April 2026
Respect for Indigenous rights is often a measure of our shared humanity. In this special issue, Debates Indígenas examines the enforced disappearance of the historic Nicaraguan leader Brooklyn Rivera, the detention in Russia of Selkup rights defender Daria Egereva, and the Argentine State’s failure to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling in favour of Lhaka Honhat. At the same time, we explore the growing debate around carbon credits and the commodification of Indigenous territories, and continue our coverage of Indigenous women’s access to justice.
Respect for Indigenous rights is often a measure of our shared humanity. In this special issue, Debates Indígenas examines the enforced disappearance of the historic Nicaraguan leader Brooklyn Rivera, the detention in Russia of Selkup rights defender Daria Egereva, and the Argentine State’s failure to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling in favour of Lhaka Honhat. At the same time, we explore the growing debate around carbon credits and the commodification of Indigenous territories, and continue our coverage of Indigenous women’s access to justice.
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Carbon markets in Ecuador: climate offsetting or territorial control?
Paul Andrés Sabando Mosquera, Andrés Tapia
March 2026
In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Indigenous women and girls face intersectional violence. Their rights are routinely violated on the basis of gender, identity, and social class. Rape, sexual violence, denial of inheritance rights, criminalization, and poor conditions of detention are among the challenges they confront. These forms of violence are compounded by cultural barriers and discrimination that hinder access to justice. In the face of impunity, Indigenous women are advancing processes of community organizing and empowerment.
In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Indigenous women and girls face intersectional violence. Their rights are routinely violated on the basis of gender, identity, and social class. Rape, sexual violence, denial of inheritance rights, criminalization, and poor conditions of detention are among the challenges they confront. These forms of violence are compounded by cultural barriers and discrimination that hinder access to justice. In the face of impunity, Indigenous women are advancing processes of community organizing and empowerment.
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Prisons and Colonial Continuities: Indigenous Women’s Experiences of Judicial Racism in Mexico
R. Aída Hernández Castillo, Marcia Daniela Trejo Bizarro
Cultural Barriers in Indigenous Pastoralist Women and Girls’ Access to Justice in Tanzania
Maanda Ngoitiko Sinyati
February 2026
Across different territories in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, Indigenous peoples face conflicts shaped by militarisation, territorial dispossession, and the imposition of extractive and development projects. Far from being passive settings, these territories are spaces of resistance, negotiation, and peacebuilding. In contexts marked by both state and non-state violence, Indigenous communities develop their own practices of reconciliation, justice, and governance. In this sense, peace does not appear as a closed agreement, but as a living process rooted in territory, memory, and self-determination.
Across different territories in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, Indigenous peoples face conflicts shaped by militarisation, territorial dispossession, and the imposition of extractive and development projects. Far from being passive settings, these territories are spaces of resistance, negotiation, and peacebuilding. In contexts marked by both state and non-state violence, Indigenous communities develop their own practices of reconciliation, justice, and governance. In this sense, peace does not appear as a closed agreement, but as a living process rooted in territory, memory, and self-determination.
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Peace as a living system: Indigenous perspectives from the voice of Leonor Zalabata Torres
Leonor Zalabata Torres is a Colombian Indigenous leader of the Arhuaco people from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. She participated in the 1991 constitutional process and is currently Colombia's permanent representative to the United Nations. She is the first Indigenous woman to hold this position and represent the country on the Security Council. Talking about conflict and peace with Leonor Zalabata means thinking outside of the usual boxes. In her opinion, peace is not a legal armistice or a pact between “parties” but a deeper condition: the stability of life.
