United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Day 7, 8)

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Fifth Session

Tuesday, May 16, and Wednesday, May 17, 2006




Tuesday morning, a closed session was held which gave delegates the opportunity to attend side events and relax. The afternoon agenda continued with items from Monday morning’s session. Despite the half-day of open meetings, over 20 indigenous organizations, States and NGOs made statements.

|| Overview of the Permanent Forum ||

Under data collection, Mr. Jason Field made a joint statement on behalf of the indigenous peoples organizations of Australia. In their intervention, they expressed concern regarding the "slow progress" in the collection of data on indigenous people, specifically data that goes beyond the production of individual statistics. It was stated that data should also be collected on "social, cultural, economic, and political identities as peoples." They stressed the need for indigenous peoples to participate in and contribute to programme formulation and to be an integral partner in the implementation of such data collection.

The Australian indigenous organizations highlighted some current work in their country around data collection. They reported that all Australian governments have committed to using a common framework called the "overcoming indigenous disadvantage framework" to produce a regular report. The purpose of the framework is to "provide and overview of indigenous social and economic status within a holistic, integrated framework." Although a positive step forward in data collection, they pointed out that the lack of benchmarks and targets, coupled with lack of capacity within indigenous communities to effectively participate, provides room for improvement.

|| Myron Lameman ||
Making a statement on behalf of the Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association

Along with recommending the development of a "practical toolkit" for organizations and governments working with indigenous peoples, they stressed the need for a specific targets and indicators. In the statement made on behalf of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and Saami Council, they also recommended the Permanent Forum to "identify indicators relevant to indigenous peoples poverty and well-being" and also included traditional knowledge and biodiversity as a means of monitoring process in the achievement of the MDGs and the Convention on Biological Diversity. To read the entirety of both statements, please download them from the DoCip website.

Under agenda item 4, Victor Magque made an statement on behalf of the Indigenous Youth Caucus. He briefly discussed the International Indigenous Youth Conference (IIYC) held in 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia. At this gathering, the Declaration of the Second International Indigenous Youth Conference document was drafted by over 185 indigenous youth from around the world. During the intervention, it was stressed that continued loss of history and heritage due to assimilation contributes to the discrimination that indigenous youth experience. To that end, the Indigenous Youth Caucus recommended that States uphold "promises made that quality education be made possible in mother tongue," collecting and making available disaggregated data on and for indigenous youth, and making available all official state and UN documents in indigenous languages. The statement closed by stressed that the continued loss of history and culture of indigenous peoples should not be something that the world learns about or takes action regarding the current issues indigenous peoples are facing after these cultures become extinct.

|| Ms. Beverly Jacobs ||

At the close of Tuesday’s session, a statement was made by Ms. Beverly Jacobs, Haudenosaunenee negotiator, regarding the current situation occurring in the Six Nations Grand Territory in Canada. Ms. Jacobs gave a brief outline of the history between the Six Nations and the Crown as it related to land rights. She named several treaties that have been broken by the Crown in her statement and discussed the continued encroachment by squatters and others on Six Nations land.

She then outlined the most recent events occurring in the territory beginning with the February 28, 2006, peaceful protest by members of the Six Nations regarding the development of a piece of land close to the community boundaries. On April 20, the OPP raided the lands and 16 individuals had criminal charges placed against them for trying to bring attention to the unresolved land issues. As she stated, "many youth, elders, women, and men were tazered, brutalized, kicked, pepper sprayed, and punched" during the interaction with the police. Following this, members of the Six Nations removed the OPP from the lands and blockaded the roads and railroads surround the property. She proceeded to inform the Permanent Forum and delegates about the responses from Caledonia residents regarding the blockade and proceeding negotiations between the Six Nations and the Canadian government. She formally requested that the Permanent Forum meet with the Canadian government to "demand a peaceful and fair resolution to the crisis at Six Nations and Caledonia" and to "meet with the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations as soon as possible to address peaceful and fair resolution to this crisis." For her full statement, please download off the DoCip website.

