The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called for urgent action to stop forced labor in Bolivia and Paraguay. Permanent Forum Chairperson Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said, "During our visits to Bolivia and Paraguay we found that the forced labour of Guaraní and other indigenous peoples -- which has been long documented -- continues to exist." Press release, 31 August 2009.

The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, has published a review of health issues and problems among Indigenous Peoples: Where are we now with Indigenous health?. "Imposed development and loss of land have had disastrous effects on the health of Indigenous people everywhere. Paradoxically, Indigenous people endure not only the ill health associated with poverty but also the chronic diseases that come with the lifestyle in industrialised countries - a situation that is directly attributable to loss of land and traditions and the resultant move to poor urban environments." The article is available free of charge after registration at the site.

Indigenous Environmental Network Targets Tar Sands Mining

Greenpeace activists locked down and blockaded a giant dump truck and shovel at Shell's massive Albian Sands open-pit mine in northern Alberta on September 15, 2009, to send the message that the tar sands are a global climate crime that must be stopped. The technical term for the oil extracted from tar sands is crude bitumen, which is defined as a viscous (thick), heavy oil that will not flow to a well in its natural state. See ongoing calls to action and updates on the Indigenous Environmental Network's Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign.

The Grapes of Wrath revisited: The plight of Native Americans

Chris McGreal reports on the plight of poverty-stricken Native Americans as he continues his journey along Route 66 in the footsteps of the Joads, the family in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath who fled the Oklahoma dustbowl for California. He includes a video interview with Rita Watson Claude, a Navajo living in Tohatchi. Guardian / Observer article (August 30, 2009)

Reindeer Herders Battle Alcohol on Russia's Edge

Seventy years of Soviet rule failed to subdue Russia's most isolated natives, but "perestroika" proved to be devastating. In the ensuing lawlessness, poachers decimated reindeer herds and unemployment was rife. Suddenly starved of Moscow's subsidies, the indigenous peoples of the far northeast -- the Chukchi, Eskimos and Evens -- were powerless to stop the collapse of their traditional ways of life. Hunger, poverty and alcoholism, took hold.
The New York Times article by Reuters (August 13, 2009)

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