Deusdedit Ruhangariyo
Special to ICT
Around the world: Traditional Owners demand input in Australia, a genetic variant found in Māori and Pacific people could help cholesterol levels, a palm oil company in Ecuador faces allegations of illegal operations, a study finds that extractive industries hit Indigenous people disproportionately, and U.S. lawmakers propose priority refugee status for Uyghurs.
AUSTRALIA: Native owners demand input on air base
Traditional Owners of the lands for the proposed expansion of the Royal Australian Air Force in Western Australia say they have not been consulted about the project, National Indigenous Times reported on June 20.
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Rosita Shaw, director and cultural advisor at the Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation, said the Native title holders have been seeking to give input on the planned expansion of the RAAF Base Curtin.
The Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation, led by the Nyikina Mangala Native title holders, serves as the Registered Native Title Body Corporate.
“You have the RAAF base just down the road,” Shaw said, according to the National Indigenous Times. “They want to do a big upgrade of it and Defence [Department] has not talked to us properly yet. We met with the acting Defence Minister in Canberra. We want them to talk to the Traditional Owners and get a Memorandum of Understanding in place. We have been sending letters.”
Shaw said Traditional Owners are concerned about the close proximity of the strategic base to the Thunderbird project, which is co-owned by Kimberley Mineral Sands and Yansteel, a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Tangshan Yanshan Iron & Steel Co.
Wayne Bergmann, a fellow director at Walalakoo and a co-owner of the National Indigenous Times, said Traditional Owners have been making efforts to engage with the Department of Defence since 2014 in order to have their voices heard.
“They have made it a bureaucratic, legalistic project and have engaged with people without going through the registered Native Title body,” he said, according to National Indigenous Times.
“Defence has tried to side-step Traditional Owners by engaging with other Aboriginal people in the region,” he said, according to National Indigenous Times.
A spokesperson from the Department of Defence said the government has initiated discussions with Traditional Owners regarding the development of a Heritage Management Plan for the Royal Australian Air Force Base Curtin.
ECUADOR: Palm oil company accused of illegal operations
Am Afro-descendant community in northern Ecuador is struggling to reclaim its ancestral lands from a palm oil company that is accused of relying on dubious permits and costly legal fights to control the area, Mongabay reported on June 19.
The land is now being used by Energy & Palma for palm oil cultivation, posing problems for subsistence farming and hindering access to clean waters for the community of Barranquilla de San Javier, which is near the northern border with Colombia, according to Mongabay.
Some residents have also suffered from rashes and other sicknesses after being exposed to chemicals in the water.
“People are going hungry,” said Nathalia Bonilla, a campaign coordinator for Ecological Action, a local environmental group. “Imagine if the water in your rivers was contaminated — the rainwater, too. Obviously, that’s causing a lot of illnesses in animals and people.”
Energy & Palma is part of the Ecuadorian domestic goods company La Fabril Group that supplies palm oil to corporations such as Pepsico, General Mills and Nestlé. Since the company entered the area in 2006, the quality of the land has deteriorated and the local rivers and sources of drinking water have been polluted with agrochemicals, according to community leaders.
Pepsico and Nestlé have expressed concern about the allegations, and last July, several United Nations experts issued a joint statement on human rights violations.
“We express our deep concern regarding the alleged acts of intimidation and criminalization of human rights defenders and the lack of protection against the human rights abuses that [the residents] have allegedly suffered at the hands of the company,” according to the UN statement, Mongabay reported.
The historical records of the San Javier community can be traced back to the 1600s. According to accounts, a slave ship en route from El Salvador to Brazil encountered the Ecuadorian coast after a rebellion on board. It is believed that other community members migrated from Colombia, escaping from areas where slavery was practiced, Mongabay reported.
NEW ZEALAND: Genetic variant could boost ‘good’ cholesterol
University of Otago researchers have found a genetic variant frequently found in Māori and Pacific populations that may contribute to increasing levels of so-called “good” cholesterol, Te Ao Maori News reported on June 19.
