Indigenous Leaders Call for Higher Profile for Rights Concerns
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UNITED NATIONS, May 27 (OneWorld) - Wrapping up a major meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues here Friday, indigenous leaders called for a key UN human rights body to consider taking new steps to meet their concerns.
"We want the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that indigenous issues will be an integral part of its mandate," Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the Forum, told reporters at the end of the two-week gathering attended by over 1,200 indigenous representatives from around the world. Endorsing a series of measures recommended by delegates, Forum members such as Tauli-Corpuz and others said it was time that the world body and its member states fully recognize the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, which have been violated for centuries. Currently, at the UN, indigenous issues are confined to discussions by a 16-member subcommittee of the Economic and Social Council, not the newly established Human Rights Council. The Forum provides a platform for indigenous peoples to voice their demands with governments and the UN system. "We have told governments that indigenous peoples' rights to their land and resources must be respected," said Tauli-Corpuz. "It's very important that they respect the sovereignty of indigenous people," added Wilton Littlechild, a Forum member from Canada. Though participants discussed a wide range of issues concerning indigenous peoples, Forum leaders said they paid particular attention to the proposed Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which calls for the international community to recognize indigenous people's right to self determination and respect the principle of "prior, informed consent" with regard to development activities on aboriginal lands. While almost all governments have signalled their support for the Declaration, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand rejected the text, arguing that it violates individual property rights. The Declaration asserts indigenous peoples' collective rights to their lands and resources. Despite opposition from the political troika in the meeting, Forum leaders said they hoped that it would be endorsed by the Human Rights Council, because the Declaration's opponents enjoy no membership there. "It's very important that governments respect the sovereignty of natural resources of the indigenous peoples," Littlechild told reporters. He urged the General Assembly to adopt the proposed Declaration during its next session due in September. "It's important not to lose gains made by the indigenous people in the past several years," added Littlechild, who has been involved in the UN-led process on indigenous people's rights since 1975. "I would be concerned if the General Assembly opened it up (for amendments)." Forum leaders also urged the world's developed countries to take into account the concerns of indigenous communities living within their borders while implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets set by world leaders to make drastic cuts in poverty and combat diseases, illiteracy, and environmental degradation by the year 2015. "Indigenous people in developed countries pointed out that they have suffered significant disparities in the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights," said members of the Permanent Forum in a document submitted to the UN Economic and Social Council Friday. They said such disparities tended to be masked at the international level, owing to the lack of aggregated data and the comparative high level of enjoyment of rights by the non-indigenous population. "As a result, there is insufficient recognition that there are challenges for meeting the goals in the developed countries," said Tauli-Corpuz, adding that many developed countries treat the MDGs as a matter of foreign policy, relevant only to their international aid programs. The Forum also urged Member States to take steps for the protection and promotion of indigenous languages, many of which are fast disappearing. UN officials estimate that currently there are some 370 million indigenous peoples living in different parts of the world. In addition to indigenous representatives, the fifth session of the Forum was attended by scores of government officials, non-governmental organizations, and various UN agencies. |
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