NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS ON 9 AND 10 AUGUST

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS ON 9 AND 10 AUGUST

The International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August) will be celebrated at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 9 and 10 August, with two days of workshops and events, including a cultural event paying tribute to indigenous human rights defenders, a Sacred Pipe Ceremony, and the official opening of an exhibit of Australian Aboriginal art. Topics for the workshops include the relationship of indigenous people to land and how indigenous peoples can lobby governments. Indigenous people from around the world will gather for the events, which are open to the public. The dialogue session and workshops require registration*.

The International Day of the World's Indigenous People is an opportunity for indigenous peoples and groups, working together with other interested parties, to organize activities which raise awareness about indigenous peoples, their history, their cultures, their aspirations and their contemporary concerns. It was first proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 to be observed each year during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004).

The two days of activities will begin with a drum convocation calling participants together on the Visitor's Entrance Public Plaza of the United Nations at 11:30 a.m. Monday, 9 August. After a traditional welcome by a local indigenous person, statements from Secretary-General Kofi Annan and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will be read. The traditional Sacred Pipe Ceremony, which will be carried out by Dr. Arvol Looking Horse (Lakota), 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe, will follow around noon. Musical presentations and a blessing of the children will complete the event.

__________ * To register for the workshops, contact the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at (212) 963-5931. The deadline for registration is 5 August.

Dialogue: Indigenous People and Their Relationship to Land

On Monday, at 3 p.m., a dialogue session on the topic of "indigenous peoples and their relationship to land" will be held in Conference Room 4. Bacre Ndiaye, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, will co-facilitate the dialogue session with Esmeralda Brown, Chairperson of the New York NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. Two indigenous representatives will participate: Juan Gualinga Montalvo (Ecuador), of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE), and a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) representative from North America. Jorge Dandler, an International Labour Organization (ILO) land rights expert, Alfredo Sfeir-Younes of the World Bank and a representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will also participate.

Human Rights Workshop

On the morning of Tuesday, 10 August, in Conference Room 4, a human rights workshop will focus on United Nations human rights programmes and reporting mechanisms, with special attention to land rights issues. The workshop will be co-chaired by a representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Tonya Frichner (Onondaga) of the American Indian Law Alliance, with special assistance from Jorge Dandler of the ILO.

Lobbying Workshop

From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon in Conference Room 4, there will be a workshop on "indigenous peoples and lobbying governments". This workshop will be facilitated by Andrea Carmen (Yaqui) and Bill Means (Lakota) of the International Indian Treaty Council.

Cultural Event and Exhibit of Australian Aboriginal Art

To close the observance, at 4 p.m. in the Public Lobby, a cultural event will pay tribute to indigenous human rights defenders and officially launch the exhibit of Australian Aboriginal art, entitled "Aboriginal Art and the Dreamtime". The event will feature indigenous performers, such as Ulali, an a cappella singing group of Native American women; a poetry reading by John Trudell (Lakota), a poet, recording artist, and Native American activist; and a tribute to Ingrid Washinawatock Al-Issa (Menominee), the human rights worker and previous chairperson of the New York NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, who was killed earlier this year in Colombia, together with two other human rights workers.

The exhibit, "Aboriginal Art and the Dreamtime", is co-sponsored by the Department of Public Information and the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations. The art includes pieces by several leading Central Australian Desert artists, such as Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Johnny Warangkula Tjuppurula

- 3 - Note No. 5571 4 August 1999

and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. These artists, and others included in the exhibitions, have enjoyed international success and have been compared to artists as diverse as Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock. The paintings merge contemporary media (acrylic paints, canvas) with traditional treatment of the iconography of the "dreaming". Following the opening of the exhibit, three of the artists will demonstrate their ground painting technique.

Press Conference

Prior to these events, there will be a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday, 9 August, in room S-226. Esmeralda Brown and Roberto Borrero (Taino) of the NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, Alfredo Sfeir-Younes of the World Bank, Jorge Dandler of the ILO, and Bacre Ndiaye, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, will brief the media.

For further information, contact: United Nations Department of Public Information Ellen McGuffie, Information Officer Tel: (212) 963-0499; 963-3771; fax: (212) 963-1186

New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations, NY 10017 Tel: (212) 963-5931; fax: (212) 963-4097

* *** *