UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT SECOND
SESSION - 10-21 MAY 1993
STATEMENT FROM THE ASIA INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S NETWORK
(AIWN) AND THE CORDILLERA PEOPLES' ALLIANCE (CPA)
In behalf of indigenous peoples from Asia-Pacific and other
regions I would like to extend our congratulations to you for
being elected as the Chair. I am Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an
indigenous woman from the Philippines. I am the Convenor of the
Asia Indigenous Women's Network, and the Chairperson of the
Cordillera Peoples' Alliance. I will speak in behalf of these
organizations and the few indigenous peoples' participating here.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to bring across our
concerns and proposals. Madame Secretary-General Nafis Sadik
reminded us in her opening statement that 1993 is the
International Year of the World's Indigenous People. One
objective of the year is to increase public awareness and
knowledge about our situation which hopefully can generate
broader understanding and support for our issues and demands.
What this conference desires to achieve in terms of integrating
population with environment and development is the way of life of
our peoples for ages. This capacity to balance ecosystems and
peoples is recognized in Sections 5.45 to 5.48 and Chapter 26 of
Agenda 21. This balance has been maintained because of our
peoples' very simple lifestyles and because we regard the earth
as a living being which is our partner in sustaining life. We
cannot abuse it because by doing so we are abusing ourselves.
Partnership and sharing, not dominance and accumulation,
underpins our relationship with the earth, among ourselves, annd
with other peoples.
Colonization and the imposition of a dominating,wasteful, and
accumulative development model, however, has led to the
destruction of our way of life and our sustainable societies. The
management of our resources and populations has been taken out of
our hands. We have been deprived of our ancestral territories
through decrees and with the use of force.
Our lands which are usually sparsely populated but very rich in
natural resources are targets for population redistribution
schemes. Such transmigration programmes are also intended to
forcibly assimilate us into the dominant society. The
biodiversity and cultural diversity which is found in our lands
and among us are being destroyed.
Provision of health and other social services is sadly inadequate
and yet our women found themselves subjected to coercive and
undemocratic methods of fertility control. Our traditional family
planning and health practices are discarded in favour of western
technology which we were told are superior. Our resistance to the
expropriation of our lands and the destruction of our way of life
has been met with aggressive militarization. Bombings, massacres,
gang rape of our women, disappearances, etc., are stories which
we hear everyday. Many of our peoples are refugees within and
outside our own countries.
This explains why population trends among indigenous peoples' do
not always follow the national trend. In developing countries,
the national population boom is not necessarily reflected among
indigenous peoples. Child survival is difficult and maternal and
infant mortality rates are higher than the national average. On
the other hand, those found in developed countries have
increasing populations in contrast to the almost zero growth
among the dominant population. These population trends happen
amidst a common situation in which land and natural resources are
becoming more scarce.
PROPOSALS FOR THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND PROGRAM OF ACTION
But then, again, we are not here to talk about our problems. We
are here to present proposals which we hope can be considered by
this respectable body. The affirmation of our peoples' capacity
in integrating population, development and environment is not
enough. Such capacity has been diminished and is seriously
threatened. In this light, our proposals for the conceptual
framework are the following;
l. PART ONE. ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES
We agree with all the principles outlined in the draft. In
addition to these principles, this section should affirm and
offer positive action in terms of reinforcing the capacity of
indigenous peoples to maintain population balance and ecological
sustainability. The inextricable linkage between the recognition
of the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands and
sustainable population management, should be highlighted.
The collective rights of indigenous peoples' should also be
respected and recognized as well as individual rights and
responsibilities. These rights are rights to ancestral domain,
right to be protected from ethnocide and genocide, right to
practice and develop indigenous social and political structures
and laws, right to develop and promote indigenous knowledge and
worldview,etc. These collective rights should be part of human
rights.
2. PART TWO. CHOICES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
CHAPTER l. INTEGRATING POPULATION CONCERNS INTO DEVELOPMENT
This section should reiterate the points raised earlier. In
addition to this, action in terms of legislations which will
recognize rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral
territories should be made. This will include allowing the
peoples to demarcate these traditional territories and allowing
them to practice their own systems of land tenure and sustainable
use of resources. The land question remains a key issue as far as
population is concerned.
