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PROJECTS: SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF ILRF PROJECTS ILRF is presently involved in six projects:
The ILRF is currently supporting the creation of a mediated settlement between the Botswana government and the displaced Gana and Gwi San Bushmen of Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). During 2005, ILRF prepared the ground for mediation by funding and setting into motion several initiatives that helped bring the Botswana government from a completely belligerent position back to the negotiating table. The ILRF persuaded the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to revisit the region and call for mediation. The ILRF also lobbied for the launch of an investigation by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) into the suspicious new mining exploration inside the CKGR. The IFC concluded that only a mediated settlement between the government and the displaced San could permit any further IFC funding for CKGR mining development. The ILRF also organized a delegation of prominent American human rights activists, including Gloria Steinem, Rebecca Adamson of First Peoples Worldwide, and Jane Olsen of Human Rights Watch, to view the terrible conditions in the Bushmen resettlement camps. Subsequent calls by these high status individuals, as well as statements inspired by ILRF lobbying from the U.S. State Department contributed to Botswana President Festus Mogae's concession to enter into a 'transparent, consultative process' of negotiation. Since then, the ILRF appealed to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who subsequently taped a message to the Botswana president calling for a mediated settlement. The ILRF also traveled to Rome to address the annual summit of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, all of whom then signed a letter to the Botswana government calling for mediation. Finally, the ILRF approached Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta, the foreign minister of East Timor, as a potential mediator. Ramos Horta is largely credited with bringing his country's liberation struggle with Indonesia to a peaceful conclusion, and his distinguished reputation convinced the Botswana government to agree to dialogue with him. In 2006, the ILRF will act in a dual role regarding mediation. Directly advancing the mediation process, the ILRF will provide networking, logistical and financial support for the mediators. Specifically, the organization will assist with information gathering and capacity building for the Botswana San NGOs and help underwrite transportation costs for international and San actors in the mediation process. In addition, the ILRF will continue financing the ongoing court case between the displaced San and the Botswana government in order to maintain pressure on the government to pursue a negotiated settlement. #2. Amerindian and Maroon Peoples of Suriname In the Greenstone Belt region of Suriname, indigenous and tribal communities are being poisoned by mercury pollution in gold mining rivers. Five Amerindian groups (Wayana, Carib, Arowaks,Trio, and Akuiro) and five culturally distinct groups of Maroons (Ndyuka/Aukaner, Saramaka, Paramaka, Aluku/Boni, and Matawai) live along the main rivers of the region. The rivers are being poisoned with mercury as a gold rush draws thousands of outsiders who trespass on and mine indigenous lands. Little effort has been made to provide the people in this region with the basic information needed to reduce their risk from exposure to mercury. In addition to suffering the effects of mercury poisoning, the indigenous Amerindians and the tribal Maroons are being displaced and dispossessed of their territories. ILRF has partnered with the Suriname Indigenous Health Fund (SIHFund) on a campaign to provide indigenous people in Suriname's Greenstone Belt region with the materials and technical support they need to self-diagnose the health and environmental effects of mercury pollution and to develop alternative subsistence strategies that reduce exposure. The campaign consists of two projects. Project 1: Source Identification, was conducted in February 2006. The SIHFund team traveled to the villages of Kwakoegron, Drietabbetje, Godo Olo, and Sella Creek and analytically determined the sources and types of mine waste pollution on the Saramacca and Tapanahony rivers and their tributaries that the villagers inhabit. This research is important for achieving the objectives of Project 2: Human Applications, which is presently scheduled for the summer of 2006. Project 2 involves the purchase of a Lumex Portable Mercury Analyzer and the implementation of an in-field project quantifying the extent and impact of mercury poisoning in the village of Kwakoegron and the Tapanahony area and developing strategies to minimize future exposure. ILRF is currently assisting SIHFund in grant writing for Project 2. The research findings from both projects will be publicly available and serve as a resource for other affected communities in the region. Earlier studies conducted by SIHFund have shown that knowledge about the environmental and public health effects of small-scale gold mining and mercury contamination mobilizes and empowers affected communities to identify their training, research and policy needs. Given access to knowledge regarding the impacts of mercury, communities are able to negotiate with the government and miners (both small and large scale) and apply pressure for socially and environmentally responsible activities in their own territories. #3. UT Latin American Human Rights Clinic The ILRF has been approached