The Indigenous World 2024 launching at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
IWGIA is proud to launch the 38th edition of The Indigenous World on Tuesday 16 April at 13:15 (NYC time) at the 23rd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN headquarters in New York City.
The official launch side-event, which will focus on the topic of “Respecting and promoting Indigenous Peoples´ rights to lands and self-determination: ensuring a sustainable future for all”, intends to serve as a contribution to the main topic of the 23rd session.
The event will be held in Conference Room 4 and will be broadcast online here for those not in attendance in New York. English and Spanish simultaneous interpretation will be provided for in-person attendees.
We are delighted to once again hold the event with our co-sponsor the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations in New York.
>> The Indigenous World 2024 in English and Spanish will be available online for free download here on Tuesday 16 April at 20:30 Copenhagen time.
The annual launching of The Indigenous World provides a unique opportunity for IWGIA to organize a panel with Indigenous leaders, experts and other key rightsholders and stakeholders to address the editorial theme of the book, which this year concerns Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources.
IWGIA´s Executive Director, Kathrin Wessendorf, will moderate the launch, which will be opened by Ambassador Erik Laursen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations, and Darío José Mejía Montalvo, current member and former Chair (2022-2023) of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The speakers on our panel will explore the issue of land rights from a variety of angles. We will first hear from IWGIA Board Member Elsa Stamatopoulou, who is also the current and first Director of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, who will give a broad overview of land rights and the dignity of Indigenous Peoples.
We will then have a chance to hear about how Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are experienced and exercised in national contexts. Indigenous Sámi lawyer Eirik Larsen, currently serving as Head of the Human Rights Unit at the Saami Council and Member of the Sámi Parliament in Norway, will speak about land rights in Sápmi. Chandra Tripura, Youth Representative to the Executive Council of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), will speak about land rights in Bangladesh. Edward Porokwa, a Maasai lawyer and Executive Director of the Pastoralists Indigenous NGOs Forum (PINGOs Forum), will speak about land rights in Tanzania. And Bolivian politician and Indigenous rights activist Toribia Lero Quispe will speak about land rights in Bolivia.
Casey Box, Director of Global Strategy for The Christensen Fund, will be closing the event.
Rights to lands, territories and resources
At the centre of Indigenous Peoples' struggle is the assertion of the right to self-determination, of which the rights to land, territories and resources is a central part.
Indigenous Peoples have a right to assert their self-determination in living on, governing and protecting their lands and its biodiversity, and for future generations to fully enjoy a more sustainable world where their rights to land, territories, ways of life, governing systems, language, and culture are respected and protected.
Despite Indigenous Peoples´ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, land grabbing is happening everywhere Indigenous Peoples live and is driven by powerful forces, including governments, businesses and dominant elites. Indigenous Peoples’ natural resources are increasingly targeted under a seemingly insatiable global demand, which is also significantly fed by the green transition paradigm.
Seventeen years after the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly, which particularly recognizes the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources as one of their most fundamental human rights, Indigenous Peoples today stand at the front line of land defence under the cumulated impact of colonialism, climate change and ever-increasing pressure from extractive industries, sometimes risking their very lives.
2023 witnessed an increasing number of attacks against Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights Defenders and environmental defenders who are paying a high price for protecting much of the remaining rich and biodiverse ecosystems left in the world, as well as their peoples’ homes. In this struggle, Indigenous women are disproportionately affected due to systematic discrimination and their roles as caregivers and managers of resources in their communities.
The 54 regional and country reports and 17 reports on international processes in The Indigenous World 2024 reflect these developments.
About The Indigenous World
For 38 consecutive years IWGIA has published The Indigenous World, which is a unique result of a collaborative effort between Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists and scholars who voluntarily document and report on the situation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
This yearly overview serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced throughout 2023 and includes a special focus on Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources, which is at the centre of the Indigenous Peoples´ struggle for self-determination.
IWGIA publishes this volume with the intent that it is used as a documentation tool and an inspiration to promote and defend the rights of Indigenous Peoples, their struggles, worldviews and resilience. It is our hope that Indigenous Peoples themselves, along with their organisations, find it useful in their advocacy work and in improving the human rights situation of Indigenous Peoples. It is also our wish that The Indigenous World is used as a main reference by a wider audience interested in Indigenous issues.
Tags: Land rights, Global governance, Human rights, IWGIA, International Processes
