PRESS BRIEFING ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People was slow in coming, but there was progress in the growing acceptance of the view that sustainable development was impossible without giving recognition to cultures not necessarily mainstream, the Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bacre Ndiaye, said this morning at a Headquarters press briefing, held to launch two days of events and workshops in celebration of today's International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

"This is not a celebration but a commemoration because, despite international interest in the human rights angle of indigenous people's rights, the results of our work are quite humbling", Mr. Ndiaye continued, in opening remarks about the events that would begin with a sacred pipe ceremony and would include a dialogue on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land, as well as workshops on human rights and lobbying.

Capping the events, he said, would be a cultural event paying tribute to indigenous human rights defenders, along with the opening of an art exhibit entitled, "Indigenous art and the dream time", an exhibit of Australian aboriginal art.

Also taking part in the briefing with Mr. Ndiaye were two co-chairs of the committee of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, Esmeralda Brown and Roberto Borrero; a land rights expert from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Jorge Dandler; a representative of the World Bank, Alfredo Steir-Younis; and a representative of the American Indian Law Alliance, Tonya Gonaella Frichner.

Elaborating on the slow progress of work on the Declaration, Mr. Ndiaye said governmental positions on issues such as land and self-determination were short-sighted. For many governments, it was important to allow the prospecting for materials such as gold or oil, a position clashing with that of people for whom the land was sacred, ceremonial and a form of legacy that must not be spoiled for money. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action had reaffirmed that the development and protection of human rights were impossible if non-mainstream cultures and world views were excluded. That was leading towards a more comprehensive view of development itself, which brought into question issues of development, progress, the purpose of life and relationships between people.

Mr. Ndiaye said the violations of indigenous peoples' human rights had been on the United Nations agenda since 1972. The human rights angle of the indigenous movement, existing in addition to a moral and political one, forced governments to pay attention because of international obligations in the field

of human rights. He said the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the coordinator of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004), had made the very physical survival of indigenous people a high priority. The killing earlier this year of indigenous rights defenders in Colombia was to be lamented.

Ethnocide, or the denial by mainstream society of the chance for indigenous people to live and develop within it, was a major plight facing indigenous communities, Mr. Ndiaye continued. The rights to land and to natural resources, in the context of the right to self-determination, continued to be priorities. But they were also the most contentious of issues. That was why "the relationship of indigenous people to their lands" had been chosen as this year's theme. The two days of events would focus attention on that issue.

Mr. Steir-Younis of the World Bank said the "transformational presence" of indigenous peoples was a vital one at the United Nations, including in the Bretton Woods Institutions, because it touched on every aspect of life. It was a reminder of humanity's cultural heritage and the roots of civilization. "The presence of indigenous peoples should provide the guidance for the next century. There are nearly a half billion indigenous people living in the world and they live in more than 70 countries." Yet, not only were many indigenous peoples poor, they were among the most excluded in the development process, suffering from discrimination in terms of rights, property, culture, citizenship and lack of access to services, and with regard to their material living conditions.

"Many countries are pursuing sustainable development, but there will be no sustainable development until there is cultural sustainability", Mr. Steir- Younis stressed. He said culture would make development sustainable in the next millennium because it brought a sense of direction, not only of the past but also of the future, and it created the sense of belonging to a society. A focus on cultural sustainability determined the quality of life and provided the social and individual coherence very much needed in countries of the world where there was conflict. Finally, cultural sustainability established the fundamental sense of identity for sustainable development. "Bringing indigenous peoples into sustainable development is fundamental at this stage because otherwise it's like building a library and burning the books before you read them."

He added that there was a major disconnect between what was often called economic progress or development, and "the cosmic vision of the indigenous peoples". It was fundamental to close the gap of the disconnect by looking at the three struggles facing indigenous peoples -- that of rights, not only civil rights but the right to development; that related to land, a central element in indigenous peoples' livelihoods, and finally the need to

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find the necessary political, institutional and social bases for indigenous societies to coexist with the rest of the world.

To deal with those three struggles, Mr. Steir-Younis continued, three fundamental changes had to take place. First, the existing value system had to be changed in accordance with an understanding and acceptance of indigenous societies' contribution to the world. In addition, the cosmic vision of indigenous people had to be mainstreamed into economic policy. And finally, the cosmic vision had to be brought into the present understanding of human evolution. The World Bank did not deal directly with human rights, but it dealt directly with the right to development and the right of indigenous peoples to basic health and services, making it a good instrument for improving indigenous peoples' ability to materialize their rights.

