NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS HIGH COMMISSIONER/CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO ORGANIZE BRIEFING ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES ON 8 AUGUST

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS HIGH COMMISSIONER/CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO ORGANIZE BRIEFING ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES ON 8 AUGUST

To commemorate the International Day of the World's Indigenous People, which is on 9 August, the Office of the High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights is organizing an inter-agency briefing on indigenous issues on Friday, 8 August, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in Conference Room 4. Participating agencies will be the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The International Day, on 9 August, was proclaimed by the General Assembly in resolution A/48/163. It marks the day of the first meeting of the Working Group of Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights, in 1982.

The United Nations also launched the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People for the period 1995 to 2004. A draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has been adopted by the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, is now being reviewed by the Commission on Human Rights, for possible adoption before the end of the International Decade.

The Day was also observed today at Headquarters, beginning with a statement from the Secretary-General (see Press Release SG/SM/6297 of 6 August), which was delivered by Purificacion Quisumbing, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights. The World Sacred Pipe Ceremony, led by Arvol Looking Horse, Nineteenth Generation Keeper of the Sacred Pipe of the Lakota of the United States, was followed by songs and dances by indigenous participants who came from different regions of the world. There was also a panel discussion and open forum of indigenous representatives and United Nations agencies, on the theme "Land and Natural Resources".

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