STATELESS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE The Dominican Republic’s statelessness crisis continued to affect tens of thousands of people of Haitian descent who were born in the country but were left stateless after being retroactively and arbitrarily deprived of their Dominican nationality in 2013. Those affected were denied a range of human rights and were prevented from accessing higher education, formal employment or adequate health care. In Haiti, almost 38,000 people remained internally displaced because of the 2010 earthquake. There was a reported increase in deportation cases at the Dominican-Haitian border. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS Indigenous Peoples’ rights continued to be violated in countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. VIOLENCE AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Indigenous Peoples continued to be criminalized and discriminated against in Argentina, where the authorities used legal proceedings to harass them; there were reports of police attacks, including beatings and intimidation. Rafael Nahuel of the Mapuche community was killed in November during an eviction conducted by security forces. In Colombia, a wave of killings of Indigenous people from communities historically affected by the armed conflict highlighted shortcomings in the implementation of the peace agreement. The killing of Gerson Acosta – leader of the Kite Kiwe Indigenous council in Timbío, Cauca, who was shot repeatedly while leaving a community meeting – was a tragic example of the ineffectiveness of the authorities’ measures to safeguard the lives and safety of community leaders and other Indigenous people. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights documented the different forms of discrimination faced by Indigenous women in the Americas and highlighted how their political, social and economic marginalization contributed to permanent structural discrimination, leaving them at increased risk of violence. LAND RIGHTS In Peru, new laws weakened the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights related to land and territory and undermined their right to free, prior and informed consent. The government neglected the right to health of hundreds of Indigenous Peoples whose only water sources were contaminated with toxic metals, and who lacked access to adequate health care. In Ecuador, the right to free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples continued to be violated, including after intrusions of the state into their territories for future oil extraction. Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay also continued to be denied their rights to land and to free, prior and informed consent on projects affecting them. Despite rulings from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the government failed to provide the Yakye Axa community access to their lands, or to resolve a case regarding the ownership of land expropriated from the Sawhoyamaxa community. Guatemala’s Supreme Court recognized the lack of prior consultation with the Xinca Indigenous People of Santa Rosa and Jalapa, who were negatively affected by mining activities. In Brazil, conflicts over land, and invasion by illegal loggers and mine workers into Indigenous Peoples’ territory, resulted in violent attacks against Indigenous communities. 32 Amnesty International Report 2017/18