Taino Representative Notes Inadequate Attention by UN Agencies

In case anyone might have missed the statement by Mildred Karaira Gandia, reproduced on the blog of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean, we would like to post some of the troubling details that have been noted. Gandia spoke to the Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, 30 April 2008:


Madame/Mr. Chair it is unfortunate that we have to report however that the majority of United Nations Specialized agencies are still not giving serious attention to the Caribbean island region and this practice is contrary to the goals of the Second Decade.

Indeed, the Second Decade’s Plan of Action contains a specific reference to Caribbean Indigenous Peoples, which can be found under Section 6 “Social and Economic Development”, item (b) Regional level, number 86.

The recommendation clearly states that “representatives of Caribbean indigenous peoples should be included in region-specific consultations and conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean, and on steering committees for planning and implementing the programme of activities for the Second International Decade. Serious consideration should also be given to organizing a special regional consultative session focusing on the unique situation of Caribbean indigenous peoples, which would take place in the Caribbean, hosted by a Member State and a local indigenous community.”

With this in mind, we recommend that:

1) The Permanent Forum organize a special regional consultative session focusing on the unique situation of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples.

2) Such a special regional consultative session be held on the island of Dominica and that its planning and implementation take place in collaboration with indigenous communities and organizations such as those represented within the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean as well as with the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples. The session should aim to strengthen cooperation, coordination, and capacity building among Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean.

3) The Permanent Forum should ensure that any special regional consultative session held in the Caribbean or on Caribbean indigenous issues provide equal funding opportunities for participation and follow-up to indigenous peoples of non-self-governing territories in the region.

For example, indigenous peoples from Puerto Rico are continuously denied funding by the UN Voluntary Fund to participate in meetings, conferences, regional specific consultations, capacity building opportunities and conferences in the region or elsewhere. This practice is discriminatory and must end.

Madame/Mr. Chair, in closing we urge the Permanent Forum to invite the Inter-Agency Support Group, as well as CARICOM, the Rio Group, the Association of Caribbean States, and Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas to work in close collaboration with Caribbean Governments to effectively finance and implement these recommendations focusing on the Second Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Goodbye and Good Riddance John Howard!

It is rare that we get to post such happy news on this blog: today, November 24, 2007, saw the defeat of the ruling Liberal Party in Australia and its infamous Prime Minister, John Howard. Howard had won four consecutive elections, and used his mandate for villainous ends as possibly the world's most extreme right wing political leader. From immediate support to the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, to atrocious abuses and hostility shown toward refugees, repeatedly condemned by UN agencies for his government's treatment of refugees and Aboriginals, to his anti-worker laws, Howard was a blight on the international political landscape and his humiliating defeat has not come too soon. One hopes that Australia will at least begin to alter its neo-colonial course.

Under Howard we have seen the effective re-colonization of the Northern Territory, the imposition of extreme surveillance and domination over Aboriginals who, were they to today form an independent nation-state of their own would most likely constitute the poorest country on earth. Under Howard Aboriginal misery swelled to unbelievable proportions, with staggering rates of unemployment, poor housing, and a life span that is on average 20 years less than that of white Australians. In the face of a history of abducting Aboriginal children, in what is clearly defined as genocide by the UN, Howard refused to so much as apologize, something that right wingers elsewhere have had little problem doing (with compensation added) as in the case of Howard's political friend, Stephen Harper, the Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. In response to the special misery suffered by Aboriginal Australians, Howard only worried about doing anything that could be perceived as "special treatment"...special treatment for the traditional owners of the land who remain ostracized and vilified as outsiders in their own homeland.

The new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd of the Labour Party, promised among other things to withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq, to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We hope that these will be done quickly.

Goodbye John Howard, and goodbye to another angry, old, white racist.