Laura Galvis Santacruz
Indigenous Adivasi Youth-Led Peacebuilding Amidst Escalating State-Corporate Developmental Violence in India
InSAF India, Indian Alliance Paris
Rehumanising Self-Determination: The Naga Experience and the Limits of State-Centred Peace
Aküm Longchari, Gam A. Shimray
Peacebuilding in the 21 Communities of Teopisca
María del Carmen Pérez Díaz, Elisa Cruz Rueda
December 2025
From Ecuador and Colombia to Sweden and Nepal, Indigenous Peoples are confronting state violence, mounting pressure over critical minerals, and the steady encroachment on their territories. Meanwhile, in Bolivia a new autonomy is taking shape; in Chile a book is reclaiming the memories of Mapuche women; and in Mexico the debate on interculturality is gaining ground.
From Ecuador and Colombia to Sweden and Nepal, Indigenous Peoples are confronting state violence, mounting pressure over critical minerals, and the steady encroachment on their territories. Meanwhile, in Bolivia a new autonomy is taking shape; in Chile a book is reclaiming the memories of Mapuche women; and in Mexico the debate on interculturality is gaining ground.
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Ecuador: Between Oligarchic Violence and Popular Majorities
Manuel Bayón Jiménez
Ñamnagün Mew Ta Pünon: Memories of Mapuche Women Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared
Carolina Espinoza Cartes
When Sacred Land Meets the Law: Stories of Legal Resistance from Nepal and Colombia
Lieselotte Viaene, Sabin Ninglekhu
Political Victory for Challa: Bolivia’s New Autonomous Territorial Entity
Betzabe Saca Choque
Diversity in Mexico: Towards an Intercultural Model
Elias Angeles-Hernandez
November 2025
This special issue addresses the impact of fossil fuels on Indigenous Peoples, revealing how oil, coal and gas projects cause displacement, pollution and rights violations. From Lot 192 in Peru, El Cerrejón in Colombia, coal mining in India and the EACOP in Tanzania, to the mining paradox in Quebec and the ‘green’ transition with lithium, the articles document struggles, resistance and demands for a just transition.
This special issue addresses the impact of fossil fuels on Indigenous Peoples, revealing how oil, coal and gas projects cause displacement, pollution and rights violations. From Lot 192 in Peru, El Cerrejón in Colombia, coal mining in India and the EACOP in Tanzania, to the mining paradox in Quebec and the ‘green’ transition with lithium, the articles document struggles, resistance and demands for a just transition.
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The Clean Energy Smokescreen: Quebec’s Fossil Fuel Ban and the Mining Boom on Indigenous Lands
The US Department of Defense's involvement in projects such as Lomiko and Strange Lake shows how clean energy narratives can align with military objectives. Minerals such as graphite, lithium, rare earths, and nickel are essential not only for electric vehicle batteries, but also for the military industry. Quebec has a decision to make: honor its commitments to Indigenous rights and climate justice, or quietly align itself with US military priorities.
Earthworks
India’s Coal Energy Needs Target Indigenous Peoples
Suhas Chakma
October 2025
The Indigenous Navigator is a tool created by and for Indigenous Peoples to collect data on their situation in relation to international frameworks. This information is highly valuable for advancing political advocacy at both the national and international levels. At the same time, the Indigenous Navigator supports Indigenous communities in implementing projects that help improve their living conditions, strengthen their rights, and promote their self-determined development.
The Indigenous Navigator is a tool created by and for Indigenous Peoples to collect data on their situation in relation to international frameworks. This information is highly valuable for advancing political advocacy at both the national and international levels. At the same time, the Indigenous Navigator supports Indigenous communities in implementing projects that help improve their living conditions, strengthen their rights, and promote their self-determined development.
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The Indigenous Navigator: from Data Collection to Self-Determination
The Indigenous Navigator is an initiative created to support Indigenous Peoples through data. Established more than 10 years ago, the programme has generated information from communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The survey process generates awareness of their rights in the communities and acts as a catalyst for collective reflection. This tool therefore provides people and their support organizations with access to systematized data that strengthens their capacity to claim their rights. True empowerment thus does not come through imposing solutions but through providing communities with the tools with which to define their own future.