At the close of Tuesday’s session, Ms. Tauli-Corpuz, briefly talked about the participation of young people in the Permanent Forum and other UN fora. She stressed that it is important that more young people get involved in the work of the PF and recommended to governments and indigenous organizations to sponsor the participation of young people. She also said that she welcomed a special side event where the issue of young people addressed at future meetings.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

|| Looking at the Speaker’s List ||

On Wednesday morning, closed sessions were held. During the afternoon, statements continued to be made under Agenda items c) indigenous children, youth (2003) and women (2004); b) data collection (2004); and e) free, prior and informed consent (2004). Statements were also made under agenda item a) discussion of the analytical paper, with a concise compilation of the recommendations of the first three sessions of the Forum and the status of their implementation at the national, regional, and international levels and g) the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. During the afternoon session, over 35 statements were made by indigenous organizations and NGOs.

A collective statement was made by Ms. Hilda Lini, Vanuatu Indigenous Peoples Forum on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Indigenous Environmental Network, Tebtebba Foundation, International Indian Treaty Council, and the Indigenous Information Network regarding the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) established by the UN General Assembly in 1992. The purpose of the CSD is to review progress in the "implementation of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; as well as providing policy guidance to follow up the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) at the local, national, regional and international levels." As the high-level form for sustainable development within the UN system, the CSD meets every other year in New York. Currently, the CSD is "discussing issues of Climate Change, Atmospheric Pollution, Industrial Development and Sustainable Energy – all issues of high importance for Indigenous Issues."

|| Indigenous Youth from Hawaii ||

Indigenous peoples have been participating in the CSD meetings, however, the overall numbers have been small. Ms. Lini stated that the Indigenous Peoples' caucus has never had more than 10 individuals participate during each gathering. This has been due to limited funding for indigenous peoples to attend the meeting. To that end, two major recommendations were made that the "mandate and coverage of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, be expanded to include indigenous peoples’ participation in the meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, in line with ensuring the respect for indigenous peoples' rights in the mainstream discussion and negotiations on the implementation of Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) and the Millennium Development Goals." It was also recommended that the Permanent Forum "strengthen linkages/relations with the [UNCSD], inter-alia, by mutual attendance by Bureau members and statements in their annual meetings; enhanced cooperation between Secretariats of the UNCSD and the UNPFII."

Mr. Wendell Nicolas form the Maliset Nation of Tobique, also made a statement under Agenda item 4g regarding indigenous peoples and disabilities. He is a member of the newly formed International Caucus for Indigenous Peoples with disabilities whose focus is to address the condition of indigenous peoples with disabilities face and to improve their livelihoods. The caucus is made up of indigenous peoples from both developed and developing countries. He pointed out that indigenous peoples with disabilities are as high as 30-40 percent of the population in some jurisdictions.

In addition to recommending that a link must be built between the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples and the development of the Draft UN Convention on the Rights of Peoples with Disabilities as it pertains to indigenous peoples, he also recommended indigenous peoples with disabilities "seek to further elaborate their rights in the Draft Convention on the Rights of Peoples with Disabilities as Indigenous peoples…" and that further work of the Permanent Forum "include a specific agenda item concerning the situation of Indigenous Peoples with Disabilities as a part of each year of the Second International Decade of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples." Please read the full statement for all recommendations.

|| Indigenous Youth Caucus ||

The Indigenous Youth Caucus made a statement on Wednesday regarding future work of the Permanent Forum and made several recommendations including the development of a specific agenda for indigenous youth within the annual meeting which includes a preparatory workshop, reception and side event; the allocation of fund to support these activities as well as projects/activities of the Permanent Forum youth group and the assignment of a dedicated staff member of the Permanent Forum to help coordinate and provide support services to these activities. They also requested financial support from UN agencies, NGOs, and governments for youth people to attend the Permanent Forum as well as other international indigenous youth initiatives globally. They closed by requesting that the Permanent Forum also allocate a seat on the UNPFII for a young person as a way to both recognize and affirm the contributions of young people to the Permanent Forum. For the full statement, please click here.

All statements from Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s session can be downloaded from the DoCip website.