Skip to main content

the Philippines

UNESCO

News in Brief 14 July 2022

  • Philippines: rights expert speaks out against court decision against Maria Ressa
  • Africa sees 63% jump in zoonotic diseases from animals to people in last decade
  • Climate financing could play key role in Africa’s economic diversification: UNCTAD
Audio
4'3"
UN News/Dianne Penn

UN rights expert: indigenous people ‘are not the enemy’

Philippines indigenous leader Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is not afraid of a fight.

As a young woman in the 1970s, she joined the movement to protect her mountain homeland from major dam and logging projects.

Her home was raided during martial law a decade later, but she insists it was all “fine.”

But now Ms. Tauli-Corpuz, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, finds herself on the frontline of a new battle.

Earlier this year, the Philippine authorities included her name on a list of people declared as “communist terrorists”.

Audio
24'39"

Environment award from UN “fills people’s hearts with joy”

Recognition from the UN for helping to alleviate the risk of flooding was met with joy and pride on Tuesday, in the English city of Salford.

The historic city in the north of England was one of eight communities recognised as Champions of Disaster Risk Reduction, by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, based in Geneva (UNISDR).

The other communities honoured are in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Italy, the Philippines, Sudan and the Pacific island of Vanuatu.