Tora Jensen
Empowerment through Data: a Nepalese Community’s Path to Self-Determination
Manoj Aathpahariya, Rama Kumari Thapa
Self-Managed Data that Supports Advocacy: the Experience of the Txawun of Temuco
Danko Mariman, Karina Vargas
A Blueprint for Rights and Development in Kenya
James Twala
September 2025
Since the 1970s, Indigenous Peoples around the world have launched far-reaching movements to defend their territorial rights. Experience has shown that cartographic practices serve to document and organise actions within Indigenous territories: exposing the impacts of development projects and extractivism, safeguarding collective memory and challenging impunity. Maps also provide a means to strengthen their position in struggles over the common goods, to advance buen vivir (living well) initiatives, and to exercise their autonomy.
Since the 1970s, Indigenous Peoples around the world have launched far-reaching movements to defend their territorial rights. Experience has shown that cartographic practices serve to document and organise actions within Indigenous territories: exposing the impacts of development projects and extractivism, safeguarding collective memory and challenging impunity. Maps also provide a means to strengthen their position in struggles over the common goods, to advance buen vivir (living well) initiatives, and to exercise their autonomy.
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Territory, Autonomy and Cartography in the Peruvian Amazon
The Peruvian State has disregarded international agreements safeguarding Indigenous rights by pursuing an aggressive policy of natural resource extraction and large-scale infrastructure projects. In response, and drawing on the concept of integral territory and the right to self-determination, Amazonian Indigenous Peoples have begun to demarcate their lands independently, without State endorsement. The initiative of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation has set in motion a process that is now being replicated by other peoples.
Alexandre Surrallés
Cartography as part of the Training of Indigenous Agroforestry Agents in Acre
Renato Antonio Gavazzi
Mapping to Protect Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation: Lessons from Geographical Disputes in Yasuní
Manuel Bayón Jiménez, Amanda Yépez Salazar
Cartographies of Disaster and Memory: The Pilagá and Colonial Violence
Carlos Salamanca Villamizar
Cartography as a Tool for Indigenous Governance in the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory
Catalina Rivadeneira Canedo, Leonardo Tamburini
Mapping living geographies and hope in Wallmapu
Sarah Kelly, Moné Vásquez
Cartography of Sumak Kawsay among the Ancestral Kichwa Peoples of Pastaza
Paul Andrés Sabando Mosquera
August 2025
In recent years, the expansion of drug trafficking, settler invasions, and mining activities have triggered numerous displacements of communities across Latin America. Threats, killings, cartel-related conflicts, gold extraction, and the forced recruitment of young people are the primary causes behind these displacements. In the face of state inaction, Indigenous families are left with no option but to abandon their homes to safeguard their lives.
In recent years, the expansion of drug trafficking, settler invasions, and mining activities have triggered numerous displacements of communities across Latin America. Threats, killings, cartel-related conflicts, gold extraction, and the forced recruitment of young people are the primary causes behind these displacements. In the face of state inaction, Indigenous families are left with no option but to abandon their homes to safeguard their lives.
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Forced Displacement of Indigenous Peoples: The Role of the Inter-American Human Rights System
This article is an abridged version of the presentation entitled “Human Rights and Forced Displacement of Indigenous Peoples: Inter-American Standards and the Role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Addressing Current Challenges”, delivered at the International Seminar on Forced Displacement of Indigenous Communities in Latin America, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in May 2025.
Andrea Pochak
Forced Displacement in Indigenous Communities of the Sierra Tarahumara
Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria (CONTEC)
After Seven Years of Struggle, Colombia’s Constitutional Court Rules in Favour of the Je’eruriwa People, Survivors of Forced Displacement
Ipurepi – Oswaldo Rodríguez Macuna, Laura Ann Kleiner
The Forced Displacement of the Mayangna People of Nicaragua
Lusben Taylor P
A Chronicle of Forced Displacement and Human Rights Violations in Chiapas
Ramón Martínez Coria
July 2025
Struggles for autonomy and self-governance are being echoed worldwide. Indigenous peoples across Asia and Latin America continue to claim their right to self-determination amid extractive industry pressures, state authoritarianism, and illicit economies. This includes the experiences of the Wampís Nation in Peru and Indigenous communities in Nepal, the role of Guna women in Panama, and the implementation of Indigenous special justice in Colombia.
