Indigenous people had made striking progress over the past decade, but continued to suffer from prejudice and ill-will, were often trapped in conflicts and conscripted into armed forces, and faced with summary executions, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as it opened its third session this morning. He added that indigenous people also suffered from extreme poverty, disease, environmental destruction and, sometimes, permanent displacement. Stressing that such grave threats must be confronted without delay to keep them from festering and deepening, he said the time had come to give more concrete meaning to the motto of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People -- “partnership in action”. Highlighting the importance of partnerships in reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, he urged the United Nations, other relevant players and indigenous peoples themselves to build partnerships in promoting development, human rights and peace. However, those partnerships would only work with the genuine participation of indigenous peoples in decision-making and genuine sensitivity towards their cultures. Bringing together over 1,500 participants from more than 500 indigenous groups worldwide, the Forum was focusing this year on “indigenous women”. Its ultimate aim is to draw up recommendations for the United Nations system, based on discussions in its mandated areas of economic and social development, environment, health, human rights, culture and education.
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