EXISTENCE, DIVERSITY, ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CELEBRATED AT HEADQUARTERS OBSERVANCE

EXISTENCE, DIVERSITY, ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

CELEBRATED AT HEADQUARTERS OBSERVANCE

At a Headquarters commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan celebrated the “existence, diversity and achievements of the world’s indigenous people”, and said the protection and promotion of their rights and cultures was of fundamental importance to all States and peoples.

In a statement read out on his behalf by Nitin Desai, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, he said the human family was a tapestry of enormous beauty and diversity and the world’s indigenous people were a rich and integral part of that tapestry.  Recently, the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues had given indigenous peoples a “home” at the United Nations.  As a mechanism for partnership among indigenous peoples, Member States and the United Nations system, the Forum gave hope that the motto for the Decade for Indigenous People (1994-2004) -- “partnership in action” -- was being turned into reality in the areas of socio-economic development, environment, health, education, culture and human rights.  Indigenous people sill faced threats to their lives and destruction of their belief systems, cultures, languages and ways of life.

Established by the General Assembly in 1994, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, observed on 9 August, marks the day of the first meeting in 1982 of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.  The International Decade was proclaimed in 1993 and the Forum was created last year.  In Geneva, the Commission on Human Rights has been working on a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people and has appointed a Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues.

The Forum Chairperson, Ole Henrik Magga, told today’s gathering he was walking in the footprints of the indigenous leaders who had come to assert their “rightful place within the family of nations”, and that the recognition indigenous peoples have achieved today at the international level “has been in the hearts and dreams of our ancestors who were here long before us”.

In a statement read on his behalf by Elsa Stamatopoulou, the Acting Chief of the Permanent Forum Secretariat, he said that since the time that the Haudenosaunee Chief Deskahe in 1923 and the Maori Chief Ratana in 1924 came to plead their cause at the League of Nations, there had been no hesitation amongst the leadership of indigenous peoples to guide their people in a rapidly changing world.  Indigenous peoples had the same rights as other peoples and represented the globe’s cultural diversity.

Indigenous people now had a place within the family of nations, he said.  The Forum was a vehicle that allowed indigenous people to gain a higher profile and come closer to the end of exclusion and discrimination.  He was pleased with the substantial progress made towards initiating the integration of indigenous issues within the United Nations system.  He also looked forward to progressive discussions with Member States so that the Millennium Development Goals also benefited the lives of the more than 370 million indigenous people on the planet.

The Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertie Ramcharan, in a message delivered by Craig Mokhiber, Officer-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the observance that the occasion drew attention to the extraordinary cultural diversity represented by the world’s indigenous people.  The United Nations had pledged to complete the drafting of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.  He appealed to all involved to work towards the completion of the declaration before the end of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People in December 2004.

Every indigenous child had the right to health, education, equality and protection, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement read out by Dorothy Rozga, UNICEF Senior Programme Officer.  The UNICEF was fully committed to improving the situation of indigenous children around the world and worked daily towards the realization of their goals. 

In the context of globalization, the safeguarding of indigenous cultures had become an absolute imperative, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura said, in a message presented by Jones Kyazze, Director of UNESCO’s New York Office.  The fragility of indigenous cultures was one of UNESCO’s major preoccupations.  The recent approval by governmental experts of its preliminary draft international convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage was a milestone in the recognition and safeguarding of those vulnerable cultures.

Poverty was closely linked to marginalization, and among the most marginalized of the rural poor were indigenous people, Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said in a message read out by Xenia von Lilien-Waldau of IFAD’s New York Office.  For numerous political and historical reasons, many had been pushed onto the least fertile and most fragile lands.  In many harsh environments, many indigenous people found it difficult to grow enough food to eat, to earn a living and to take steps to improve their lives.  Legal instruments were needed to prevent the over-extraction of timer, minerals and plants, as well as to protect the intellectual property rights of indigenous people.

Reading a message of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kevin Dance, of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, said the creation of the Permanent Forum was a major milestone in the struggle of indigenous people for international recognition.  Indigenous people had been involved in climate change since the 1990s, and played an increasingly visible role.  United by spiritual, cultural and social links to their lands, they were particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Chief Walter “Silent Wolf” Van Dunk (Ramapo-Munset Lenape, United States) opened today’s event with a blessing.  Cultural presentations were made by poet Dean Hutchins (Cherokee, United States) and Kevin Tarrant of the Silver Cloud Singers (Wisconsin, United States).  Carrese P. Gullo (Cherokee), of the American Indian Community House, and Mohamed Yunus Rafiq (Tanzania), of the Aang Serian Peace Village, spoke on behalf of indigenous youth.  Tiokasin Ghosthorse Veaux (Lakota, United States) and Elaine Benavides (Apache, United States) closed the commemoration with song and a traditional blessing.  Presiding over the event as Master of Ceremonies was Roberto Mucaro Borrero (Taino, Puerto Rico).

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Public Information, sponsored today’s commemoration.

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