Ten Thousand Things
Multicultural Webfinds

"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

Survival: Indonesian Military & Malaysian Govt: Key Abusers of Tribal Peoples

This year, SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, a global advocacy organization for indigenous peoples, singles out the "Terrible Ten," for seizure of territories and abuses, even killings. These include two Asian countries: Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Indonesian military was singled out for its especially heinous persecution of tribal people in West Papua. In 1963, the UN handed over this region to Indonesia without consulting the indigenous inhabitants that include 132 tribes, including uncontacted peoples. Abuses by the Indonesian military include arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and murder.

The Malaysian government is depriving the Penan people, who have long been resisting deforestation, of their territory to make way for its palm oil industry -- an industry at the top of the list of causes of global warming. The Penan are one of the few remaining nomadic hunter-gatherers in southeast Asia, according to this BBC report.10,000 Penan live in Sarawak, Borneo, now a part of Malaysia. Only 200 are still hunter-gatherers.

December 7, 2007: Survival names ‘terrible ten’ – key abusers of tribal peoples’ rights
Survivalinternational.org

To mark UN Human Rights Day (10 December) Survival has named the ‘terrible ten’: the key abusers of tribal peoples’ rights in 2007. Indonesia, Australia, Canada, the USA, New Zealand, Botswana, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay and Malaysia are all highlighted.

Tribal peoples in West Papua face appalling violence at the hands of the Indonesian military, experiencing killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture while their lands are exploited by the Indonesian government and foreign companies.

In Botswana, the government evicted the Bushmen from their land in the Central Kalahari in 2002, and continues to prevent them from returning home, despite a landmark court ruling in 2006 that declared the evictions ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’.

Cattle ranchers occupying Guarani Indian land in Brazil are hiring gunmen to target the Indians. This year two Guarani leaders have been murdered and two Guarani women raped in land conflicts, while at least 26 Guarani have committed suicide.

Peru is home to an estimated 15 of the world’s last uncontacted tribes and all of them are facing extinction as the government opens up their territories to oil companies and illegal loggers flood in. The Peruvian president recently suggested the tribes didn’t exist.

The Ayoreo-Totbiegosodein Paraguay are the last uncontacted Indians south of the Amazon basin. But powerful logging companies are destroying their forest at breakneck speed, and the government is failing to protect them.

In Malaysia, the tribes of Sarawak have had their land taken to make way for logging, dam construction and oil palm plantations. The government has told the nomadic, hunter-gatherer Penan that they have no land rights until they ‘settle down’ and start farming.

Despite supposedly being liberal democracies, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA were the only countries to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was approved by the General Assembly in September this year. 143 countries voted in favour.

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