Over 400 civil society organisations from more than 50 countries today issued a joint open letter to the seventeen banks providing a US$2.5 billion project loan to Dakota Access LLC. The letter, endorsed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, demands that the banks involved immediately halt all further disbursements of the loan and require the project sponsor to stop construction work until all outstanding issues are resolved to the full satisfaction of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The letter and the full list of signatories can be found below.

In October 2016, The Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP) published a report documenting incidents of violence associated with Canadian mining companies in Latin America. This study is the first of its kind, compiling information over a span of 15 years from 14 countries in South and Central America about violence associated with Canadian mining companies.

On September 15th, 2016, the International Criminal Court broadened its process for selecting and prioritising cases to include land grabbing and environmental destruction. The decision presents an opportunity to curb the deforestation and rights abuses driven by illegally-issued agricultural concessions in Cambodia, likely to be the court’s first credible case. It also has important implications for other countries suffering from the worst excesses of illegal deforestation. Neil Loughlin and Tom Johnson report.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2016, another human rights defender was arrested in Guatemala. Domingo Francisco Cristobal was captured on his way home from a peaceful demonstration in the city of Huehuetenango by members of the Special Investigative Crime Division of the Guatemalan police. Traditional Indigenous community leaders, as part of the Plurinational Ancestral Government of the Akateko, Chuj, Popti’ and Q’anjobal Maya Nations, denounced the arrest in a press release.

On December 10-11, and on December 16-18, Indigenous artists and musicians from across the globe will come together in Boston and Cambridge for Cultural Survival’s free admission Native arts and cultures Bazaars.

The International Indigenous Peoples` Forum on Climate Change Condemns the Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

This report was submitted by Roberto Borrero representing the International Indian Treaty Council, non-Governmental Organization in General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, traveling as a Human Rights Observer and in support of Grand Chief Edward John, UN Expert Member, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, about their mission to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the Oceti Sakowin (“Seven Council Fires”) Camp on October 29 – 31, 2016.

On July 29, 2016, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz presented a thematic report that examines the rights of Indigenous Peoples in regards to nature conservation to the UN General Assembly.

Since April 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. This movement aimed at protecting the right to clean drinking water for all has escalated as militarized police forces have started using excessive force.