A/75/185 Exacerbation of violations of land rights 82. The COVID-19 pandemic is critically aggravating the situation of those peoples already facing daily violations of their rights. It was labelled by some as the “double pandemic”: the health risks and freedom restrictions have compounded their struggle to protect their lives, lands and territories from the presence of military forces or corporate actors, or against natural disasters such as cyclones or forest fires, which have hit South and South-East Asia during the pandemic. Indigenous peoples have been made more vulnerable to losing their land. Legal and illegal land -grabbing is being expanded while indigenous peoples are confined and unable to guard their lands and civil society has less capacity to monitor and denounce displacement, violations and abuses. Conflict and militarization 83. In spite of the call by the Secretary-General of the United Nations for a global ceasefire in March 2020, which was eventually taken up by the Security Council on 1 July, when it adopted resolution 2532 (2020), confli cts on indigenous lands have continued unabated, impeding the provision of assistance by humanitarian agencies to the population in combating COVID-19. Indigenous leaders have also been intimidated or threatened with arrest for accepting COVID -19-related assistance offered by opposition groups. 128 Indigenous peoples displaced as a result of conflict live in overcrowded camps, with little access to water, poor sanitation and a lack of health services, which is further compounded by the logistical difficulties imposed on the provision of humanitarian assistance during these times. 129 84. In response to COVID-19, some countries have introduced or increased the presence of the military and the police in rural areas, treating the crisis as a security issue instead of a public health one. The presence of State police and military forces has exacerbated racism and profiling already experienced by indigenous peoples. In addition, State and business security personnel in indigenous territories have reportedly prevented livelihood practices and the harvesting of food produce. 130 85. Indigenous peoples living at the edges of protected areas and national parks also have continued to be harassed by park rangers. Some conservation organizations reportedly invoked the pandemic as grounds for a ban on wildlife consumption and for the creation of more protected areas, without obvious evidence that this would help stop the pandemic or consideration of the importance of consulting indigenous peoples affected by such decisions. 131 Business operations on indigenous land 86. State measures to support national economies in an emergency context have in some cases given priority to the interests of the private sector, favouring the expansion of agribusiness and extractive industries, logging and hydroelectric projects or declaring them to be “essential” operations. 132 These companies have continued __________________ 128 129 130 131 132 22/27 See International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, “While the world focuses on COVID -19, Indigenous Peoples in Myanmar are being killed”, 28 April 2020, available at https://www.iwgia.org/ en/news/3568-while-the-world-focuses-on-covid-19,-indigenous-peoples-in-myanmar-are-beingkilled.html; submission by the Tebtebba Foundation. Submission by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. Submission by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center. Submission by Survival International. Earthworks, Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program, London Mining Network, MiningWatch Canada, Terra Justa, War on Want and Yes to Life, No to Mining, “Voices from the Ground: how the global mining industry is profiting from the COVID-19 pandemic” (June 2020), available at https://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/files/covid-19_and_mining_snapshot_report_-_web_version.pdf. 20-09737