by numerous indigenous groups in Latin American countries, including Suriname, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Argentina and Colombia. Accordingly, the ILRF anticipates a severe need for legal advocacy for Latin American indigenous communities in the coming years, as the race to exploit the rich natural resources of the continent intensifies. To help meet this need, the ILRF is partnering with the law school, anthropology department and journalism school of the University of Texas at Austin. In particular, the law school's Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice is collaborating with the ILRF in the creation of a Latin American Legal and Human Rights Clinic with a special focus on indigenous issues. The clinic will provide legal, research and media support for displaced and threatened indigenous communities throughout Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The ILRF is currently seeking grants to cover the salary of a clinic coordinator who will start the advocacy process for the affected communities. The ILRF's partners at the University of Texas will provide the rest of the financing for the clinic. By entering into a financial partnership with the university, the ILRF is able to institutionalize the clinic's advocacy programs specifically for indigenous peoples. #4. Xhomani San Auburn House School, South Africa In 1999, the Xhomani San Bushmen of South Africa's Northern Cape won the largest land claim in Southern African history. The Xhomani had been evicted from the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in 1972 and survived by the side of the road for more than twenty five years. This victory brought the Xhomani back from the brink of extinction and transformed their community into one of the largest collective landowners in the country. As a community traumatized by two generations of dispossession, destitution, alcoholism, violence, rape, and prostitution, the Xhomani must now implement their recovery. Accordingly, the Xhomani have decided to establish a school that promotes their economic development and also teaches children the traditional subsistence skills for living in the Kalahari. The Xhomani are collaborating with the Auburn House School, an established Montessori School based in Wynbeg, Cape Town on the creation of a school that offers both a Grad 1-Matriculation education (equivalent to K-12 education in the U.S.) and an indigenous education program. This program will include instruction in tracking, medicinal plants, and hunting and gathering techniques. Indigenous education will ensure a livelihood for those children who do not wish to pursue an academic or urban career, as well as provide all youth with a sense of Xhomani identity. In addition, the school will feature programs in tourism and wildlife management, English language, and craft production. Auburn House is an excellent partner for the Xhomani community given their long-standing relationship. Auburn House ran a school for some Xhomani during the mid-1990s when a Xhomani community was working at the Kagga Kama private game reserve near Cape Town. The ILRF's role in the collaboration is to assist the Xhomani and Auburn House in finding funds to build the school, hire staff, and train Xhomani teachers in both the conventional and indigenous curricula. #5. La'aloa Hawaiian Cultural and Educational Center On Kona, the large island of Hawaii, exists a sacred burial, ritual and traditional medicine site called La'aloa. The site is hemmed in by a parking lot, a state beach and a condominium complex, and though it is protected under state law, La'aloa has no infrastructure and is in danger of degradation. At present, the site is threatened both by the county's plan to increase local parking for beach access, and by the expansion of the neighboring condominium development. Although the site is currently demarcated and protected by minimal plastic fencing, the local Hawaiian population fears that La'aloa will be destroyed. The ILRF is financially assisting the La'aloa 'ohana Council, a local nonprofit comprised of Hawaiian elders, in rehabilitating and developing the La'aloa site. Used as an illegal rubbish dump, the site will be cleaned up and surrounded by proper fencing in accordance with local regulations. A 1.3 mile walking trail will lead through the grave sites, sacred stone sites and healing herbal shrubs, beginning and ending from a cultural and historic center built in traditional Hawaiian style. The center will showcase the historic and cultural components of Hawaii's heritage, as well as Hawaiian and Polynesian traditional dance, medicine and story-telling. It will also provide educational services for local indigenous and non-indigenous Hawaiian schoolchildren. The ILRF is fundraising for the construction of the cultural and historic center and for its future cultural programs. In addition, the ILRF is working with the La'aloa 'ohana Council to conduct a survey of the other threatened sacred sites in the archipelago. #6. Campaign Against the Sexual Slavery of Central African Pymies Earlier this year, ILRF began working with the Congolese organization, L'Association pour les Droits de L'Homme et L'Univers Carceral (ADHUC). Many pygmy communities have been evicted from newly created forest reserves and individuals have relocated to resettlement camps and cities where they become victims of the sexual slave trade. With the assistance of ILRF, ADHUC has initiated a campaign to combat the sexual slavery of displaced pygmy woman and children from Congo and Cameroon, and to offer services, education and rehabilitation to those rescued from sexual slavery. |