In August, during the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s (CERD) 75th Session, Colombia, Peru, and the Philippines were among the states that were reviewed for their adherence to and implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. CERD raised many concerns about ongoing discrimination against Indigenous Peoples and made concrete recommendations on how the three states can improve their record in its Concluding Observations.

In June, the 400,000 indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon won a significant victory: after ten weeks of protests, strikes and bloodshed, they persuaded Peru's President and Congress to repeal laws that ignored their rights and threatened the Amazon rainforest.

The struggle cost scores of lives (the exact number is yet to be established).  The non-violent indigenous protesters gained broad support both nationally and internationally as military attacks on the protesters became more brutal and deadly.

Indigenous peoples of the Amazon continue their protests in spite of increasing police violence and repression. Their goal is to repeal a series of new decrees that open the Peruvian Amazon to multinational oil, gas, mining and logging companies, without consultation or consent of the indigenous rainforest inhabitants.   

If you have not yet sent a (hardcopy) letter to the President of Peru, please do so today. The situation is urgent to save lives of protesters and to support their demands for rainforest protection and the rights of indigenous communities.

VICTORY!

On March 15, the United Nations General Assembly voted 170–4 to create a new Human Rights Council, effectively dissolving the oft-criticized Commission on Human Rights. Candidates for the Council will need to be elected by an absolute majority of 96 votes in order to secure a position, and once elected members can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.