Juanita is Maya Mam and originally from the Western Highlands of Guatemala.  She works with Maya leaders and elders through their traditional institutions for environmental protection and land rights, human rights and cultural preservation and education. 

 

Her work with indigenous peoples has focused on the full and effective use and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with emphasis on the right of self-determination and collective rights to lands, territories, natural resources and the environment.

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