IWGIA is an international human rights organization staffed by specialists and advisers on indigenous affairs.
IWGIA’s overall goal is to endorse and promote indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, their cultural integrity and their right to development on their own conditions. In order to fulfil this task, IWGIA works within a wide range of areas: Documentation, publication, human rights, lobbying, advocacy, research and projects.
IWGIA supports indigenous peoples’ struggle for human rights, self-determination, right to territory, control of land and resources, cultural integrity, and the right to development.
IWGIA was founded in 1968 by anthropologists alarmed about the ongoing genocide on indigenous peoples taking place in the Amazon. The aim was to establish a network of concerned researchers and human right activists to document the situation of indigenous peoples and advocate for an improvement of their rights. Today indigenous peoples from all over the world are involved in IWGIA’s global network.
