UN Observes International Indigenous Peoples Day

Program Master of Ceremonies Roberto Borrero (Taino) and UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro at the 2009 Observance of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. (UN Photo)

United Nations (UCTP Taíno News) – An official observance commemorating the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was held at UN headquarters in New York on Monday. The program was organized by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in cooperation with the NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples and the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The theme of the observance at UN Headquarters was "Indigenous Peoples and HIV/AIDS".

The event included messages from the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly, the Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, and the Chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. There were also performances by indigenous artists, and a panel discussion on "Indigenous Peoples and HIV/AIDS".

In his message to mark the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the vulnerability of indigenous peoples to HIV/ AIDS. “It is essential that indigenous peoples have access to the information and infrastructure necessary for detection, treatment and protection,” he noted.

Other observances for the UN Indigenous Day were held around the world with events celebrated in Suriname, Brazil, Northeast India, Nepal, and Geneva among others.

UCTPTN 08.11.2009

Expert Meeting on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Concludes First Session in Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland (UCTP Taino News) - The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) concluded its inaugural session in Geneva on Friday, 3 October with the adoption of a number of proposals to the Human Rights Council. The Durban Review Conference on Racism, the right of Indigenous People to education, and the participation of Indigenous Peoples in sessions of the Council and United Nations human rights treaty bodies were the focus of some of the proposals presented.

The Expert Mechanism is mandated to provide thematic expertise on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to the UN Human Rights Council. The group met from 1-3 October at the Palais des Nations in Geneva with more than 400 registered to the historic meeting. A majority of those attending the inaugural session were Indigenous Peoples who actively participated in the three-day meeting making recommendations to the newly formed body as well as relating human rights situations affecting their communities.

Among the many presentations made at the session a joint oral statement on the points of consideration of the EMRIP study on Education was presented by the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) and the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP). The presentation was made by IITC Executive Director Andrea Carmen. The IITC presented several other interventions during the session. Both the IITC and the UCTP participated within the Global Indigenous Caucus sessions to the EMRIP.

As mandated by the Human Rights Council through a resolution adopted at its session last week, the Expert Mechanism began to identify and suggest proposals for its consideration in 2009. In connection to the upcoming UN Durban Review Conference on racism taking place next year, the Experts were asked to assist the Preparatory Committee of the Conference by submitting recommendations as contributions to its outcome. The Experts recommended that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action should acknowledge that the right of self-determination and the principle of free, prior and informed consent are now universally recognized through the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In addition, the Experts recommended that the Declaration be considered as one of the human rights standards in the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process.

The Experts also began work on preparing a study on lessons learned and challenges to achieve the implementation of the right of Indigenous Peoples to education to be concluded in 2009. In another proposal, the Expert Mechanism invited the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to contribute to the study and requested the Human Rights Council to authorize a two-day technical workshop/review to finalize the study.

At the meeting’s opening, John Henriksen (Norway) was elected to serve as Chairperson-Rapporteur of the first session and Jose Carlos Morales (Costa Rica) as Vice Chairperson-Rapporteur. The other three members of the Expert Mechanism are Catherine Odimba Kombe (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Jannie Lasimbang (Malaysia) and Jose Molintas (Philippines).

The Expert Mechanism will hold its second session in 2009 with the date to be decided at the 10th regular session of the Human Rights Council scheduled to be held in March 2009.

UCTPTN 10.06.2008

Biological Diversity Convention Working Group Meets in Geneva

Geneva (UCTP Taino News) — The sixth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened on 21 January 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Continuing the work of the fifth meeting of the Working Group, held in October 2007, the Working Group will work toward the elaboration and negotiation of an international regime on ABS.

The meeting is being attended by over 520 participants, representing Parties to the Convention and observer States, indigenous and local communities, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, United Nations sister agencies, and the business community.

Representatives of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, International Indian Treaty Council, Foundation for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge, Juventud Indigena Argentina, Consejo Autonomo Aymara, Centro Estudios Multidisciplinarios Aymara Bolivia, and the United Confederation of Taino People are among those actively engaging the process.

In a statement to the plenary, these organizations affirmed that the proposed “international regime should only apply to genetic resources, derivatives and products and associated traditional knowledge that have been accessed with the free prior and informed consent of, and mutually agreed terms with, Indigenous peoples who are the owners of such resources and knowledge under traditional systems and customary law and consistent with international human rights law.”

The results of the deliberations of the Working Group are scheduled to be submitted for consideration by the Conference of the Parties to the CBD at its ninth meeting, to be held from 19-30 May 2008, in Bonn, Germany.

Photo (IISD): Indigenous representatives attending the sixth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS)

UCTPTN 01.25.2008

================

See also:

Access, Benefit Sharing, and the Convention on Biological Diversity
http://uctp.blogspot.com/2007/10/access-benefit-sharing-and-convention.html

UN Global Forum of Indigenous Peoples and the Information Society

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (UCTP Taino News) – As a result of a recommendation made at the May 2003 session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a Global Forum of Indigenous Peoples and the Information Society was convened in Geneva, Switzerland from 8-11 December 2003.

The event was organized on the occasion of the UN World Summit on the Information Society and it was one of the largest official parallel events of the Summit. The Global Forum was attended by representatives of six United Nations Member States (a total of 18 government departments), eight United Nations system entities and other intergovernmental bodies, 12 private sector participants and 90 indigenous and non-governmental organizations.

A total of 286 persons attended the event, which examined both potentials and obstacles to the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in the information society.

Obstacles included but were not limited to lack of basic community infrastructure, limited access to modern technologies, and the urgent need for gender and age-sensitive capacity building. Potentials included but were not limited to access to new marketplaces, increased indigenous networking (both regionally and internationally), new strategies to revitalize and pass on culture and languages, and the opportunity to fully participate in the new information and connectivity
revolution facing humanity.

A number of fellowships to attend the Global Forum were granted by the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and recipients included two Caribbean Indigenous representatives - Dr. Albert DeTerville (Saint Lucia) and Mr. Roberto Múcaro Borrero (UCTP). During this same time Borrero also participated in a special dialogue session with the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Civil Society. Other indigenous delegates attending this session were members of the Permanent Forum and indigenous leaders from various regions of the world.

At the close of the Global Forum session, a declaration and program of action was adopted.

These documents are currently available via the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Photo: UCTP Rep. R. Múcaro Borrero (left) with H.E. Mr. Christian Ferrazino, Mayor of the City of Geneva and Aboriginal Australian Artist Cameron McCarthy (right) in Geneva, Switzerland. UCTP Photo 2003