For a special collection of YouTube videos dealing with the politics of the Australian nation-state and Aboriginals, click on the image below:

Against Recolonization: Australian Anthropologists Speak Out

As reported previously in The CAC Review, the government of Australia has taken a severe turn against indigenous rights in Australia, and internationally, having joined other settler states in voting against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The beleaguered discipline of anthropology in Australia, represented by the Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) has, after much debate, produced the following statement directed to the government of Australia:

Statement on recent policy trends in Indigenous affairs

The Australian Anthropology Society registers deep concerns at the policy direction the Australian nation is taking towards its Indigenous citizens. As a group of scholars, many with long-standing and ongoing professional experience of remote as well as rural and urban Aboriginal communities, we offer the following comments:

Australia has refused to sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document that was many years in the making. The Declaration does not provide an alternative set of laws to those of Australia or of any other nation. What it does do is oblige nation states to support the capacity of Indigenous populations to act. It aims to enhance the capacity of those populations, and individuals within them, to determine their modes of life within the laws and institutions of the states of which they are citizens. We and our Indigenous colleagues and friends cannot help but wonder at Australia’s ungenerous response to the non-binding but uplifting principles contained in the UN Declaration.

Minority populations with different social and cultural histories are a feature of many modern nation-states, and the ability to treat such people honourably is a measure of the maturity and humanity of a nation. Despite the body of work produced by anthropologists, the varied Indigenous societies that have interacted with the radically different European settlers at various stages since 1788 are little understood in their own country. Even the simplest features of the classical Aboriginal traditions — the totemic and moiety divisions, the mutual dependence and reciprocity built into ceremonial and economic arrangements, the multilingualism evident among the wealth of languages — are less well known to educated Australians than is the Indian caste system or the Spanish bullfight. Without knowledge of the normal economic, political and family structures that comprised the everyday life of Indigenous people, there can be little appreciation of the radical destabilisation and restructuring that these societies have had to manage.

Aboriginal people have been adjusting to their changing social conditions, in some cases for over 200 years but in others within living memory. While a long-term assimilative process may be inevitable and can be constructive and even liberating, a large body of research demonstrates that forcing established social processes into a foreign mould is destructive of individuals, families and cultures. There is no doubt that the insistent pressures and stresses resulting from radical social change, without a respectful and reciprocal relationship with the nation’s authorities, have been responsible for severely destabilising family authority and informal community standards of care and protection for the young and the vulnerable. This breakdown in turn has made it difficult to maintain social control. It is the loss of a coherent community structure that has seen the emergence of some extreme examples of social pathology, which, it must be stressed, are neither typical nor representative of the majority of Indigenous people.

The despair, desperation and destructive violence that mars the social life of a substantial number of Indigenous communities does demand government action. Indeed action is long overdue, but dealing with social dysfunction in a clumsy and ill informed manner is likely to compound the level of disorder and add to estrangement. Anthropologists working in Australia are personally and painfully aware of real and urgent humanitarian needs. Only the most scandalous and shameful of these feature in the media; the chronic conditions that generate them are not so obvious. Effective policy responses require an intelligent understanding and respect for the conditions and the people involved. The language of aggressive assimilationism is not effective in dealing with culturally distinct and historically alienated people. Although initially time consuming, processes of negotiation with respected individuals and relevant organizations are far more effective and thus, in the longer term, more economical. Measures for which Aboriginal people have been pleading for years — more police and law enforcement, better housing, and effective implementation of alcohol prohibitions — should not appear as corrective measures imposed in a military-style operation.

We believe strongly that the governing of vulnerable, marginal and excluded peoples carries an added responsibility as these are people whose voices are often muted in the public arena. Rather than welfare recipients being made the target of punitive measures, there needs to be long term commitment to a stable and holistic program of providing adequate resources for these communities to come to terms with their current conditions of integration with the state’s institutions and processes. A wealthy nation such as Australia surely has the knowledge, the expertise and the resources to provide excellence in education, housing and health for the relatively few residents of remote communities, as well as for other Indigenous Australians. It is crucial that these people are listened to, and thus enabled to take responsibility for the direction of their development into the future.

[Thanks to Dr. Gillian Cowlishaw for circulating this statement]

Professor Gillian Cowlishaw,
President, AAS.
University of Technology, Sydney
Humanities & Social Sciences,
PO Box 123
Broadway, NSW, 2007
Ph. 61 2 9514 2743

Other posts of relevance:

The Binding Symbolic Value of the UN Declaration

Recolonizing Australia...or why Trojan horses never say "sorry"

Canada, the UN, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Aboriginals in Australia: Still the Worst Off

