Indigenous Shuar community in Ecuador wins decades-long battle to protect land
Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas now includes the 13,583-acre ancestral Tiwi Nunka Forest in the country’s south.
Indigenous rights & well-being
This archive tracks meaningful progress on Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and community well-being across the U.S. and around the world. The 138 articles here cover land rights victories, cultural preservation efforts, health equity gains, and policy wins won by Indigenous communities and their advocates. Each story centers the people driving change.
Droupadi Murmu becomes India’s first tribal president
Murmu is also the country’s second female president after Pratibha Patil, who held the position for five years from 2007.
University of Arizona offers free college tuition to Native students
The introduction of such a program, which is offered to any students registered to any of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes, is the first of its kind in an Arizona public university.
1,000 acres of forest to be returned to Onondaga Nation in historic lake cleanup agreement
It is one of the largest land transfers made to an Indian nation in the United States, officials said, and the first time that land has been returned directly to a New York tribe.
African court rules in favor of Indigenous land titles, reparations from the Kenyan government
The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights has ruled that the Kenyan government must pay reparations for repeatedly evicting Indigenous Ogiek people from ancestral lands in the Mau Forest.
Lincoln Crowley appointed Australia’s first Indigenous supreme court justice
Lincoln Crowley QC has become the first Indigenous person ever appointed to an Australian superior court, taking his seat on the Supreme Court of Queensland. A Warramunga man who grew up in Charters Towers, Crowley was once told by a school deputy principal that his Aboriginal family were “the type that end up in jail.” His reply, as he later recalled: “You wait and see, mate.” He began his career representing Indigenous clients before rising to crown prosecutor and senior counsel on Australia’s disability royal commission. For every First Nations child watching, the message of his appointment is quietly powerful: the justice system can include them, not just process them — a small but meaningful shift in a country still reckoning with who its laws have served.
Indigenous group and locals in Colombia sign agreement to protect sustainable livelihoods and culture
A coexistence agreement signed between the Nukak and local campesinos is bringing the Indigenous community closer to returning to their territory.
Ecuador’s Pastaza province and Indigenous groups collaborate on $52 million sustainable development plan
The plan relies on curtailing dependence on oil and mining projects for economic development and implementing ancestral agroforestry systems and conservation projects.
The Rappahannock Tribe has reacquired 465 acres of sacred land in Virginia
The Tribe plans to educate the public about their history by constructing a replica 16th-century village and expand their “Return to the River” program.
Washington State launches first-in-the-nation missing Indigenous people alert system
Washington State’s new alert system for missing Indigenous people is the first of its kind in the nation, modeled on the familiar Amber Alert and pushing notifications out through highway billboards, radio, and social media the moment a family reports a loved one missing. The law was championed by State Representative Debra Lekanoff, a member of the Aleut and Tlingit tribes, and inspired in part by the disappearance of Tulalip woman Mary Johnson-Davis in 2020. A companion bill tackles a quieter injustice: requiring coroners to correctly identify Indigenous victims and notify their families, so cultural and burial traditions can be honored. Oregon, Wisconsin, and Arizona are moving in similar directions, suggesting Washington has built a foundation other states can follow toward visibility, dignity, and accountability.