3. CHAPTER 11 - ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN
The empowerment of indigenous women is a crucial factor in
maintaining population balance. However, forced sterilization and
inadequate and inappropriate health and family planning services,
has contributed in disempowering our women. Patriarchal aspects
of our own culture and tradition has likewise contributed to
this. Therefore, indigenous women's empowerment which means
enabling them to have control over their own fertility, their
land and their resources, should be integral in any population
program. This will also include the need to integrate them in
decision-making bodies in all levels and forms.
4. CHAPTER V111 - POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND INTERNATIONAL
MIGRATION
This section should address problems brought about by official,
large-scale population transfer schemes which is a factor in the
destruction of indigenous peoples' lands and ways of life.
Indigenous peoples' regions and ecosystems which they have
managed sustainably for centuries should not be used as escape
valves for the population crisis in other regions.
This should also address indigenous peoples who have been pushed
away from their ancestral lands because of "development" programs
and who become refugees because of militarization. For the later,
they should be given refugee status and be accorded the necessary
services. The goal is to return these populations as soon as
possible to their ancestral lands.
5. CHAPTER X - TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH
The traditional knowledge and practice of indigenous peoples in
relation to health and family planning, should be reinforced
insofar as these promote women's control over their own bodies.
Protection and promotion of this knowledge should be facilitated.
Indigenous people should be provided control over research,
dissemination and practice of this knowledge.
Technology which is destructive of women's bodies and which
further alienate indigenous peoples from their traditional
scientific knowledge should not be promoted. Guidelines for
monitoring the imposition and transfer of such technology should
be part of the agenda.
Oppressive conditionalities tied up with financial assistance for
development and population programs should be removed. Structural
adjustment programs which reduce budgets for basic social
services and increase debt servicing should be reviewed and
renegotiated. Thorough consultations with indigenous peoples
should be done before any development or population program is
conceptualized and brought into their communities.
6. SUPPORTING A WORKABLE PARTNERSHIP
Partnership with indigenous peoples can work out only if
indigenous peoples' perspectives are solicited and seriously
considered in the agenda of the conference. We therefore
recommend that an experts meeting on "Indigenous Peoples'
Perspectives on Population and Development" be convened. This
will be participated in by indigenous peoples and government, and
representatives from UN agencies, like UNFPA, ILO, UNDP,
UNWGIP,etc.
If such a meeting cannot be done, inputs from indigenous peoples
which spell out these perspectives should be requested and this
will form part of the reference materials for the conference.
Mechanisms should be provided to ensure that the impact of
population and development programs on indigenous peoples will be
monitored. The specific effect of programs on indigenous women
should be documented and be used as a basis for the formulation
of new programs.
7. FOLLOW-UP TO THE CONFERENCE
A focal point for indigenous peoples should be created which will
ensure that discussions and the agenda which the conference has
come up with will be disseminated. This focal point can be
composed of an aggrupation of indigenous peoples' organizations
representatives who have been involved in the whole process.
The evaluation of how the conference proposals are implemented in
so far as it has affected indigenous peoples' populations will be
done through conferences convened for this purpose.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I would like to reiterate our position that the
conceptual framework will only be relevant to indigenous peoples
if it addresses these 4 basic points;
l. The inequity between the north and south which is reflected in
the racist, sexist and class and eugenist bias of population and
development programs.
2. The unsustainable patterns of production and consumption which
is a key factor in the displacement of indigenous peoples from
their lands and the destruction of the ecological stability.
3. The discrimination and oppression of indigenous peoples which
have been institutionalized in laws and even in structures of
governance.
4. The respect for indigenous culture, spirituality, lifestyles
and sustainable development development models and the promotion
of and development of cultural and biodiversity.
Thank you Mr. Chairman, and we are looking forward to the
presentation of a resolution from the delegates on our behalf.
17 May l993