Development projects – including by the extractive industry – threatened Indigenous Peoples’ culture, sometimes leading to the forced displacement of entire communities. Yet Indigenous Peoples were frequently denied meaningful consultation and free, prior and informed consent. Indigenous and peasant women across the Americas demanded greater attention to the impact on women of natural resource extraction projects and enhanced participation in decisionmaking processes about development projects impacting their land and territories. In May, leaders of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant Rama-Kriol communities said that an agreement for the construction of the Grand Interoceanic Canal had been signed without an effective consultation process. There was a surge in violence in Nicaragua’s North Atlantic Autonomous Region, where Indigenous Miskitu Peoples were threatened, attacked, subjected to sexual violence, killed and forcibly displaced by non-Indigenous settlers. Positive developments included the Canadian government announcing the launch of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE Legislative and institutional progress in some countries – such as the legal recognition of same-sex marriage – did not necessarily translate into better protection against violence and discrimination for LGBTI people. Across the Americas, high levels of hate crime, advocacy of hatred and discrimination, as well as murders and persecution of LGBTI activists persisted in countries including Argentina, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, the USA and Venezuela. However, in the Dominican Republic the electoral process during the year saw several openly LGBTI candidates run for seats to increase their political visibility and participation. Amnesty International Report 2016/17 31