to abolish this practice, the Maasai, according to my mother, are stubborn. She says, “Female circumcision is our culture. Why should we be forced to abandon it when we were born into it?

International Attempts to Stop Female Circumcision Put Maasai Women at Risk

An international movement has developed over the past 20 years to eradicate the cultural practice of female circumcision that takes place in many African and Asian countries. At the Nairobi International Conference on Female Genital Mutilation in September 2004, attendees from nations where female circumcision is practiced urged states to adopt political, legal, and social measures to eliminate the tradition. But the activists leading this movement have failed to understand the cultures behind the practice, and their ignorance is dangerous.

In this issue...

This issue of Cultural Survival Voices offers a multi-dimensional examination of indigenous peoples and conflict involving states and other outside interests. Often indigenous peoples are the casualties of other peoples' conflict that are played out on their territories. In other cases, encroachments on their lands or violations of their human rights lead to conflicts between them and states or other interests. When conflict occurs, the power disparity between those who covet indigenous lands and indigenous peoples leaves the latter at a significant disadvantage.

The World Summit on the Information Society

From “tele-health” to internet radio, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have changed the way the world operates. The United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in recognition of the need for a conversation to address the potential advancements of the digital revolution and how best to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries.

A Peace-Building Initiative Based on Indigenous Values

When war breaks out, international investigators clamor to assess the human rights situations in the conflict areas. But these fact-finding missions often fail to consider the special concerns of indigenous peoples,
and sometimes put local communities in greater danger.

Indigenous peoples are responding with their own conflict resolution methods.

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