The world’s indigenous peoples are making themselves heard in international arenas, and at the national level, where their growing mobilisation is translating into political muscle. But many challenges remain in the fight for recognition of all their rights.

Q&A: Gitmo Uighurs Highlight a Complex Ethnic Problem
Stephen de Tarczynski interviews Uighur activist MAMTIMIN ALA
MELBOURNE (IPS) – Although United States President Barack Obama was quick to order the closure of the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay soon after assuming office, the question of what to do with the roughly 175 current inmates who are unlikely to be prosecuted by the U.S. remains.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46041

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POLITICS-CHINA: Row Over Tibet Escalates
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING (IPS) – China has sealed off Tibet with troops and demanded that the international community recognise the legitimacy of Beijing’s historical claims over the Himalayan plateau, escalating a row over its policies there.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46061

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PERU: Drama Exposes Rape as Weapon of War
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA (IPS) – The film La Teta Asustada/The Milk of Sorrow, the big winner at the Berlin Film Festival, drives home the brutal effects of Peru?s armed conflict on thousands of women who were raped and have lived with the pain and a lingering sense of shame and fear ever since.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46066

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ECONOMY-CHINA: Human Rights Critics Silenced by Meltdown
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING (IPS) – If the global economic downturn is a crisis with a silver lining for cash-rich Chinese companies intent on bargain deals, it is equally so the image-conscious government whose human right critics have been silenced by the need to cooperate with Beijing on overcoming the recession.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46003

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ENVIRONMENT-NAMIBIA: Ten Dollars for a 200-Year-Old Tree
By Servaas van den Bosch
Mile 20, NAMIBIA (IPS) – Despite the investment of millions of donor dollars, the permit system in Namibia’s Community Forests has failed dismally, say biodiversity experts. Illegal logging in the inland Kavango is more alive than ever.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46184

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DEVELOPMENT: Corruption Drains Water…
By Hilmi Toros
ISTANBUL (IPS) – Several civil society organisations are planning anti-corruption drives to combat the wheeling-dealing considered a major factor in the world water crisis.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46196

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BRAZIL: Making Eco-History in a Southern Beach Town
By Clarinha Glock*
GAROPABA, Brazil (IPS/IFEJ) – In the city of Garopaba, a tourist destination on Brazil’s southern coast, leftover food from restaurants will be turned into fertiliser to be used by farmers, who in turn will grow pesticide-free fruits and vegetables for snacks in the local schools.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46195

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POLITICS-US: Marijuana Legalisation Creates Buzz
By Matthew Cardinale
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Due perhaps in part to the country’s economic woes, but also a major shift in political culture, discussion of marijuana legalisation has risen to a level of openness and prominence previously unseen in the United States.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46183

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