The Navajo Nation Council voted on May 30, 2014 to approve a $544 million settlement reached with the Federal Government over mismanagement of the tribe’s trust fund assets. The settlement is considered the largest made by the government with an individual tribe.

The suit was filed by the tribe in 2006 for “damages, interest, fees, costs, and other relief against the United States”. The terms of the agreement include the demand for a report of assets that continue to be held in trust by the government. 

On Friday, May 16, 2014, INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S FORUM (FORO INTERNACIONAL DE MUJERES INDÍGENAS--FIMI) honored two indigenous women with FIMI Leadership Award. In a warm and memorable ceremony, Joan Carling and Rosalina Tuyuc received this unique recognition to their longstanding commitment, passion and leadership in the struggle for indigenous women’s rights. 

 FIMI Leadership Award

Informal consultations on the Outcome Document for the high level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly or the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples commenced June 3, 2014 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

By Ben Koissaba

Reminiscent of what happened to the Maasai community in Narasha in 2013, Maasai pastoralists in Kedong, Akira and Suswa are glaring at massive evictions arising from a group of concessions awarded to several companies including Hyundai, Toshiba, Sinopec and African Geothermal International (AGIL) for the purposes of developing geothermal projects on the Maasai lands.

By Levi Gahman, Znet

…from the mountains of the Mexican Southeast…

Press release by Greenpeace International

Amsterdam, 27 May 2014 - Illegal and corrupt behaviour by foreign-owned companies engaged in establishing large palm oil plantations not only threatens local communities and forested areas th

Over a hundred Maya people from Southern Belize gained access to their traditional communal lands that have been expropriated by Texas oil company US Capital Energy in a staged peaceful protest in May.

Press Release by the Maya Leaders Alliance

June 26^th, 2014, Punta Gorda Town. One year after the decisive judgment of the Belize Court of Appeal that upheld Maya Customary Land Rights, Maya people of the 39 villages in southern Belize came together at Indian Creek village, Toledo. This was The Gathering of the Children of the Earth.  This historic event led by the Toledo Alcaldes Association and the Maya Leaders Alliance is an affirmation of the Maya Peoples solidarity for creating a more dignified and just Belize!

On June 23, 2014, 7 Toj in the Mayan calendar, Indigenous groups from all over Guatemala took part in national protests and roadblocks to bring attention to the continued discrimination and injustice faced by the Indigenous Peoples of Guatemala. Among the main priorities on the list of grievances were the discriminatory telecommunications laws and the mining and hydroelectric companies exploiting Indigenous territories.

Herakles Farms, a US company, has been chopping down miles of dense forest without the full authority to do so -- and in the face of desperate pleas and resistance from local communities.

The palm oil project will also destroy precious chimpanzee and forest elephant habitat if it goes ahead.

Aurelio Chino Dahua, the "apu," or traditional leader and president of the Quechua Federation of the Upper Pastaza, attended this year's UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May in New York city, with the support of Cultural Survival in partnership with the Rainforest Foundation US. Cultural Survival coordinated a meeting for him with both the outgoing and the incoming Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya and Victoria Tauli Corpuz, respectively.

By Jordan Engel