On July 6, 2023, Panama ratified its adhesion to the United Nations Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, the so-called Water Convention, thereby becoming the first country in Latin America to do so. The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) is … Read more

The great writer Augusto Monterroso, Honduran by birth and Guatemalan by choice, was a master of the very short story, and author of one of the most famous: The Dinosaur. The whole story is one line: “When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there”. The text allows and invites multiple interpretations. Although don Augusto … Read more

The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights called to promote and safeguard the independence and impartiality of their judicial systems and guarantee the integrity of judges in their respective regions, at a meeting of the three regional courts held in San … Read more

An “International network for legal pluralism, self-rights and anti-racism” was presented in the Colombian city of Santa Marta, within the framework of the first International Forum on legal pluralism and own right organized by the University of Magdalena from May 17 to 19. This network has anti-racism chapters, a network of technical support, a research … Read more

The 22nd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, held from April 17 to 28, 2023, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, analyzed relevant documents on the rights of indigenous Peoples. This year, the special theme was “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: a … Read more

The doctrine of “discovery” is not part of the Catholic conception, affirmed the Vatican in a public statement in which it explained that the documents related to the subject were written in a specific historical period and related to political issues, but are not part of the Catholic faith since the papal bulls of that … Read more

For the first time in its history, the Australian State took concrete actions to recognize its native peoples in the country’s Constitution. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on March 23 the question that will be put to the citizens’ for consideration in a referendum that aims to reform the current Magna Carta including in it … Read more

In 1876, the division general and president of Guatemala approved a decree declaring the indigenous people of the town of San Pedro Sacatepéquez ladinos. The brief recitals of the presidential term indicated the convenience of the norm to put into practice “measures that tend to improve the condition of the indigenous class (sic)” and that … Read more

  As every year, since the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed it in 2012, the International Day of Forests is commemorated on March 21, aiming to highlight the enormous importance of all types of forests, while generating awareness about it. This year, the main messages focus on highlighting the close relationship between forests and human … Read more

On March 17, within the framework of an event in the Plaza de Armas of the Casa de Nariño, the government of Colombia presented the labor reform, a key project in this legislature that the Congress of the Republic should discuss. According to the Minister of Labor, Gloria Ramírez, the initiative is “…the most ambitious … Read more

On March 14, 2023, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica communicated its decision to the consultation of the Legislative Assembly on the constitutionality of the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits (ABS) arising from their utilization to the Convention on Biological … Read more

At the beginning of the year 2023, the International Organization for Migration published the study entitled Invisible Movements: Recommendations for Facilitating the Cross-Border Migration of Indigenous Peoples in the Caribbean [1]. Through an unusual approach, the report deepens the understanding of cross-border migration experiences of indigenous peoples within the Caribbean region, with a particular focus … Read more

In Spanish literature, windmills lead us to Don Quixote, the crazy adventurer who mistook them for huge enemies and decided to engage them in a courageous fight with his spear and shield. Or also, they generate bucolic images of a rural past and even, coming to the present, the search to change the energy matrix … Read more

At the beginning of March 2023, the Constitutional Court (CC) of Guatemala rejected a new legal appeal with which Thelma Cabrera and Jordán Rodas Andrade sought to be registered as candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, respectively, by the People’s Liberation Movement (MLP) for the general elections on June 25, so the participation of … Read more

A new March 8th shows that although great mobilizations, demands and proposals of women are being made all over the planet, profound and sustainable changes have not yet been achieved. If the general situation of women in the world exhibits multiple limitations for equal access to fundamental human rights, for indigenous women, the gap between … Read more

The authorities of the countries that make up the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) approved the Buenos Aires Declaration on January 24, 2023.[1] In its 111 issues, a wide variety of topics of great relevance to the peoples and governments of the region are collected, reflecting a renewed spirit of CELAC both … Read more

At the end of February 2023, a criminal trial began in Ecuador against representatives of the Japanese capital company Furukawa accused of the crime of human trafficking for labor exploitation purposes. The conditions denounced by more than one hundred and twenty former employees (mostly of African descent) of this company, which was the main fiber … Read more

On 17 February 2023, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR), a key body for the ILO’s monitoring system on international labour standards, published its annual report on the Application of international labour standards, 2023, which will be considered during the International Labour Conference at its 111th session that will … Read more

“Ignoring the original communities in the safeguarding of the land is a serious mistake, it is extractivist functionalism, not to say a great injustice. Instead, valuing their cultural heritage and their ancestral techniques will help to embark on paths for better environmental management,” Pope Francis said. This statement was made on February 10 in the … Read more

Around the end of 2022, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights published a new General Comment on the relationship between human rights and access, tenure and use of land. Affirming that safe and equitable access to land is often vital for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly for some … Read more