News from Australia
----

The Binding Symbolic Value of the UN Declaration

Four settler states were clearly unsettled by the passage of what, in formal terms, was a non-binding Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, voted against the document, when the majority of UN member states approved it, says a great deal which many of us will be left to debate for some time. Perhaps it will be little time: opposition parties in Canada and Australia, with a good chance of winning the next elections, have already promised to sign the Declaration once elected, and some of us will be sure to remember their promises. In the meantime, the Declaration is now an international "fact," and no longer a "draft." To be seen to act against the contents of the Declaration will be equated with acting against international public opinion. What stands out is not that "the liberal democracies with the most intense engagements with indigenous issues" voted against the Declaration, as some have said, since many other countries, with larger indigenous populations, and arguably more intense engagements, voted for it. What stands out instead is how settler states are still in the process of trying to settle themselves, how much "engagement" has really been disengagement, distance, friction, and conflict, and how much wishful thinking plays a part in reigning fantasies that, one day, Europe Part 2, will be as embedded in its foreign soil as Original Europe can claim to be on its soil.

The vote against the Declaration was a serious tactical error: these four states now sorely stand out as colonial, white states, anachronistic entitites in a world where "decolonization" has become part of the international vocabulary. They have also handed the Chinas of the world a powerful argument--that they too flout the will of "the international community," that they too do not recognize the rights of disadvantaged minorities, and that liberal democracy is really little more than kleptocracy. If accepting the Declaration could have been symbolically binding (even if not legally so), then surely rejecting the Declaration will also come at a political cost. Some of us will see to it that it does.

List of Caribbean States Voting for UN Declaration

The following is the complete list of Caribbean nation-states that voted in favour of the United Nations' General Assembly's adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Cuba

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Suriname

Trinidad and Tobago.

Absent: Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis.

Guyana Votes for New UN Declaration

Guyana backs UN declaration on indigenous rights
STABROEK NEWS, Georgetown, Guyana

Friday, September 14th 2007

Guyana was among 143 UN member states which voted in favour of adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday.

Contacted on Guyana's voting, Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabeth Harper said Guyana voted in favour of the declaration, which had the backing of other Caricom countries.

Two non-governmental organizations with large indigenous peoples membership - the Amerindian People's Association (APA) and the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) - had called on the government to support the declaration on the occasion of World Indigenous People's Day observed on August 9.

At the time the government had expressed some reservations and urged a redraft of some sections including a definition of who could be considered an indigenous person. The Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana (TAAMOG) had supported the government's position on a redraft.

Guyana's indigenous people account for some 10 per cent of the population. A Reuters report yesterday said that under negotiation for 20 years, the document says that indigenous people, whose number has been put at 270 million worldwide as understood by the declaration, "have the right to self-determination."

One of its most controversial articles, according to Reuters, states that "indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired." That could potentially put in question most of the land ownership in countries, such as those that opposed the declaration, whose present population is largely descended from settlers who took over territory from previous inhabitants.

A balancing clause inserted at a late stage in the text says nothing in it can authorize or encourage "any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity" of states, Reuters noted.

That was not good enough for the four objectors, notably Canada, where the issue has become a political football. Many of Canada's 1 million aboriginal and Inuit people live in overcrowded, unsanitary housing and suffer high rates of unemployment, substance abuse and suicide.

"The provisions in the declaration on lands, territories and resources are overly broad, unclear, and capable of a wide variety of interpretations," Canada's U.N. Ambassador John McNee told the General Assembly, according to Reuters.

Cowardly
That stance was attacked by Canada's left-leaning opposition New Democrats. "It's very disappointing. I think it's cowardly and very un-Canadian ... we pride ourselves on being advocates for human rights," legislator Jean Crowder told Reuters.

U.S. delegate Robert Hagen said the U.N. Human Rights Council, which prepared the text, had not sought consensus. "This declaration was adopted ... in a splintered vote. This process was unfortunate and extraordinary," he said.

A release from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples issued yesterday said that 143 of the 192-member body voted in favour of the declaration; four voted against; and eleven abstained.

Those voting against were Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Those abstaining were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine.

The declaration, which outlines the rights of the world's estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlaws discrimination against them, has been in the making for over 22 years with several drafts written and rewritten.

The declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples. These include their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues. It emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations. It also prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them, and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development.

A release from the Indigenous Peoples Caucus said the declaration represents a significant recognition of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of the world's indigenous peoples who belong to more than 5,000 distinct nations and groups around the world. It encourages harmonious and cooperative relations between nation states and indigenous peoples and recognises a wide array of rights specific to indigenous peoples around the globe.

