Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

―Duke University study published [in 2008] said contract block for oil and gas exploration cover[s]
approximately 72 percent of Peru‘s rain forest‖ (―Security Forces Kill at Least…,‖ 1). Indigenous groups
fear the Peruvian government will do nothing to preserve the regions land rights of the Amazon that are
being violated. It is also fearful that thousands of natural resources, such as animal and plants, will be
eventually destroyed due to the mistreatment of the land.
While the preservation of the Amazon is at risk and land rights are being infringed upon, basic
human rights of the Peruvians and indigenous groups are being violated as well. Indigenous tribe protests
came to a boiling point on June 6, 2009, when ―22 tribesmen and nine [Peruvian] policemen‖ were killed
while trying to disperse a road blockade to an oil pumping station owned by Petroperu (Ortega,
―Security…,‖ 1). Although it is unknown if the indigenous tribesmen did, in fact, carry any weapons or
kill the policemen, their human right to live was being violated, as well as, not allowing them to protect
the land for which their own families resided on for generations.
Not only are people losing the basic right to live; the way in which they sustain life, the
ecosystem, is being destroyed. Without the ecosystem, indigenous tribes will be forced to move away
from their own homes due to the lack of food. Also, ―indigenous peoples assert that new laws undermine
their rights and open up their ancestral lands to private companies for mining, logging, plantations, and oil
drilling without their consultation or consent‖ (MacLennan, ―Police Open Fire on Indigenous…,‖ 1).
Human rights coalitions have asked for the Peruvian government to immediately stand down after the
killing incident, however, the government remains to state that they are only protecting their own rights.
The insufficient control and protection the Peruvian government has to offer to their own citizens and
environment, presents a real danger for a massive uproar by those who are not receiving the justification
needed in order to sustain life.
Recently, conservation has been on the forefront of the world‘s mind as Japan was recently hit
with a massive earthquake and tsunami in the beginning of March. The destruction, caused by nature, to
Japan continues to be discovered as worldwide efforts to help clean the countryside and rescue Japanese
citizens persist. The main worry Japanese officials have does not only pertain to the repair of Japan, but
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