4/12/2013

Latin America and the Caribbean Indigenous Peoples Prepare for World Conference



Guatemala City, Guatemala (UCTP Taino News) – Indigenous Peoples from throughout Latin American and Caribbean are meeting in Guatemala to discuss and organize regional perspectives on the upcoming United Nations World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014. Supported by the Government of Guatemala, This preparatory meeting began on April 11 with a Mayan blessing ceremony lead by Felix Sarazua, a Maya Spiritual Guide.  The meeting will end on Saturday, April 13, 2013. 

The Latin American and Caribbean Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples is a part of a global preparatory process toward the United Nations General Assembly high-level plenary entitled the “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples,” scheduled to take September 2014.  Some of the themes being discussed in Guatemala  include the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Indigenous perceptions of land and territories; the post-2015 UN Agenda; and the a strategic plan for the World Conference. 

Among the invited delegates attending the meeting in Guatemala is Roberto Mukaro Borrero, President of the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP). Borrero is representing the Confederation and the Caribbean Amerindian Development Organization (CADO). 

“From the start of this process the UCTP and CADO have been concerned with the lack of effective participation of indigenous Caribbean Islanders during these important preparatory stages” stated Borrero. The UCTP and CADO jointly submitted their concerns to the Latin American and Caribbean Coordinating Committee as well as the Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus.

In its resolution (A/RES/66/296), the UN General Assembly decided that the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples would be held on 22-23 September 2014 in New York at UN Headquarters. A goal of the World Conference is to share perspectives and best practices on the realization of the rights of Indigenous peoples, including to pursue the objectives of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
    

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