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.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Uplifting Aboriginals, a Matter of “Urgent National Significance”
By Neena Bhandari
WADEYE – In this remote Aboriginal town, 420 km south-west of Darwin, Northern Territory?s capital, third world living conditions still prevail despite the Australian government?s efforts to improve life for its oldest inhabitants.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47607

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PERU: Three Days of Anti-Government Protests
By Ángel Páez
LIMA – Wednesday was the second day of a three-day strike declared by trade unions and social movements in Peru to protest the economic policies of President Alan García.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47593

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POPULATION: Poorest Countries to Bear Brunt of Growth
By Ben Case
UNITED NATIONS – The world’s population – already at least 6.7 billion people – will double in the next 40 years if current growth rates are left unchecked, warns the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47587

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AGRICULTURE: A Stormy Time for Indigenous Wisdom
By Stephen Leahy*
VIENNA – Indigenous peoples risk losing control over their traditional knowledge if the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) insists on strict standards for managing access to information.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47544

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PERU: Petroleum Sullies the Amazon
By Milagros Salazar*
BAGUA, Peru – “Now the fish are going to disappear,” said Luis Umpunchi, an Awajún Indian, one of about 20 people gathered around a broken oil pipeline in the Jayais community, in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47525

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US-ECUADOR: Chevron Fails in Effort to Lift Trade Benefits
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON – In the latest in a string of setbacks that could cost the U.S. oil giant Chevron billions of dollars in damages, President Barack Obama decided this week to extend trade preferences for Ecuadorean exports for another six months under the 1991 Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47509

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PERU: Minister Tried to Promote Police Investigated for Massacre
By Ángel Páez
LIMA – Peru?s Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas attempted to promote 11 police officials for their performance in the brutal Jun. 5 crackdown on native protests against government decrees that opened up indigenous land in the Amazon jungle to oil, mining, logging and agribusiness companies.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47454

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AUSTRALIA: Policy May Force Indigenous Communities From Traditional Lands
By Stephen de Tarczynski
MELBOURNE – A government plan purporting to improve the lives of people living in isolated areas of Australia?s Northern Territory will be implemented at the expense of surrounding homeland communities and ignores the cultural and health benefits for people living on those traditional lands, warn critics.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47417

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CULTURE-MEXICO: “New Seven Wonders” Win Falls Flat
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government spent time and money in 2007 to get the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza declared one of the “new seven wonders of the world” in a contest organised by a Swiss-Canadian businessman. But winning has failed to deliver the desired results.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47399

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MALAYSIA: Blacklisted For Not Enforcing Trafficking Laws
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR – After years of lobbying by rights activists and the international community, Malaysia passed an effective and comprehensive law in 2007 against human trafficking with provisions for protection, shelter and return of trafficked person to their home countries.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47332

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