News archive » 2005
Germany: Alternative Nobel Bushmen in Berlin
16 December 2005
Bushmen Roy Sesana and Jumanda Gakelebone this week completed their tour of Europe with a visit to Berlin, where they met prominent German politicians and journalists, and gave a public lecture at a high-profile museum. 
Brazil: Guarani face eviction
9 December 2005
A federal tribunal has ordered the eviction of the Guarani-Kaiowa Indians of Ñanderú Marangatú within the next few days. 
Brazil: Yanomami commit suicide
8 December 2005
Four Sanuma Indians in northern Brazil have committed suicide since last August. Suicide is virtually unheard of amongst the Sanuma, one of the four groups which make up the Yanomami tribe. 
Botswana: Alternative Nobel Bushmen journey to Europe
28 November 2005
Two Kalahari Bushmen are journeying to Britain, Sweden and Germany on a desperate mission to stop the Botswana government arresting, shooting and torturing their people and starving them off their land. 
Botswana: Local campaign for Bushmen
18 November 2005
Botswanas International Socialist organisation has started a campaign in support of the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. 
Indonesia: More troops land in Papua
7 November 2005
Over 1,500 Indonesian troops landed in Papua in October to provide security around the establishment of the new Papuan Peoples Council. 
Botswana: Court victory for one Bushman family
1 November 2005
The Botswana High Court ruled on Friday 28 October that the government must allow Bushman Amogolang Segootsane and his family to return to their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. 
Colombia: Nukak displaced by armed conflict
26 October 2005
Sixty-five Nukak Indians have been displaced by armed conflict on their land between right-wing paramilitary groups, left-wing guerrillas and the Colombian army. 
Botswana: Ethnic cleansing reaches final phase
8 October 2005
Dozens of Bushmen were evicted yesterday from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. Police carried out the removals at gunpoint and then set fire to the Bushmen's huts. 
Botswana: Bushman child and two adults shot by police
6 October 2005
Three Bushmen, including one child, have been shot and wounded in recent days by Botswana police in a series of incidents designed to intimidate the Bushmen still surviving inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and force them out once and for all. 
Botswana: Violence erupts in Bushmens reserve
16 September 2005
Clashes have erupted between Gana and Gwi Bushmen desperate to stay inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and wildlife officers and police trying to force them out. Botswana: Massive assault on Bushman rights
12 September 2005
The Bushmen are facing a new and severe assault on their rights since the resumption of their three-year court case against the government for evicting them from their ancestral lands in the central Kalahari. 
Ecuador: Indians win concession from government
12 August 2005
After a protest by over one hundred Waorani Indians in the Ecuadorian capital last month, the government has announced the creation of a commission to investigate the impact of oil exploitation on Indian lands. 
Ethiopia: Mursi land threatened by government
8 August 2005
The Mursi are facing the threat of being denied access to land they depend on for cultivation and cattle herding in the Omo and Mago National Parks of Southern Ethiopia. Botswana: Survival International targets Neil Lane
4 August 2005
Human rights organization Survival has today targeted US jewellery designer Neil Lane in its continued battle with De Beers, over the eviction of the Central Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana to make way for diamond mining. 
Australia: Aborigines' land victory
3 August 2005
The Ngaanyatjarra Aborigines of Western Australia have won legal recognition of a large part of their ancestral land. The claim covered more than 180,000 sq km in the Mt Gibson and Great Victoria deserts. Nicaragua: Miskito win back land
1 August 2005
The Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños has returned five parcels of land to the indigenous 'Miskito' Indians of the country's Caribean coast. 
Paraguay: Some protection at last for Ayoreo territory
28 July 2005
At a recent meeting in Paris, UNESCO approved a joint request by the Paraguayan government and supporters of the Ayoreo Indians to include a large area of Ayoreo forest in the new Chaco Biosphere Reserve. 
India: Poachers raid Jarawa reserve
27 July 2005
A group of poachers recently entered a settlement of the isolated Jarawa tribe on the Andaman islands and stole honey collected by the group. 
Botswana: De Beers celebrity store opening loses its sparkle
20 June 2005
Celebrities will this Wednesday 22 June (5.30-9pm) be urged by protesters from human rights organisation Survival International not to cross their picket line at the opening of the first De Beers store in the USA (703 Fifth Avenue, New York). Botswana: Judges order visit to diamond site
16 June 2005
The judges in the Bushmen court case have ordered that the whole court will fly to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, to establish whether preparations for diamond mining are taking place there. Brazil: Guajajara leader murdered in land conflict
10 June 2005
An old Guajajara Indian leader, José Araújo Guajajara, was murdered on 21 May 2005 by a group of armed men who stormed into his village, setting fire to houses and shooting at the Indians. Brazil: Enawene Nawe demand land rights
9 June 2005
Members of the Enawene Nawe tribe of Mato Grosso state travelled to Brazils capital Brasília last week to demand that the government legally recognise a key part of their territory. Botswana: Government lies on Bushman hunting exposed
8 June 2005
A government witness in the Bushman court case admitted yesterday that there was no evidence that Bushmen living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve had been hunting using guns and vehicles, or hunting too many animals. Botswana: Government critic to be deported
31 May 2005
A professor who has been a fierce critic of the lack of democracy in Botswana is to be deported. Professor Ken Good lost his appeal against deportation earlier today, and was taken from the court by plain-clothes police. Botswana: Witness exposes government
23 May 2005
Cross-examination of a key witness in the court battle between the Kalahari Bushmen and the Botswana government has exposed the governments given reasons for the evictions as false. 
Botswana: Government lawyer threatens 'CKGR tour'
9 May 2005
Sidney Pilane, the government's principal lawyer in the Bushmen relocation court case, today threatened to submit an application for the court to tour the Central Kalahari Game Reserve again. 
Indonesia: Army kills villagers
30 March 2005
The Indonesian army and police have killed three people, burned down houses, killed pigs and destroyed crops, in the latest in a series of attacks against tribal villages in the Papuan highlands. 
Botswana: South American Indians campaign for Bushmen
29 March 2005
Reaching out from the forests of South America to the Kalahari desert, members of the isolated Ayoreo tribe in Paraguay have added their voices to the Gana and Gwi Bushmens campaign for their rights. 
Botswana: World Bank in Bushman Reserve
18 March 2005
The World Bank ombudsman is investigating complaints that the Bank has been funding diamond exploration in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, without first consulting local communities.
Botswana: Survival launches Botswana boycott
11 March 2005
Survival International is launching a boycott of Botswana today at the world's largest tourism fair, ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) Berlin. Supporters of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen will give out leaflets outside the fair. 
Paraguay: Congress to decide fate of uncontacted tribe
28 February 2005
Moves to protect the heartland of South America's last uncontacted tribe south of the Amazon basin are now being debated in Paraguay's Congress. The area at stake is home to an unknown number of uncontacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians. Brazil: Indian children starve to death
24 February 2005
Three Guarani children have starved to death so far this year; hundreds more are suffering from malnutrition. Crammed onto tiny pockets of land, the Indians have nowhere to hunt, fish or even plant crops. India: New baby is a sign of hope for the Onge
24 February 2005
A new baby has been born to the Onge tribe of the Andaman Islands. The Onges numbers have plummeted in the past century and their birth rate is very low, so the birth, which brings the population to 97, is a cause for hope. Botswana: Botswana's President prejudges court case
22 February 2005
Botswana's President Mogae told a UK audience yesterday that he would not allow the Bushmen to return to their homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. 'I cannot allow them to go back,' he said, prejudging the court case currently in progress. Botswana: Three years on, persecution intensifies
2 February 2005
On the eve of the three-year anniversary of the eviction of the Gana
and Gwi Bushmen from their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve,
six Bushmen have been heavily fined for hunting to feed their families. Botswana: Dying father used to evict sons
20 January 2005
Botswana's high court has heard how government officials evicted a
dying man from his home in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and
then returned to tell his sons that they would not see their father
unless they agreed to be relocated. 
Brazil: Supreme Court blow to Makuxi Indians
5 January 2005
In a shocking blow to thousands of Indians, on January 3rd a Supreme Court judge suspended the official demarcation of the Raposa-Serra do Sol Indian territory, just a few days before it was expected to be complete. 
