[oaxaca] Zapotec Indigenous People in Mexico Demand Transparency from U.S. Scholar

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Zapotec Indigenous People in Mexico Demand Transparency from U.S. Scholar
http://elenemigocomun.net/2059

México Indígena Research Project Denounced by Organizations of the Sierra
Juarez
http://elenemigocomun.net/2057

Original Story: “The Road To Hell”
http://elenemigocomun.net/1368

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Zapotec Indigenous People in Mexico Demand Transparency from U.S. Scholar
http://elenemigocomun.net/2059

By Saulo Araujo
January 22nd, 2009

The Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) - a
longtime partner of Grassroots International based in Mexico - denounced a
recently conducted study in the Zapotec region by U.S. geography scholar
Peter Herlihy. Prof. Herlihy failed to mention that he received funding
from the Foreign Military Studies Office of the U.S. Armed Forces. The
failure to obtain full, free and prior informed consent is a violation of
the rights of indigenous communities as codified in the Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United Nations in 2007. In
addition, UNOSJO fears that this in-depth geographical mapping of
indigenous communities may be used in some harmful manner by the military.

According to UNOSJO, University of Kansas geography professor Peter
Herlihy approached local communities of the Sierra Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico
to collect information for his project and declined to fully disclose his
purpose or his funding sources. In addition to this failure to fully
inform indigenous communities of the nature of the study, Mr. Herlihy’s
team took advantage of the good-faith of the Zapotec indigenous
communities to undertake a study that appears to be of no benefit to the
local people.

For 518 years, indigenous people in the Americas have been abused, lied to
and exploited in the name of “progress,” including in the fields of
education and research. It is regrettable that a U.S. scholar misled
indigenous people in the Mesoamerican region in a way that undermines
their sovereignty. Echoing the concerns of our partners and allies,
Grassroots International hopes that these U.S. military-sponsored studies
will be terminated immediately. Further, we request that the University of
Kansas hold Prof. Herlihy accountable for his violation of ethics in
research, including abusing of the rights of UNOSJO and the indigenous
communities of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Read UNOSJO’s full statement
http://elenemigocomun.net/2057

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El Enemigo Común
http://elenemigocomun.net

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