In two separate trials, courts in Xinjiang province sentenced to death four members of China's Uighur minority in connection with violent incidents in Hotan and Kashgar in July that left around 40 dead. Two others were ordered imprisoned for 19 years, with a five year suspension of their political rights. The Chinese-language Xinjiang Legal Daily said in a report on the Tianshan.net news portal that the defendants were convicted of "forming and participating in a terrorist organization, the illegal manufacture of explosives, premeditated homicide, arson, and several other related crimes." (Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey, RTTNews, WUC, Sept. 15)

On Sept. 14, Yves Cabannes, UN advisor on forced evictions, visited the contested Dale Farm site at Basildon in England's Essex county, where a community of "Travellers" and Roma face imminent removal. Cabannes charged that the Basildon council and British government are "violating international human rights law on three points. These are the right to adequate housing, the right to be defended from forced eviction and discrimination." To howls of protest from Britain's conservative press (notably the Daily Mail), he drew a comparison to recent forced evictions in Nigeria, in Zimbabwe, and in China. The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers has also issued an urgent appeal to local authorities and Prime Minister David Cameron to put off the evictions, saying a postponement would allow for "the brokerage of a solution which we believe is achievable."

Isolated indigenous peoples in remote areas of Peru's Amazon rainforest are being ‘bribed’ with painkillers and pens, as industry giants seek to open up their land to explore for gas, according to Survival International. The UK-based group say it has learned that even members of INDEPA, Peru's indigenous affairs agency, have put pressure on communities so research can be carried out in the reserve where they live. Enrique Dixpopidiba Shocoroa, a Nahua leader, said his tribe have been given medical equipment, stationery, and promises of temporary work. Workers from Argentine gas giant Pluspetrol have recently been into the Kugapakori-Nahua Reserve to conduct environmental tests on the land’s suitability for exploitation. The reserve was created in 1990 to protect the territorial rights of vulnerable tribes.

The international price of copper has soared this week as strikes halted operations at two of the world's largest mines, both owned by the multinational Freeport McMoRan. At Cerro Verde, in Peru's Arequipa region, some 1,200 workers walked out Sept. 14, following through on their threat to launch an indefinite strike to demand higher wages. The next day, 10,000 workers walked out at the company's flagship Grasberg mine in West Papua, Indonesia, demanding that their pay be raised from the current $1.50 to $3 an hour to the global standard of at least $17 an hour. "We are disappointed that union workers decided to implement an illegal work stoppage," local subsidiary PT Freeport Indonesia said in a statement, asserting that the company "has negotiated in a diligent good-faith manner" with the union FSP-KEP, an affiliate of the ICEM. Freeport McMoRan president James Moffett earned $21.5 million last year. (WSJ, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, BBC News, Sept. 15; Rebanadas de Realidad, Argentina, Sept. 12)

Tuaregs in Mali and Niger have founded an ad hoc human rights group, Defense of Foreigners in Libya, accusing anti-Qaddafi forces of detaining and abusing some 300 foreign nationals, mostly Tuaregs. "What is happening in Libya is very serious," said the group's Ousmane ag-Ahmed. "Foreigners, essentially Tuaregs from Mali and Niger, are being jailed and tortured." He said Tuarges in Libya are being "hunted in the streets," citing the case of six reported missing and rumored to have been killed and buried in a mass grave. The group is coordinated from Kidal, Mali, and Agadez, Niger. It has called upon the governments of both countries to help secure the release of their nationals.

A diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks sheds light on why the United States opposed passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Jan. 28, 2008 cable, from the US embassy in La Paz and entitled "Bolivia: Repercussions of UN DRIP," states: "Although most indigenous leaders seem to view the UN Declaration as a 'feel good' document that will give them more inclusion in the public sector, some leaders are citing the Declaration in support of concrete aims like self-governance and control over land and resources. Post will watch for further developments, particularly with regards to property rights and potential sovereignty or self-rule issues."

Petrominerales, the fourth largest oil producer in Colombia, resumed production Sept. 14 after a stoppage caused by protests, the company announced on its website, saying it "expects to be producing at full capacity within 48 to 72 hours." Calgary-based Petrominerals produces 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) from all its fields. The company's shares on the Bogotá exchange, which had slipped in recent days, started to rise again upon the announcement. The company thanked the Colombian government for "restoring public order to the area and their leadership in organizing community meetings that were held September 13." During the meetings a timeline was agreed upon for "continued diplomatic discussions aimed at developing sustainable solutions for the area."

On Sept. 14, Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice condemned Jorge Noguera Cotes, director of the Administrative Security Department (DAS) from 2002-5, to 25 years in prison for allowing right-wing paramilitary groups access to sensitive intelligence, leading to at least three assassinations of left-wing dissidents. He was convicted on charges of criminal conspiracy, illegal use of privileged information, and homicide. The most prominent of the victims was Alfredo Correa de Andreis, a sociologist and human rights activists gunned down by masked men on a motorbike in Barranquilla in September 2004.