April 12, 2020

This Week in Human Rights News

Indigenous people in the North of Thailand (Chiang Mai) are fighting the worst forest fires in decades.
The government's approach to forest fires is the opposite of what the indigenous highlanders have been practising.
Public fear of fires ends up supporting forest authorities' zero-burn policy which can gravely backfire leading to more disastrous forest fires and heavier toxic haze.
"People in the city see fires as pure evil. That's why our rotational farming system is reviled as slash-and-burn. They don't know our rituals. They don't know our know-how to control the fire and help the forest regenerate. For us, fires are part of life, part of nature, something we must understand so we can live with them safely" - Mr Prue, Karen Leader
"We're doing this because the forest is our home, because we're proud of who we are. We are the forest guardians, not the destroyers. We also know that if we fail, the officials will use it to legitimise their efforts to wipe us out." - Mr. Prue, Karen Leader

The first deaths linked to Covid-19 among highly vulnerable indigenous populations across the Amazon region are being reported.
The total number of confirmed infections stands at seven, scattered across three Amazonian states. There are fears that many more cases will surface in the days ahead, potentially overwhelming already fragile health care systems in the region.
Experts say that now more than ever, keeping remote indigenous communities separated from outsiders is the best way to safeguard them.
In the absence of robust government action, some groups have been organising to halt the spread of the pandemic.
But reports from elsewhere suggest that illegal miners, loggers, and land grabbers may be using the health crisis as cover to step up incursions into indigenous territories.

Victor Fernando Alvarez, who disappeared on April 2nd, is the second journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year.
Last month, reporter Maria Elena Ferral was shot dead by two assailants on motorbikes while she was getting into her car in the eastern state of Veracruz.
Mexico is known to be dangerous for the press with more than 100 reporters murdered since 2000.
"Even as Mexico is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities must not turn away from their responsibility to thoroughly investigate her case, determine whether it was retaliation for her journalism, and bring her killers to justice." - Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ's Mexico representative.

jfa12 April 2020