The Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ) of Nepal extend its warmest greetings of solidarity to the Indigenous Peoples of the Cordillera and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) as you commemorate the 42nd Annual Peoples’ Cordillera Day.
Guided by this year’s call to “Assert our Right to Land, Life, and Livelihood,” we stand with you in your continued struggle to defend ancestral lands and uphold your collective rights in the face of increasing threats from extractive industries, large-scale energy projects, and market-driven development.
From Nepal to the Cordillera and across Asia, Indigenous communities continue to face escalating threats from extractive industries, large-scale energy projects, and so-called development interventions that disregard our rights and undermine our ways of life. As echoed in past solidarity statements, these challenges are not isolated, they are part of a broader pattern of dispossession, environmental destruction, and systemic injustice confronting Indigenous Peoples globally.
CEMSOJ recognizes and honors the decades-long resistance of the Cordillera peoples, whose struggle remains a powerful symbol of Indigenous leadership, unity, and resilience. Your continued assertion of rights to land, life, and livelihood inspires movements across Asia and beyond.
On this occasion, we reaffirm our commitment to:
- Upholding Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories, and resources
- Defending the right to self-determination and FPIC
- Advancing just and equitable energy solutions that respect Indigenous knowledge and systems
- Strengthening regional solidarity in the face of escalating socio-economic and environmental injustices
We stand with you in solidarity as we continue to resist, persist, and assert your rights.
Long live the struggle of the Cordillera peoples!
Long live Indigenous Peoples’ solidarity!
In solidarity,
Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ)