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Indigenous peoples: Smallest Footprint, Most Impacted, Excluded from the ongoing Climate Change Negotiations
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29 September
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES are supposed to be at the centre of all climate change debates. This is because they have lived with and protected nature for generations and are now the worst affected by climate change effects like floods, typhoons, drought, violent thunderstorms etc. They have least contributed to this global disaster. The full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, local communities and vulnerable groups is therefore the key to achieve a just and equitable outcome of the climate negotiations.
 Read the full press release (indigenousportal.com)
Opening statement of the International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change at Bangkok negotiations (PDF)
Policy statement by the International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change (PDF) |
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Norway: Forum Conference 2009 in Tromsų
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29 September
The Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples will hold its 2009 conference at the University of Tromsų, Norway on October 22nd – 23rd. Its theme will be "Violent conflicts, cease fires and peace accords through the lens of Indigenous Peoples". The 2009 Forum Conference addresses situations of violent conflicts, unstable ceasefires, and both fragile and successful peace accords affecting indigenous peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The carefully selected cases highlight conflicts, transition stages of "no-peace no-war," or post-conflict situations. Often, assertion of indigenous rights through organised resistance and struggle against state institutions fuelled the conflicts, and recognition of rights-based demands tends to be crucial for ending conflicts and ensuring sustained peace. Among the key speakers will be Adolphine Byayuwa Muley from Bukavu, South-Kivu, DR Congo. She will speak on: “The killings and lack of attention to Twa/Pygmy groups in both the current fighting and the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) efforts in the region”.
Read more (University of Tromsų)
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World Bank Group suspends funding to palm oil sector
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10 September 2009
In response to an appeal by a global coalition of environmental and indigenous rights groups, IFC / World Bank President Robert Zoellick has agreed to suspend IFC funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of a revised strategy for dealing with the troubled sector. The response follows a highly critical audit by the IFC’s independent ‘complaints advisory ombudsman’ which had shown that, as claimed by the NGOs, IFC funding of the Wilmar Group had violated the IFC’s own procedures, and commercial concerns had been allowed to override the IFC’s environmental and social standards.
Read press release by the Forest Peoples Programme (PDF) |
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Expert Mechanism on the Right of Indigenous Peoples publishes report second session
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10 September 2009
The Geneva-based UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) has published the report on its second session, which took place in Geneva 10-14 August 2009. Among the core results of the session are five proposals made to the UN Human Rights Council. EMRIP is i.a. proposing - that EMRIP undertake a study on the participation of indigenous peoples in decision-making to be concluded by 2012,
- That the Human Rights Council encourage States to have strong national human rights institutions with specific roles and activities to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples,
- that the Human Rights Council organize regular panel events devoted to the rights of indigenous peoples during its sessions, including the follow-up of thematic studies prepared by the Expert Mechanism;
- That the Human Rights Council expand the mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations to cover also sessions of the Human Rights Council and human rights treaty bodies. Proposal 5. Follow-up to the Durban Review Conference
- That the Human Rights Council request EMRIP make proposals for the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in line with the recommendation contained in paragraph 73 of the Durban Outcome Document.
read the full report (PDF, ohchr.org) |
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FAO: Food Supplies in the Wild in Peril
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8 September 2009
A book entitled "Indigenous People's Food Systems", co-published today by FAO and McGill University's Centre for Indigenous People's Nutrition and Environment (CINE) comes to the conclusion that remote tribes in dense tropical forests or frozen polar wastes are keepers of a vast treasurehouse of healthful, nutritious foods — many with extraordinary properties — that more affluent societies can only envy.
The bad news is that as wild habitats recede under economic pressures and globalization increasingly standardizes lifestyles, these native foodstuffs are vanishing fast — together with the diets that once kept tribespeople healthy and trim.
Read more (FAO.org) |
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2010 Call for applications for the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues (Small Grants Programme)
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05 July 2009
The 2010 Call for applications for the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues relating to the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People has opened. The Secretariat will receive project proposals in the period 1 August 2009 to 1 November 2009. Proposals will not be accepted after closing of call in November.
Read more here |
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A Stormy Time for Indigenous Wisdom
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20 July 2009
Indigenous peoples risk losing control over their traditional knowledge if the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) insists on strict standards for managing access to information. Patents and other forms of restricting access to knowledge are very worrisome in a time of climate change, says a new report by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
Read more (The Morung Times) |
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UNICEF: indigenous children disproportionately excluded from school
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17 July 2009
Article 30 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child provides specific protection for children from ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities. But today, 20 years after the adoption of this international treaty, children from marginalized communities and indigenous groups continue to face extraordinary barriers.
read more (unicef.org) |
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11th session of the UN Human Rights Council
2 – 19 June 2009
GENEVA - During the 11th session of the Human Rights Council, IWGIA focused on the considerations of the reports from the UPR reviews of Bangladesh, the Russian Federation and Cameroon.
Read IWGIA's statements during the 11th session here |
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UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
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18 - 29 May 2009
27 MAY - UN forum chief - Economic development must not be at expense of indigenous rights. Free, prior and informed consent should be obtained before development projects proceed on indigenous territories, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Forum, told reporters in New York, as she briefed on the body’s eighth session. She pointed out that this is a basic principle enshrined in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a landmark text adopted in 2007 outlining the rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlawing discrimination against them. The Chairperson warned of possible violations of indigenous rights amid the current global economic crisis, as governments and international financial institutions increase their infrastructure budgets in a bid to boost sagging economies.
Read more (article from UN News Centre)
27 MAY - All of humanity must work together to re-establish harmony and unity with the natural environment by implementing the Kyoto Protocol and creating a global governance system that respected and supported vegetable, mineral, animal, human and cosmic life, Nicolas Lucas Ticum, a Maya priest from Guatemala and a researcher on the Calendario Maya, told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, as it continued its eighth session.
Read more (reliefweb.int)
26 MAY - The "diversity of poverty" should be recognized in efforts to meet the needs of indigenous people, whose distinctiveness should be also used as an asset to catalyse their economic development, Jean-Philippe Audinet, Director of the Policy Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today as delegates continued their in-depth dialogue with United Nations agencies.
Read more (reliefweb.int)
22 MAY - As Stewards of Environment, ‘Indigenous People Cannot Be Sacrificed On the Altar of Climate Change’, Forum Hears as It Turns to Arctic Region. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its discussion of human rights today amid calls for Governments to strictly carry out their obligations under international human rights accords, notably in the Amazon where protests by native inhabitants recently erupted after moves to open the region to oil and mining by foreign companies without their consultation.
Read more (article from 7thspace.com)
Read more about the eighth session (un.org)
Read background material about the Permanent Forum (iwgia.org) |
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UNPFII |
Challenging racism, discrimination around the world
Former Eastern Door publisher combing over UN text on Indigenous rights.
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When it comes to global Indigenous rights in the last 21 years, former Eastern Door publisher Kenneth Deer has seen several UN initiatives and declarations come and go, and in some cases linger through the years. Deer was in Geneva, Switzerland this week attending a UN conference. Preparatory Committee focusing on the 2001 World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Outcome Document, known as the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA), which was adopted by consensus at the end of the Conference held in Durban, South Africa. A progress meeting was set for 2006, but was delayed. States are debating The fivepart "Draft Outcome Document" containing 88 pages and 646 provisions. The Durban Review Conference in Geneva from April 20 to 24 will endorse the document. “It will be a basis for the continuing battle against racism and racial discrimination,” Deer said. “We need to make it strong and possible so we can use it to protect ourselves from racist states and people.”
Read more |
 Kenneth Deer, right, discusses possible changes to the draft outcome document of the Durban Review Conference with Gustavo Torres of the Mexican government. |
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UPR meeting in Geneva to review human rights records
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2-13 February 2009
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group, a mechanism under the UN Human Rights Council, meets in Geneva from 2-13 February, to review the human rights records of 16 states. Indigenous representatives from several countries have come to Geneva to follow the discussions, to lobby governments and to provide their inputs and views on the human rights situation in the countries they live.
Read more |
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UPR meeting |
III Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas
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14-15 April 2009
Indigenous Leaders of the Americas, gathered together on April 14-15, 2009, in Panama City, Panama, with the purpose of deliberating on a range of issues related to the work of the Organization of American States (OAS), and specifically the work to be conducted during the Fifth Summit of the Americas. They call upon all States of the Americas to implement, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, a Plan of Action concerning the following points: - Promoting Human Prosperity
- Promoting Energy Security
- Promoting Environmental Sustainability
- Strengthening Public Security
- Strengthening Democratic Governance and Strengthening the Summit of the Americas
- Follow-Up and Implementation Effectiveness
Read the full Action Plan
Read the III Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas Declaration |
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UN expert on indigenous people visited Botswana
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27th March 2009
GENEVA / GABARONE: The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, S. James Anaya, concluded his nine-day visit to Botswana on Friday. The Special Rapporteur visited the settlements of Kaudwane and New Xade, where various communities reported struggling with relocation from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and the communities of Gugamma and Metsiamanong, which have remained in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve despite a lack of access to services, including water.
Read more (www.unhchr.ch) |
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