Indigenous peoples around the globe are making themselves heard in international arenas and at the national level. But many challenges remain in the fight for full recognition of all their rights.

CHILE: Indigenous Rights Activist Ends 111-Day Hunger Strike
Giannina Milich
SANTIAGO – The president of Chile?s bishops? conference highlighted the effort made by indigenous rights activist Patricia Troncoso, who called off the longest hunger strike in Chilean history, to draw attention to the plight of the Mapuche people. “We must know how to live in a multi-ethnic culture,” bishop Alejandro Goic told IPS.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40992

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PERU: Logging Firm Accused of Using Workers’ Identities for Tax Fraud
Milagros Salazar
PUCALLPA – Impoverished local residents of the Amazon jungle town of Orellana in Peru have filed a complaint against a logging company for using their identity documents to commit tax fraud in illegal timber sales worth more than 200,000 dollars.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41002

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AUSTRALIA: Apology, No Compensation For Lost Generations
Stephen de Tarczynski
MELBOURNE – While aboriginal groups have welcomed the Australian government?s pledge to apologise to the ‘stolen generations’, they argue that the gesture should be backed up with compensation.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40955

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SOUTH AFRICA: Using Culture to Save Wetlands
Suzanne Kok
JOHANNESBURG – Wetland conservation projects in South Africa have to take into consideration the culture, traditions and needs of local communities, according to Donovan Kotze of the University of KwaZulu Natal. He believes that the key to proper wetland management lies within communities living in and around these wetlands.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40947

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CHILE: Government Finances Mapuche Medical Service
Daniela Estrada
NUEVA IMPERIAL – A conventional hospital and a Mapuche medical centre, run by traditional healers who examine urine and prescribe infusions, coexist at the Intercultural Health Complex in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40943

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PERU: Intercultural University Scores Poorly on Equality
Milagros Salazar
PUCALLPA – Peru?s only intercultural university was established in the country?s Amazon jungle region to provide higher education for indigenous people, thanks to a concerted struggle by native leaders. Yet only 40 percent of the students are actually from indigenous communities, while the majority are “mestizos” (people of mixed-race) from urban areas.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40901

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BRAZIL: Land Shortage Provokes Murders of Indigenous People
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO – At least 76 indigenous people were murdered in Brazil in 2007, 58 percent more than in 2006. The killings increased the most in the west-central state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the Guaraní people are confined to territories too small for them to maintain their traditional way of life.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40787

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MEXICO: Teotihuacan Sun Pyramid in for a Muon Scan
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY – Who ruled the pre-Columbian city of Teotihuacan, in Mexico? Where are their bodies buried, what ethnic group did they belong to, and what kind of political system did they develop? A project to delve into these mysteries is under way, and may start producing answers next year.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40754

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PHILIPPINES: Mindanao Tribals Caught Between Army, Insurgents
Brad Miller
DAVAO – The troubles of Ata-Manobo tribal chief Camid Lapindoy mirror the struggle faced by the Lumads (indigenous people of Mindanao) as they walk a line between two opposing armed forces — while enduring poverty, corporate invasion and marginalisation.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40738

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Native Suicide Surge Rooted in Colonial Traumas
Am Johal
VANCOUVER – Most Canadians and the international community are unaware that suicide rates for Inuit are 11 times higher than the Canadian average. In some parts of the Eastern Arctic, the suicide rate is even higher. Despite these alarming numbers, no public health emergency or advisory has been declared by territorial or federal government health departments.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40697

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