With regard to indigenous people and their relationship to land, Mr. Steir-Younis said the World Bank was aware that for indigenous peoples land was not just a means of creating wealth but represented a sacred, spiritual and unique relationship between the people and the land, creating a sense of existence. The Bank was therefore very concerned with the access and management of land. The Bank's policy on indigenous peoples was being revised and indigenous peoples had been invited to a major meeting in Washington, D.C., during October to participate in the final drafting of the policy.

Ms. Brown, a co-chair of the NGO committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, said that her group had enabled NGOs around the world to make the commitment to promote the acceptance and adoption of the United Nations draft declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and the proposed Permanent Forum.

She said her group also acted as a voice making all forums aware of indigenous people's problems and making governments aware that indigenous peoples needed information in order to protect their rights and create solidarity among themselves. This year's theme was particularly pertinent to the indigenous peoples' reality, which was that five years into the International Decade indigenous people were still struggling, as in Honduras and Colombia, for example. "It's the old issue of sovereignty and self- determination when people are pushed off their lands."

Mr. Borrero, the other co-chair of the NGO committee, said the programme agenda had been expanded in line with indigenous people's expression of interest in coming not just to a cultural event but to an educational event, one from which they could take something back to their communities. As indigenous people accessed the United Nations system, they wanted more knowledge and to know more about how the system worked. Many indigenous peoples had no idea what the United Nations was about, but as they saw how their communities could be helped, they came in increasing numbers to the

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forum and could better participate in the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva.

Mr. Dandler of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said many of the world's 300 million indigenous peoples were not only poor but were also seen as obstacles to development. In fact, in many national societies indigenous peoples played a very important role; many national societies that were multi-ethnic and multi-lingual did not recognize that extraordinarily important fact. "Indigenous people are striving to construct a more harmonious world", he said, "a more tolerant relationship with the national societies where they live, and promoting the need to have a sustainable development respectful of nature and all the natural resources".

He said the ILO had two instruments on the rights of indigenous peoples in the world. One of them contained important premises, such as that of the enduring and permanent nature of indigenous peoples. It incorporated basic and fundamental demands of indigenous peoples as rights within the international framework. It also had provisions regarding the special relationship that indigenous peoples had with their land and territories, especially regarding their collective relationship to it.

Noting that the Decade was now half over, Mr. Dandler said the General Assembly had given a mandate to United Nations bodies and governments alike to cooperate in promoting the participatory development of indigenous peoples in the societies where they lived. In many countries, there was still a great need to stimulate government commitment in developing the proper policies and framework for the respect of indigenous peoples' rights.

Ms. Frichner, a member of the Onondaga nation and of the American Indian Law Alliance, spoke in part on behalf of the native community in New York City, which was over 50,000 strong and represented over 50 nations throughout the hemisphere. Indigenous leaders with vision had made it possible for indigenous peoples to be gathered today, and for an entity known as a working group for indigenous peoples to exist. The draft declaration on indigenous peoples had the input of indigenous leaders from around the world. That document had left the working group in 1993 and was now under review in the United Nations system. One of the consequences of the next two days should be to move forward, with consensus, on adoption of the declaration.

Asked to elaborate on the "cosmic vision" of indigenous peoples, Ms. Frichner said the reference was to a cosmic world view. When Europeans had arrived in the western hemisphere 500 years before, there had been a clash of world views. The indigenous relationship to the land and a life based on the natural world was very different from the European view and it was still in place. All indigenous peoples shared that world view, however their languages might differ, and that view had to be respected and accepted as not being based on European western norms of land tenure.

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Mr. Steir-Younis added that most economists made decisions based on fundamental assumptions that determined the values and outcomes of policy. The difference in views was reflected in questions concerning ownership, for example. Indigenous peoples considered land to be shared not just by those making decisions but also with members of future generations. Another difference was reflected in a difference between short-term planning encompassing the present generation versus the long-term planning encompassing many generations into the future. That also affected the issue. Finally, there was a difference in attitude towards the environment: the European view was based on a productive relationship with the environment, how much could be taken out, whereas the indigenous view took in the wholeness of the earth and its resources.

To that, Mr. Ndiaye added that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action had contributed much to the advancement of the indigenous world view in its having reaffirmed the indivisibility of all rights.

Elaborating, in response to a question, on the relationship between indigenous people and land, Mr. Dandler said that for indigenous peoples, land was a territory of the very basic natural resources needed for sustainability of life, such as water. Land was a habitat, not a plot. Indigenous peoples all over the world were arguing that they needed legal or juridical security about those resources because otherwise they could not work or project their planning into the future. Land rights, therefore, as well as other rights, had to be secured, both in terms of development and technical cooperation.

Answering another correspondent, Mr. Dandler said land rights differed from property rights in terms of the concepts about possession and use. Indigenous peoples, such as nomads, often lived on and used large tracts of land, having a common use among the indigenous peoples themselves.

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