Spotlight on the often violated rights of Indigenous Peoples

(Vatican Radio) August the 9th marks the International Day of the World’s indigenous Peoples. 370 million people in more than 70 countries identify themselves as indigenous peoples and they account for 5 percent of our world’s population.

Human rights groups say indigenous people face many threats to their health and wellbeing including the removal of their lands, physical attacks and marginalization.

During his recent visit to Latin America, Pope Francis made a landmark speech in which he apologized for the past crimes committed by the Catholic Church against the continent’s indigenous peoples.              

Survival International is an NGO that campaigns for the rights of indigenous peoples and Susy Hodges spoke to their campaigner Sarah Shenker. 

Listen to the interview with Sarah Shenker of the NGO, Survival International: 

Shenker says indigenous and tribal peoples face many threats against their very existence, especially the theft of their ancestral lands.  She described Pope Francis’s recent speech in Bolivia in which he apologized for the past crimes committed by the Catholic Church against the indigenous peoples of Latin America as “very important” and said indigenous leaders present at that meeting with the Pope “appreciated his apology.” At the same time she warned that atrocities against indigenous peoples are not just confined to the past and we need to be aware of continuing crimes committed against them in our present day.