The release noted that indigenous peoples continue to suffer human rights abuses such as forced relocation and assimilation; seizure and exploitation of their lands, territories and natural resources; discrimination and a disproportionate amount of poverty. It said that indigenous languages, cultures and ways of life continue to be threatened without international legal protection.

A UN press release issued after the vote quoted General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour as welcoming the adoption of the declaration.

Sheikha Haya said "The importance of this document for indigenous peoples and, more broadly, for the human rights agenda, cannot be underestimated. By adopting the declaration, we are also taking another major step forward towards the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all."

But she warned that "even with this progress, indigenous people still face marginalization, extreme poverty and other human rights violations. They are often dragged into conflicts and land disputes that threaten their way of life and very survival; and, suffer from a lack of access to health care and education."

Painful
In a statement released by his spokesperson, Ban described the declaration's adoption as "a historic moment when UN Member States and indigenous peoples have reconciled with their painful histories and are resolved to move forward together on the path of human rights, justice and development for all."

He called on governments and civil society to ensure that the declaration's vision becomes a reality by working to integrate indigenous rights into their policies and programmes.

Arbour noted that the declaration has been "a long time coming. But the hard work and perseverance of indigenous peoples and their friends and supporters in the international community have finally borne fruit in the most comprehensive statement to date of indigenous peoples' rights."

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 70 countries worldwide. Members of the forum said earlier this year that the declaration creates no new rights and does not place indigenous peoples in a special category.

"This declaration is the least that could be approved to give us all instruments recognizing the existence of indigenous people," Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, himself indigenous, told the General Assembly, according to Reuters.

"It is an important step for indigenous people to do away with discrimination, to strengthen the identity, to recognize our right to land and natural resources, to be consulted, to participate in decisions," the minister said.

Most U.S. allies, including Britain and Japan, also voted for the declaration, saying last minute amendments had made it acceptable, given that it did not have the force of international law.

UN DECLARATION ON RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: APPROVED

On Thursday, 13 September, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly voted on and approved the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by a vote of 143 in favour against 4 opposed. The Declaration had been amended just before the vote, after more than twenty years of discussions, negotiations, and multiple revisions. The final text of the Declaration can be accessed by clicking here. A copy of the declaration, with last minute amendments highlighted in yellow, can be retrieved by clicking here.

Canada, along with other settler states (the United States, Australia, and New Zealand) has "distinguished" itself internationally for voting against a non-binding document which would not have become law in Canada, a dogged insistence on attacking the symbolic value of a document masking what is probably the Canadian government's support for transnational corporations appropriating indigenous resources worldwide. For more on Canada's failure to live up to its much vaunted claims of being a moral leader in the world, see "Canada votes 'no' as UN native rights declaration passes" in the CBC news. You can also download a video of the news story by clicking here, as well as a video of CBC's interview with Canada's Minister for Indian Affairs. Also on the CBC: "Northern leaders slam Canada's rejection of UN native rights declaration."

According to a list of FAQs produced by the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, these are some of the key details explaining the purpose and value of the Declaration:

UN Declarations are generally not legally binding; however, they represent the dynamic development of international legal norms and reflect the commitment of states to move in certain directions, abiding by certain principles. This is the case for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well. The Declaration is expected to have a major effect on the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide. If adopted, it will establish an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples and will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the over 370 million indigenous people worldwide and assist them in combating discrimination and marginalization.

Seventeen of the forty-five articles of the Declaration deal with indigenous culture and how to protect and promote it, by respecting the direct input of indigenous peoples in decision-making, and allowing for resources, such as those for education in indigenous languages and other areas.

The Declaration confirms the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and recognizes subsistence rights and rights to lands, territories and resources.

The Declaration recognizes that indigenous peoples deprived of their means of subsistence and development are entitled to just and fair redress.

Essentially, the Declaration outlaws discrimination against indigenous peoples, promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them, as well as their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development.

The Declaration addresses both individual and collective rights, cultural rights and identity, rights to education, health, employment, language, and others. The text says indigenous peoples have the right to fully enjoy as a collective or as individuals, all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law. Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.

Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By that right they can freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development. They have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they choose to, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the state.

