Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Last week dozens of indigenous people blocked the entrance to the presidential palace in Brasilia to demand that Brazilian President Michel Temer’s administration respect their rights. In an email interview Ana Carolina Alfinito Vieira, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, and Luiz Henrique Eloy, a lawyer with the Terena Indigenous Council, discuss indigenous rights in Brazil. WPR: What is the legal status of Brazil’s indigenous peoples, and [...]
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. According to the United Nations, at least 21 human rights activists, mostly from indigenous communities, have been killed in Colombia this year. Most of the murders are related to the ongoing peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and many fear it will only get worse if a peace accord isn’t implemented soon. In an interview transcribed by Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, a senior associate with the Washington Office on Latin America, [...]
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Last month, police forcibly evicted a group of indigenous Ava Guarani people from their native land in eastern Paraguay, demolishing houses, schools, places of worship and crops. In an email interview, René Harder Horst, a history professor at Appalachian State University, discusses indigenous rights in Paraguay. WPR: What is the legal status of Paraguay’s indigenous peoples, and what are the key issues facing Paraguay’s indigenous communities? René Harder Horst: In 2015 there were an [...]
