A new
report on minorities and indigenous people warns that the global 'intensification'
in the exploitation of natural resources is leading to mounting conflicts for
the world's 370 million indigenous people.
The report
for 2012 by the London-based human rights group, Minority Rights Group
International (MRG), says indigenous peoples "in every region of the
world" face the risk of being "driven from their land and natural
resources."
The land
and resources are all "vital for their livelihoods, their culture and
often their identity as a people," Vital Bambanze, chair of the UN Expert
Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said in the report.
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| Coal mining projects have disturbed the lives of ethnic Mongolians |
From the
Batwa of the Great Lakes region in Central Africa, and the Endorois and Ogiek
in Kenya, to hill tribes in northern Thailand, Bedouin in the Middle East and
Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province - all "struggle to maintain their
cultural integrity against their respective governments' desire to put national
development first," Bambanze said.
Unprecedented
demand for resources in Asia
The report
says the unprecedented demand for natural resources across Asia is
"feeding ethnic conflict and displacement and is a severe threat to the
lands, livelihoods and the way of life of minorities and indigenous
people."
Carl
Soderbergh, an MRG spokesperson, warns the situation faced by indigenous groups
is deteriorating world-wide.
"In
terms of the trends globally what has been happening over the last decade is
that there's been an intensification of the exploitation of natural resources
pushing into areas populated by minorities and indigenous peoples,"
Soderbergh told DW.
 |
| Many indigenous communities have their land confiscated |
In regions
such as Latin America, the issues faced by communities centered on mining and
logging, in North America on tar-sands mining, there were conflicts over wind
farms and iron ore mining in the Arctic, while in Africa, indigenous
communities faced the leasing of thousands of hectares of land for corporations
or foreign governments.
"All
governments are chasing a dominant development paradigm n which today
minorities and indigenous peoples don't really have a place and that is a problem,"
he said.
In China,
investment in mining has forced herders off traditional grazing lands and
ancestral villages in regions such as Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, as
well as in Tibet.
In Vietnam,
over 90,000 people, mostly ethnic Thai, were relocated to make way for the Son
La hydropower plant with Vietnamese scientists saying many were left without
access to agricultural land.
 |
| Indiginous peoples around the world face displacement |
Meanwhile,
in Cambodia's Prey Lang Forest region, home to the Kuy indigenous people,
official land grants of tens of thousands of hectares of forest for mineral
extraction, timber and rubber plantations have forced many people to give up
their traditional livelihoods.
Conflict
has also been evident in Indonesia in areas of increased palm oil plantation
development and the mining industry in Papua.
Investment
from China seen as a driver for economic growth
Nicole
Girard, the rights group's Asia Program Director, says levels of conflict over
land is increasing in South East Asia, driven by foreign investment, including
from China.
"It's
definitely increasing, the resource exploitation in indigenous people's territories;
in Southeast Asia, the economies of Laos and Vietnam are opening to more
foreign investment, including lots of Chinese investment and including
Burma," Girard said.
Girard says
the increased fighting in Myanmar's ethnic controlled Kachin State over the
past year is directly linked to conflict over resource investment largely by
Chinese businesses.
 |
| Indigenous communities are also threatened by climate change |
Myanmar,
led by the military-backed civilian government of President Thein Sein, has
been undergoing reforms over the past year to improve its human rights
situation. But Naw San, General Secretary of the Students and Youth Congress
Burma (Myanmar) says despite steps to peace talks with ethnic groups in
Myanmar, the development process is still not inclusive.
"We
are still worried that, like in the past, investment and development projects
will be dealt with by the central government and that there will be (no real)
engagement or consultations with the process on the ground," Naw San told
DW.
"What
the ethnic (communities) need now is national equality," he said.
Two thirds
of Indigenous People live in Asia
The Asia
Indigenous People's Pact (AIPP) Foundation, in a separate report, noted that
two thirds of the world's 370 million self-identified indigenous peoples live
in Asia.
And those
people, according to the AIPP Foundation, "are currently marginalized and
subordinated economically, politically and culturally."
They are
"overrepresented among the poor, illiterate, malnourished and stunted,"
it said.
AIPP's
report says for many in the region "militarization, (the) plundering of
resources, forced relocation, cultural genocide and discrimination in everyday
life are common experiences."
The report
pointed to the construction of dams in Asia, which since the 1960s, has led to
"massive displacements, loss of livelihoods, and food insecurity of
indigenous peoples in India, the Philippines, Laos and Malaysia."
Bernice
See, an AIPP coordinator, said governments give priority to economic ventures
and investments over people's rights.
See called
on Asia's governments to respect the UN's Declaration of the Rights of
Indigenous peoples and the provisions calling for the "free prior of
informed consent from any development that comes into their territory."
"These
governments should have the moral obligation to respect these agreements. The
declaration should be used as a framework for dealing with indigenous
people," she said.
Author: Ron Corben
Editor: Sarah Berning
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