Santiago Maldonado was last seen when security forces evicted Mapuche Indians from land owned by clothing company Argentina’s government has offered a reward for information about the whereabouts of a missing activist who was last seen when security forces evicted a group of Mapuche Indians from lands in Patagonia owned by the Italian clothing company Benetton.

“It is high time to recognize and strengthen indigenous peoples’ own forms of governance and representation," the U.N. experts stressed.

Human rights advocates and specialist bodies at the United Nations have demanded an end to the discrimination, exclusion and lack of protections for Indigenous peoples around the globe.

This call comes ahead of the tenth annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which will take place Wednesday.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian court on Tuesday upheld a 2½-year prison term against a prominent land rights activist accused of inciting violence at a protest she helped lead outside of Prime Minister Hun Sen's residence, as dozens of her supporters outside conducted a "cursing ceremony" against national leaders and judges.

Peasants, small farmers, and indigenous people are being massacred over land rights and environmental conflicts across rural Brazil. From January to July of this year, 52 people have been killed, according to the Land Pastoral Commission (the Comissão Pastoral da Terra, or CPT, a Catholic organization that tracks this violence).  At this rate, 2017 will be far more violent than last year, when 61 people were murdered in the hinterlands – an extraordinary number that was already double the yearly average of the past decade.

What do you get from fighting for land rights in Thailand? You cannot ask Den Khamlae, 65, a prominent grassroots land rights activist. He mysteriously disappeared in a forest reserve near his rickety home in Chaiyaphum last year.

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations urged Thailand on Tuesday to drop criminal cases against female activists who campaign for the rights of their communities, amid concerns they face increasing harassment.

The call came after the wife of a prominent Thai land rights activist was jailed last week and a separate group of female activists who protested against a gold mining operation were indicted for breaching public assembly laws.

Honduras has the highest murder rate for environmental activists in the world mostly because of conflict over land rights.

Relatives of Berta Caceres, the iconic Indigenous environmentalist from Honduras who was killed in March last year, denounced a "hate campaign" against them Wednesday.

Title deeds have been issued to only 472 persons so far; work to distribute them is under way, says government

More than a year after the Supreme Court had vacated its stay on a Madras High Court order and facilitated distribution of land title deeds to those entitled,under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the State government had issued title deeds only to 472 persons so far.

Rural women at the forefront of issues related to land, environment and natural resources are particularly at risk

MUMBAI, July 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Women human rights defenders in Thailand are increasingly at risk of violence, threats and harassment since a May 2014 coup, a report said, highlighting the growing concern that the military government is failing to uphold civil rights.

Plans to reduce forest protections linked to attacks on inspectors and campaigners, environmental groups said after two land rights activists murdered

Environmental campaigners have blamed the Brazilian government and Congress for intensifying violence in the lawless Amazon after two land activists were murdered and a transporter carrying vehicles for Brazil’s environment agency was torched last week.

A Canadian firm lost its license for the mining project in southeastern Peru but indigenous leaders now face charges including 'aggravated extortion'

LONDON, July 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A group of indigenous leaders is due to go on trial in Peru on Thursday for participating in a protest against a silver mine in 2011 that resulted in two deaths and 14 injuries, activists said.

Lagos state announced its intention to demolish the homes of around 300,000 people last year and this ruling is a landmark for residents resisting eviction

LONDON, June 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A series of brutal, government-ordered evictions that left more than 30,000 Nigerians homeless were deemed "unconstitutional" in a landmark decision by the Lagos High Court on Wednesday, activists said.