indigenous groups
Thursday 29.9.2022 El Salvador - Latest Developments -
El Salvador: HRDs face increased risks under the state of exception
On 14th September 2022, the National Assembly of El Salvador approved a sixth extension of its ongoing state of exception. The country will complete its seventh month under the measure, which was first declared following a wave of gang violence in late March 2022. Between July 2022 and early September 2022, human rights defenders (HRDs) in El Salvador continued to face increased risk as a result of the state of exception. Read more
Monday 26.9.2022 Canada - Latest Developments -
Canada: Protest during papal visit and other demonstrations
On 17th July 2022, migrants and their supporters demonstrated in Montreal to demand the development of a regularisation programme for undocumented migrants, granting them the right to live and work legally in the country. Read more
Friday 23.9.2022 Indonesia - Latest Developments -
Crackdown on activists and protests persist in Indonesia while draft criminal code revisions could further curtail dissent
In recent months, civil society groups have raised concerns about invasive content moderation regulations and digital attacks as well as harassment and intimidation of journalists. The criminalisation and harassment of Papuan activists persist as well as excessive force by police around protests in the restive region. Excessive force has also been documented around protests against fuel price hikes. Activists have also raised concerns on the trial around a deadly crackdown on a protest in Paniai in 2014. Read more
Thursday 22.9.2022 Honduras - Latest Developments -
Honduras: HRDs criminalised while changes to protection system spark concern
On 9th August 2022, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, about 300 Indigenous and Garífuna protesters joined a march in Tegucigalpa toward the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, organised by Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (Black Fraternal Organisation of Honduras - OFRANEH). They demanded action to locate the young Garífuna men who were forcibly disappeared in Triunfo de la Cruz in July 2020. Read more | Read in Spanish
Tuesday 6.9.2022 Guatemala - Latest Developments -
Guatemala: concerns about democratic backsliding grow as elPeriódico’s president and financial manager arrested
On 29th July 2022, journalist José Rubén Zamora, president and founder of newspaper elPeriódico, was arrested by police as part of an investigation for alleged extortion, money laundering and influence peddling. Read more | Read in Spanish
Thursday 25.8.2022 Venezuela - Latest Developments -
Venezuela: Teachers protest for decent wages; killing and detention of HRDs
On 30th June 2022, Uwottujja leader and human rights defender Virgilio Trujillo Arana was shot and killed in Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state. He was a member of Organización Indígena Piaroas Unidos del Sipapo (Oipus), an Indigenous organisation, and coordinated Autana’s Uwottujja Indigenous guard, a group created to defend ancestral territories from illegal mining and other illicit activities. Read more
Tuesday 23.8.2022 Nicaragua - Latest Developments -
Nicaragua: closure of CSOs, community radio stations, and television cable channel
The repression and persecution of civil society organisations, religious groups, and independent press continues unabated. In recent months, leaders of the Roman Catholic Church were particularly targeted. Church representatives who attempted to mediate dialogues between the government and opposition in 2018 have been branded as “terrorists” by President Daniel Ortega. Read more | Read in Spanish
Friday 19.8.2022 Panama - Latest Developments -
Rising cost of living sparks a month of protests in Panamá
In July 2022, thousands of people joined Panama’s largest protests in decades, demanding government action to address the rising cost of living, including fuel and food price increases. Read more | Read in Spanish
Thursday 18.8.2022 Bolivia - Latest Developments -
Bolivia: Indigenous environmental defenders face threats and judicial harassment
In May and June 2022, about 30 members of the Ayllu Acre Antequera community in Antequera, Oruro department organised a vigil to draw attention to water contamination and other environmental damage resulting from mining in the region. Read more
Wednesday 10.8.2022 Colombia - Latest Developments -
Colombia: human rights defenders and local leaders impacted by violence in rural areas
On 26th July 2022, the UN Human Rights Office published a report on the rising violence in rural areas of Colombia. According to the study, violence fell dramatically after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, but increased again as non-state armed groups and criminal organisations expanded their presence, particularly over the past two years. Read more | Read in Spanish
