SANTIAGO — Once again, Chilean students have taken to the streets to protest the…
Indigenous Focus: Chile’s Supreme Court Confronts Consultation, Identity
SANTIAGO — Last week, Chile’s Supreme Court issued another decision in favor of indigenous peoples. This adds to the list of recent decisions that are slowly advancing in Chile the indigenous right to consultation. This latest decision involved the Comunidad Agrícola los Huasco Altinos and the “El Morro” mining project, owned by Sociedad Contractual Minera [...]
Indigenous Focus: Chilean Supreme Court Orders Consultation with Indigenous Communities in Two Separate Cases
The Constitutional Chamber of the Chilean Supreme Court has been active lately on the issue of indigenous rights in Chile. Since ILO Convention 169, an international treaty on indigenous rights, went into effect in Chile in 2009, the Supreme Court has heard nearly two dozen cases related to Convention 169, not to mention countless other [...]
Indigenous Focus: Help End Racial Discrimination
Thursday, March 22 is the 46th annual International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Few people deny that in Chile – as in all countries throughout the world – racial discrimination exists, but it is often extremely difficult to know what can be done to fight it. In honor of this special day, we offer a [...]
Indigenous Focus: Chilean Government Announces Additional Initiatives to Save Indigenous Languages
This week the Chilean government announced two separate programs designed to preserve Indigenous languages and transmit them to the next generation. They will promote the teaching of Indigenous languages to urban youth and will allow Indigenous communities to design and implement their own projects for rescuing and preserving native tongues. The first of these programs—announced [...]
Indigenous Focus: International Women’s Day and Indigenous Peoples
Thursday, March 8th is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is one that directly touches on the situation that many indigenous women face on a daily basis: “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”. The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day in 1975 and it has become a day that brings needed [...]
Indigenous Focus: Chile’s Indigenous Peoples Seek Government Protection of Languages
Tuesday, February 21st, was the “International Mother Language Day,” although in Chile it is sometimes referred to as “International Day of Indigenous Languages.” International Mother Language Day is a creation of UNESCO and has been celebrated each year since 2000 and, as its name implies, the purpose is to promote native languages around the globe. [...]
Indigenous Focus: Lafkenche Products in Sodimac – Property Rights
The national chain store Sodimac is definitely not the place that would normally come to mind as a store to find quality, handmade indigenous textiles. But that is precisely what is now available at a Temuco Sodimac after the brand Origen Chileno launched a line of products there which are made by Lafkenche artisans from [...]
Indigenous Focus: Courts and Indigenous Rights
In the past week, you may have noticed a large number of reports discussing indigenous peoples going to the courts. For example: In Quepe, Mapuche communities filed a lawsuit against the construction of a nearby airport in order to get their voices heard in the process. In Temuco, a lawsuit was filed by the National [...]
Indigenous Focus: Indigenous History and Indigenous Rights to Experience Cuts from National Curriculum
The Ministry of Education has been in the news recently for a number of proposed changes to the national curriculum. Most notable has been a recent decision by the National Education Council (CNED) change references to the ‘dictatorship’ to ‘military regime’. That change was widely criticized as an attempt to change history and diminish the [...]
Indigenous Focus: Report Provides Data on the Lives of Indigenous Youths in Chile
On Monday, January 23rd, UNICEF and the Chilean Ministry of Social Development released a substantial report that looked at data on Indigenous youth in Chile. The document covered a number of topics, including socioeconomic conditions, education, health, and living conditions. In a field where data tends to be scarce, the report provides a lot of [...]