---

UN Draft Declaration on Indigenous Peoples Rights

For more information on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as recent press releases, news, and upcoming events, see:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/index.html

UN General Assembly to take action on Indigenous Declaration

MEDIA ADVISORY
General Assembly to Take Action on Declaration on Indigenous Rights
WHEN: Thursday 13 September, 10:00am (NOTE: Session starts at 10:00am, Declaration is Item 6 on the Agenda)

WHERE: General Assembly Hall, UN Headquarters, First Avenue & 46th Street

*** A MEDIA STAKEOUT WILL BE LOCATED IN THE EAST FOYER OUTSIDE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DURING AND AFTER THE CONSIDERATION ***

BACKGROUND:
§ After more than two decades of fruitful dialogue at the United Nations among Member States, with extraordinary participation of indigenous peoples from around the world, the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2006. It was then forwarded to the General Assembly, which in December 2006 deferred consideration of the Declaration to allow further consultations during its 61st Session.

§ These consultations have now come to fruition and the Assembly is expected to adopt the Declaration on Thursday 13 September.

§ The Declaration addresses both individual and collective rights, cultural rights and identity, rights to education, health, employment, language and others. It outlaws discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them. It also ensures their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic, social and cultural development. The Declaration explicitly encourages harmonious and cooperative relations between States and Indigenous Peoples.

§ To view a recent press conference by indigenous leaders (Thursday 6 September) regarding the adoption of the Declaration, see http://www.un.org/webcast/pc2007.htm

To read the summary transcript of the press conference, see http://www.un.org//News/briefings/docs/
2007/070906_Indigenous.doc.htm.

To view the UN news story, see http://www.un.org/apps/news/
story.asp?NewsID=23728&Cr=indigenous&Cr1

MEDIA ARRANGEMENTS: Journalists without UN accreditation who wish to attend the event should follow the instructions for obtaining accreditation at www.un.org/media/accreditation. All journalists, once accredited, who wish to film within the General Assembly Hall must report to the Office of Media Accreditation and Liaison, Room S-250A in the UN Secretariat building beforehand and an officer will escort them to the media booths.

The General Assembly session will be webcast live on www.un.org/webcast

Guyana's Government Continues to Oppose UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights

From the Stabroek News, Georgetown, Guyana:

Gov't has doubts on parts of UN indigenous peoples rights declaration
Saturday, August 11th 2007

Two Amerindian groups are calling on the Government of Guyana to vote in support of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when it comes up before the UN General Assembly next month but Minister of Amerindian Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues says that the government has reservations about some clauses.

In a press release issued on the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, observed on Thursday, the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) and the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) issued the call while expressing grave disappointment at learning that Guyana had joined six other states in asking for the declaration to be redrafted.

"This represents a most retrograde step on the part of Guyana and those states which have taken this position. We are dismayed that Guyana has aligned itself with this small group of states which are proposing that one-sided changes are made to a vital document that constitutes the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well being of indigenous peoples," the statement said

Contacted by Stabroek News, Minister Rodrigues said that Guyana is not asking for the entire declaration to be redrafted but would like to see some issues defined. She said that Guyana supports a declaration that is very clear and is of ultimate benefit to everyone, while also preserving national unity. She said there are some sections that Guyana thinks should be looked at again and one is that there is no clear declaration as to who is an indigenous person and who the name applies to. She also pointed out that a declaration can be made and some countries wouldn't do anything about it but that Guyana has a good record in honouring its commitments.

Rodrigues pointed out that indigenous peoples in different countries are different. She noted that charity begins at home and according to her some of the issues Guyana has already addressed in relation to indigenous peoples can be used as examples for other countries. "We want to have a declaration that we can work with and so there are issues that need to be clarified," the minister said.

GOIP and the APA said they are "gravely concerned" at Guyana voting for a redraft of the declaration taking into consideration that GOIP had written to the president and in a response Minister Rodrigues said that the Government is "fully supportive of a process that would result in a declaration that is unambiguous, preserves national unity and ultimately improves the lot of the world's indigenous peoples."

The two groups are convinced that the declaration which was adopted by the Human Rights Council of the UN in June 2006 represents the most important international instrument for the promotion and protection of human rights for indigenous peoples and fits the criteria that the government says it supports. "We are therefore utterly dismayed that the government has suddenly taken this extreme position."

