By Diana Pastor

By Alexandra  Carraher-Kang

Indigenous human rights and environmental defenders are killed on a daily basis.

December 17, 2019, was the official close of the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages, which aims to draw attention to language loss and the need to strengthen and revitalize them.

By Samantha Freedman

By Laura Simpson Reeves

En español

Yesmi Ajanel (Maya K’ich’e) comes from the highlands of Guatemala. At the age of 10, she moved from San Cristobal Totonicapan to Quetzaltenango. This change opened her eyes to the gap that society was creating between being from a city and being from a small town. Even though the distance between the two locations is only about 40 kilometers, the discrimination is part of social behavior. “For a long time, I hid my Indigenous identity to fit in but later, I realized that I was hiding my roots, my mother’s roots, and my family.

On November 1, 2019, Chile cancelled its hosting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP 25) meeting due to unrest in the country, which also highlighted the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples. Spain will now host the meeting during the same time frame, on December 2 -13, 2019, in Madrid, under the presidency of the Chilean government. The move impacts Indigenous Peoples and delegates coming from the global south who are facing obstacles in obtaining visas, in event planning and implementation in this short period of time.