Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

 Soon after that expedition encountered previously uncontacted peoples, an influenza outbreak wiped out roughly a fifth of the area's 1,500 indigenous people, before measles devastated them two or three years later.

John Hemming has been visting the tribes of the Amazon since the 1970's. This image was originally published in his book, "Tribes of the Amazon Basin".John Hemming Experts and advocates for remote aboriginal communities not just in Brazil, but also elsewhere around the world, say they fear that geographic remoteness, an inability to socially isolate and poor access to health care might mean the COVID-19 pandemic could further imperil the existence of groups that survived earlier outbreaks.

From the Amazon tropical rainforest to the deserts of the Sahel to the Artic territories of northern Canada, indigenous leaders met recently in Geneva for a human rights training program designed to help Indigenous Peoples increase their participation in all aspects of society and better protect and promote their human rights.

The 2023 Indigenous Fellowship Programme brought together 46 indigenous fellows from 30 countries, the largest cohort since the program was launched by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1997. For four weeks, the indigenous fellows learned about the UN system and its mechanisms for dealing with human rights issues, particularly indigenous issues. The training was held ahead of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, which this year celebrates the role of indigenous youths as agents of change and their pursuit of justice for their peoples.