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Justice for Indigenous Peoples
Around the world, Indigenous communities continue to experience human rights violations, including threats to land rights, displacement, and intimidation, which are all too often met with state impunity and inaction. RFK Human Rights partners with grassroots activists to seek accountability for these abuses.
Xinka activists peacefully resist mining activity on Indigenous land
In his work as a legal adviser to the Xinka Parliament, Quelvin Otoniel Jiménez Villalta represents Guatemala’s Indigenous population in combating the aggressive encroachment of mining activity on Xinka land. The Xinka people’s land is rich with natural resources—most abundantly silver—and local resistance to major mining operations have resulted in Quelvin facing numerous death threats, surveillance, and harassment. Along with partners, RFK Human Rights filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to seek precautionary measures for Quelvin to protect his rights to life and personal integrity; those precautionary measures were granted on July 3, 2019. RFK Human Rights continues to work with the Xinka Parliament to end Guatemalan state impunity against attacks on Indigenous activists in cases like the killing of Topacio Reynoso, a 16-year old activist who was shot alongside her father after engaging in peaceful resistance to mining activities on Indigenous Guatemalan land. The Xinka Parliament went on to win the 40th annual RFK Human Rights Award in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 2020.
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About the Case
Anti-Mining Activist Receives Safeguards
About the Case
When Mining Turns Into Murder
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Advocate for Brazilian Indigenous peoples wins 2020 RFK Human Rights Award
In 2020, RFK Human Rights named Alessandra Korap Munduruku the winner of its 2020 Human Rights Award for her work defending the culture, livelihoods, and rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil. As one of the key leaders and organizers of the Munduruku people, Alessandra has fought to stop construction projects and illegal mining that are infringing upon Munduruku territory, garnering international attention and support.
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Unworthy Republic author gives an inside look into research on award-winning book
Surprisingly, it was a box of letters he inherited from his Hungarian grandfather that inspired Claudio Saunt to write about Native American dispossession. Saunt, who won the 2021 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book Award for Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory, said reading the letters, which provided a firsthand account of the experience of Jews in Hungary during World War II, made him want to explore the issue of deportation more broadly and led him, quite literally, to the Trail of Tears. The professor of American history at the University of Georgia joined RFK staff, board members, and supporters for the November 2021 installment of the RFK Human Rights Book Club.
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For More Perspective
Modern Decolonization: The Role of the UN and the Responsibility of All of Us
Empowering Local Leadership: Transforming Development Aid with Bottom-Up Solutions
5 Things to Know About Western Sahara
There is no climate solution without Indigenous Peoples and the protection of their rights
