United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Day 2)

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Fifth Session

Day 2, Tuesday, May 16, 2006



|| View of UNPFII5 ||

The special theme of the UNPFII Fifth Session is the Millennium Development Goals, also known as “MDGs”, and Indigenous Peoples. The MDGs were developed in September of 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit where world leaders agreed to, “set of timebound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.” In addition to the MDGs, the Summit’s Millennium Declaration also outlines a wide range of commitments in human rights, good governance and democracy.

This year’s UNPFII focuses on redefining the Goals as it pertains to Indigenous Peoples worldwide and focuses on 2 goals, specifically Goals 3 and 8. Goal 3 focuses on the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women and Goal 8 focuses on the development of a global partnership for development. (Each of these goals is further elaborated on the MGD website). There are two particular documents referenced in the Proposed Organization of Work that provide useful information for this year’s forum. Those documents include: Report of the International Technical Workshop on Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and the Report of the International Expert Group Meeting on Millennium Development Goals, Indigenous Participation, and Good Governance.

|| Required Reading ||

What does this mean in terms of work done at the UNPFII? The theme provides a framework for the proceedings of the meeting. Indigenous delegates, Nations, and NGOs are encouraged to craft their interventions in accordance with the annual theme. This does not mean that other issues are cannot be addressed. For example, another major issue that is being discussed at the Forum is the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (to be discussed more later).

Beginning Monday afternoon, Nations, Indigenous Peoples, and NGOs began dialogue on the special theme. Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperperson of the UNPFII, Ms. Caren Maria Gallarda, Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Mr. Juan Leon, Representing the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, and others, made statements on the theme.

Of particular interest is the statement that was made by the Mr. David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Foreign Minister of Bolivia. Mr. Cespedes is an Indigenous man from Lake Titicaca region, the highest lake in the Americas and the cradle of Incan civilization. He talked about the need for states to no only recognize but affirm the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination that are consistent with Indigenous Peoples cultural practices and norms. Several individuals that I was sitting with stated that they had never heard these words stated by a representative of a Nation and that we were witnessing history. Mr. Cespedes received a standing ovation from Indigenous delegates following his intervention.

|| Mr. David Choquehuanca Cespedes ||
Foreign Minister of Bolivia

For those who are interested, the Indigenous Peoples' Center for Documentation, Research and Information, also known as DoCip, is updating their website with statements made by delegates hourly. Mr. Cespedes statement is currently online in Spanish. I highly recommend that you read this document and anticipate that DoCip will translate this document into English in the coming days.

Tuesday, May 17, 2006

Andrea Carmen, Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council from the Yaqui Indian Nation, made a statement on behalf of the North American region. Her statement was based on the document entitled the North American Region Preparatory Meeting for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Fifth Session (UNPFII5). This document was developed at the end of April during a North American Preparatory meeting held in Minneapolis, MN. The North American Predatory Session for UNPFII5 recommended the following concerns and issues be addressed during this year’s session:

1. The historic and current implications and impacts of the “Doctrine of Discovery” as practiced by the United States, Australia, and other settler governments;
2. The national and international legal standing of aboriginal title;
3. Indigenous Peoples’ permanent sovereignty over natural resources including reviewing the implementation of the recommendations from the above mentioned UN Expert Seminar;
4. The application and implementation of the right to free, prior informed consent (FPIC).

Other regional statements were made on Tuesday morning by the Asian Indigenous Peoples Caucus, Latin American Caucus, Artic Regional Caucus, Pacific Caucus, Global Indigenous Caucus, African Indigenous Caucus, Indigenous Women’s Caucus, and Caribbean Antilles Indigenous Peoples Caucus to name a few. Statements are available on the DoCip website.

|| Ms. Andrea Carmen ||
International Indian Treaty Council
Please note that the Treaty Council delegation is sitting at the seats normally reserved for NGOs, including OAS.

One of the issues that has been raised regarding the Millenium Goals is the fact that they currently only pertain to developing countries. This is problematic for Indigenous Peoples who live in countries such as the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, as we are essentially left out of the programs developed to realize the MDGs. This was pointed out by a number of organizations including IITC on Tuesday afternoon. Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperperson of the UNPFII, concurred that further discussion needed to occur between the Indigenous Delegates and the Permanent Forum regarding this issue.

|| Mr. Alberto Saldamando ||
International Indian Treaty Council

On Tuesday afternoon, a number of NGOs, including the UN Children’s Fund, UNESCO, International Organization for Migration, Inter-American Development Bank, UNAIDS, UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, and the International Labour Organization made statements on the special theme. These interventions closed the activities for Tuesday.

Have questions/comments? The purpose of this blog is to educate readers on the UNPFII as well as to update on the proceedings of the Forum. If you have questions that you’d like to have clarified, please leave a comment or send me an email and I will do my best to address them. Please feel free to comments as well.