UN International Indigenous Day, Aug. 9

UNITED NATIONS PRESS RELEASE


International Day brings recognition of indigenous peoples’ contribution to environmental protection, combating climate change

(New York, 9 August) As the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is celebrated around the world on 9 August, indigenous peoples’ contribution to environmental protection is being recognized.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message to mark the Day, said “Recently, the international community has grown increasingly aware of the need to support indigenous people -- by establishing and promoting international standards; vigilantly upholding respect for their human rights; integrating the international development agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals, in policies, programmes and country-level projects; and reinforcing indigenous peoples’ special stewardship on issues related to the environment and climate change” .

In addressing these issues, and recalling the theme of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (2005-2015), “Partnership for action and dignity”, the Secretary-General said “let us be guided by the fundamental principle of indigenous peoples’ full and effective participation.”

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Sha Zukang, in his official message for the International Day, noted that indigenous peoples live in many of the world’s most biologically diverse areas and have accumulated a great deal of knowledge about these environments.

“With their wealth of knowledge about their environment indigenous peoples can and should play a crucial role in the global effort to respond to climate change. We should listen to them,” said Mr. Zukang.

For example, indigenous peoples use their traditional knowledge to lessen the impact of natural disasters. An Oxford University symposium in April this year heard how indigenous people “use strips of mangrove forest to absorb the force of tidal surges and tsunamis, others apply genetic diversity in crops to avoid total crop failure, and some communities migrate among habitats as disaster strikes” Environment News Service, “Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change Front Lines”, 19 April 2007 http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2007/2007-04-19-03.asp

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2006 and currently being considered for adoption by the General Assembly, also recognizes that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable development, including proper management of the environment.

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples represents the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples. Many still live under the most oppressive and marginalized conditions and yet they are also the ones who are providing solutions to serious world problems such as climate change and the erosion of biocultural diversity,” stated Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

In recognition of indigenous peoples’ particular vulnerability to climate change and their important role in responding to it, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in its 2008 session will focus on “Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges”.

Vulnerability in the Face of Climate Change
Many indigenous communities are already needing to adapt their way of life due to the changing environment - from Saami reindeer herding communities in Sweden whose reindeer are unable to find food beneath the thick ice due to heavier than normal snowfalls, to indigenous communities in the Andes where extreme weather events are creating serious food security problems.

In the words of Ms. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit activist who was recently awarded the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Excellence in Human Development by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “We are all connected. The Arctic is geographically isolated from the rest of the world, yet the Inuk hunter who falls through the thinning sea ice is connected to melting glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas, and to the flooding of low-lying and small island states.” Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada), The Canadian Environment Awards Citation of Lifetime Achievement, www.inuitcircumpolar.com/.

According to a recent report from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Draft Report on Indigenous and Local Communities Highly Vulnerable to Climate Change, Advisory Group Meeting on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2nd Meeting, Montreal, 30 April-03 May 2007, several indigenous communities in Alaska are actively looking into relocation options for entire communities due to land and coastal erosion caused by the thawing of the permafrost and large storm-driven waves.

“More than 80 per cent of Alaskan communities, comprised mostly of indigenous peoples, are identified as vulnerable to either coastal or river erosion,” says the report.

Relocation is also an issue in small island states such as Vanuatu and Samoa where rising sea levels and flooding from extreme weather events are a problem. According to the same report, one community in Vanuatu has been forced to abandon their homes and move half a kilometre inland as their original settlement is now being flooded up to five times a year.

High altitude areas are not only seeing melting glaciers and ice peaks but according to the CBD report, some are also seeing negative impacts on their agriculture as a result of climate change and drought. In the Cordillera in the Philippines, 2000 year old rice terraces are under attack from giant two-foot earthworms which have been thriving due to dwindling water supplies, causing soil and terrace walls to dry up even further.

About the Day
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is commemorated each year on 9 August in recognition of the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva in 1982. This year’s observance at the UN is being organized by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and the NGO Committee on the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

For more information of the Day and events at UN Headquarters, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii
For media enquiries, please contact: Renata Sivacolundhu, Department of Public Information, tel: 212.963.2932, e-mail: sivacolundhu@un.org For Secretariat of the Permanent Forum, please contact: Mirian Masaquiza, Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, tel: 917.367.6006, e-mail: IndigenousPermanentForum@un.org