The discovery, described in a report published in the journal HGG Advances, is particularly noteworthy given the historic underrepresentation of those populations in global genomics research, Te Ao Maori News reported.
“This is the first study to show that genetics specific to these populations can increase good lipids in the blood,” said Dr. Megan Leask, Kāi Tahu, a co-author of the study.
The study is part of a long-term research project that began 15 years ago to investigate metabolic genetic traits in Māori and Pacific participants. More than 5,000 individuals from New Zealand, Samoa, and American Samoa contributed to the research, providing a rich dataset of DNA for analysis.
REPORT: Clean-energy mining hits Indigenous people
Extractive industries disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples, with mining for clean-energy minerals often associated with numerous abuses, according to new research reported by Mongabay on June 19.
An analysis of crowd-sourced data from EJAtlas outlined in a research article in Science Advances found that Indigenous peoples are impacted in more than one-third of environmental conflicts, predominantly in the mining sector, that result in landscape loss, livelihood disruption, and land dispossession.
“The scale of social-environmental burdens faced by Indigenous communities shows that these are not singular cases of bad practice and project implementation, but rather systemic features of how the world economy operates,” said article co-author Arnim Scheidel, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, who is also a also a member of the EJAtlas coordination group, according to Mongabay.com.
The study found that 740 Indigenous groups were affected – although the number is believed to be higher – with the Quechua people in South America ranking highest. The study also notes that the impacts could extend beyond the data analyzed, since gaps in coverage were detected, particularly for Central Asia, Russia and the Pacific.
The research focused on assessing 11 environmental and social impacts that correspond to violations of specific articles outlined in the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, known as UNDRIP.
“Extractive and industrial development projects often create landscapes of violence in which Indigenous communities are the first casualties and the last line of defense,” said Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, another co-author and researcher, according Mongabay.
“With this study, we wanted to contribute to bring global visibility to these issues.”
CHINA: US lawmakers seek priority status for Uyghurs
A bipartisan bill in the U.S. Congress would grant priority refugee status for the Uyghurs and other ethnic groups facing persecution in China, a move that could expedite the handling of their applications for asylum, Radio Free Asia reported on June 9.
The introduction of the bill comes as Uyghur rights groups have been urging the international community to take tangible measures against China for its human rights abuses committed against the predominantly Muslim Uyghur group in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
“The horrific atrocities that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are facing at the hands of the Chinese government are a global human rights emergency, and the United States cannot turn our back to those fleeing this persecution,” said Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat from Virginia, one of the sponsors of the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, according to Radio Free Asia.
Joining Wexton in filing the bill are a bipartisan group that includes María Elvira Salazar, R-Florida; Gregory Meeks, D-New York; and Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly, both Democrats from Virginia.
Under the proposed legislation, Uyghurs who have been subjected to oppression by China because of their political views, religious beliefs, or participation in political, religious, and cultural activities, would be granted a so-called P-2 designation. Individuals with the P-2 designation receive specialized humanitarian assistance and support throughout the resettlement and U.S. asylum process, Radio Free Asia reported.
The bill also aims to safeguard Uyghur refugees who have sought refuge in countries other than the United States by prioritizing U.S. diplomatic efforts in these nations, where officials often face pressure from the Chinese government to ship the Uyghurs back to China.
My final thoughts
My final thoughts are on a recent study that revealed that Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by the activities of extractive industries, particularly in the mining of minerals used in clean-energy technologies.
The research sheds light on a range of abuses associated with mineral extraction, emphasizing the urgent need for action to address both human rights and environmental concerns.
To tackle these pressing issues, we must take several key steps. First, it is crucial to prioritize the principle of free, prior, and informed consent, ensuring that Indigenous communities have the right to make informed decisions regarding projects taking place on their lands.
Strengthening legal frameworks and acknowledging international standards, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, is of utmost importance.
Indigenous peoples the world over have lived harmoniously with nature for millennia. We must actively seek the meaningful participation of Indigenous communities throughout decision-making processes, valuing their knowledge and perspectives. This is the only sustainable thing to do.
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