Struggles for autonomy and self-governance are being echoed worldwide. Indigenous peoples across Asia and Latin America continue to claim their right to self-determination amid extractive industry pressures, state authoritarianism, and illicit economies. This includes the experiences of the Wampís Nation in Peru and Indigenous communities in Nepal, the role of Guna women in Panama, and the implementation of Indigenous special justice in Colombia.
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The Struggle for Indigenous Self-Governance in Asia: A Democratic Alternative to Authoritarianism
Indigenous Peoples across Asia have long mobilized for self-governance. Their struggle is deeply intertwined with broader political crises, democratic movements, and the persistence of authoritarian rule throughout the region. While they speak different languages and uphold distinct cultures, customary laws, and institutions, they share a common fight for the right for self-governance and strong resistance to state violence and unsustainable development. Supporting Indigenous self-determination, then, means also supporting democracy—as a living, consensus-based practice rooted in their territories.
Gam A. Shimray
Autonomy and the Forced Displacement of Indigenous Communities in Mexico
Ramón Martínez Coria
Customary Justice of Indigenous Peoples in Colombia: Between Reality and Historical Debt
Laura Ann Kleiner, Tullio Togni
“The Only Limitation of Indigenous Justice regards Crimes Against Humanity”
Laura Ann Kleiner, Tullio Togni
June 2025
The so-called energy transition, promoted as a solution to climate change, is deepening the extractivist model in Indigenous territories across the globe. From Indonesia to Canada, the extraction of nickel and lithium threatens ecosystems, displaces communities, and violates fundamental rights. At the same time, this transition overlooks ancestral knowledge and the right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination. In international forums, their voices are clear: there can be no just transition without territorial justice.
The so-called energy transition, promoted as a solution to climate change, is deepening the extractivist model in Indigenous territories across the globe. From Indonesia to Canada, the extraction of nickel and lithium threatens ecosystems, displaces communities, and violates fundamental rights. At the same time, this transition overlooks ancestral knowledge and the right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination. In international forums, their voices are clear: there can be no just transition without territorial justice.
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Nickel for Electric Vehicles threatens key forests and the last nomadic tribes in Indonesia
The rapid exploitation of Indonesia's renewable energy resources raises significant concerns. The Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park has become the epicenter of nickel extraction, a mineral deemed essential by electric vehicle manufacturers. On Halmahera Island, Indigenous communities in the northern and central peninsulas are increasingly being displaced from their homes due to deforestation caused by nickel mining. This activity also threatens the daily lives and water sources of people living near the industrial area.
Garry Lotulung
What does a just transition look like for Indigenous Peoples?
Galina Angarova, Yblin Román Escobar
The Friends of the Attawapiskat River and Indigenous Grassroots Advocacy for a Just Transition in Treaty 9 Territory
Michel Koostachin, Kerrie Blaise
A Just Energy Transition? The Impacts of Lithium Extraction on the Andean Salt Flats of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile
The rapid extraction of lithium from the high Andean salt flats has caused serious harm to Indigenous Peoples’ right to a healthy environment and access to water. It has particularly affected traditional activities such as camelid herding (llamas, guanacos, and vicuñas) and the cultivation of quinoa and maize. Given the central role that lithium now plays globally in the energy transition, and the concentration of its reserves in this region, it is crucial to ask whether the transition is truly just for these peoples and their communities. All the evidence suggests that it is not — and that fundamental changes are urgently needed.
José Aylwin
