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Afro-Brazilians and indigenous groups face serious bias, says UN rights chief
13 November 2009 - While Brazil has an impressive set of laws and policies to promote human rights and improve socio-economic well-being, indigenous groups and Afro-Brazilians face serious discrimination, injustice and violence, the United Nations human rights chief said today.
On 23 December 1994, the General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year during the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (resolution 49/214).
By its resolution 59/174 of 20 December 2004, in which the Assembly proclaimed the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (2005-2014), it also decided to continue observing the International Day of Indigenous People every year during the Second Decade, in New York, Geneva and other offices of the United Nations. The Assembly asked the Secretary-General to support observance of the Day from within existing resources, and to encourage Governments to observe the Day at the national level.
The Bureau of the Permanent Forum has chosen the artwork made by Rebang Dewan, a Chackma child from Bangladesh, 11 years old as the visual identifier of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. At the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (held in 2003) where Indigenous Children was the special theme, the Forum adopted a series of recommendations on indigenous children and also decided to organize an indigenous youth art competition for the design of a logo for the Forum and announced it at the sixth session.
