MRG calls on governments to respect international treaties on indigenous rights

LONDON - In a statement issued today, the London-based organization Minority Rights Group International, (MRG) joined other international bodies in calling for an end to the human rights abuses, violence and loss of life in connection with protests by indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon.

The organization's executive director Mark Lattimer cited the vital need for states to comply with international instruments safeguarding indigenous rights. These include the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, the International Labour Organization's Convention No.169 on indigenous and tribal peoples, as well as the American Convention on Human Rights. Read more...

Blatant discrimination in Bosnia and Herzogovina challenged at European Court

John Thompson, who is interning with MRG’s Legal Cases Programme, visits the European Court of Human Rights to observe a landmark case. Read more...

Discovering Kathmandu and a vision for the future of Nepal

Cecile Clerc, MRG’s Head of Fundraising, is in Nepal for a meeting with MRG partner organisations to design a new programme to fight discrimination against Dalit women. Read more...

Prema Jyothi

I notice Prema Jyothi at the advocacy training MRG is giving to Dalit organisations in Chennai, India, not just because she's wearing a tracksuit rather than the traditional salwar kameez. Her self-confidence, conviction and determination to bring about change for Dalits is evident every time she stands up to speak.

More than one-sixth of India's population, some 166 million people, live a precarious existence, shunned by much of society because of their rank as Dalits (formerly known as ‘untouchables’) at the bottom of India's age-old caste system. Read more...