HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE MARKING INTERNATIONAL DAY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Press Briefing

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE MARKING INTERNATIONAL DAY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The rights of indigenous peoples were inextricably linked to racism and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was committed to ensuring a greater focus on indigenous issues in the second half of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Bacre Waly N'Diaye, Director of the human rights agency's New York Office, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

He said racism would be an important theme of this year's celebration of the International Decade (1995-2004). South Africa would host the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in August/September 2001. This year's commemoration of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples -- being observed today -- was particularly special because less than two weeks ago the Economic and Social Council had adopted a resolution establishing the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

That high-level advisory body, first suggested at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, was expected to come into operation in 2002, Mr. N'Diaye said. It would comprise 16 experts, equally divided between governments and indigenous peoples. Besides the consideration of human rights issues, the Forum's mandate would also include questions of economic and social development, culture, the environment, education and health. It promised to give indigenous peoples a unique voice in the United Nations system commensurate with their unique problems.

Today's commemoration would include a dialogue session on indigenous children and youth, he went on. That had been the subject of the most recent meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva. Indigenous children and young people faced discrimination, sexual exploitation and forced conscription, among other serious human rights violations. As the transmitters of indigenous culture to future generations, they were urged to use the event to defend their rich indigenous heritage, a precious gift from their elders and ancestors.

Also present was André Robefroid, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), who said that violation of the rights of indigenous children and adolescents was often grounded in longstanding discriminatory practices that had been accepted in the day-to-day life of many people. Violations of commission or omission directly affected children in terms of education, health, exploitation and abuses, and particularly access to their culture and language.

Access to school was more difficult for indigenous children than for others in the society, he said. When they did have access, language, learning conditions and the overall cultural environment were obstacles to appropriate education. In many countries, the school system failed to act as a vehicle of tolerance that could change the situation in a progressive and lasting manner. Indigenous

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children were often the victims of stereotypes. For that reason, UNICEF promoted wherever possible the conscious development of a bilingual and multicultural approach to education.

Mr. Robefroid said that indigenous children in remote rural areas also had less access to appropriate health care. They were often at greater risk of abuse, exploitation, child labour, sexual abuse and child trafficking, often because many of them were not registered at birth. Lacking a real legal existence, they were not protected by the legal system. Despite the ratification of international instruments, the picture remained gloomy. The world must be made aware that major problems remained regarding indigenous children's rights.

Alberto Saldomando of the International Indian Treaty Council, who was also present, said discrimination and racism were at the heart of indigenous issues. Stereotypes were perpetuated by films, the media and educational materials. Indigenous culture and languages were seen as obstacles to education, while bilingual education was viewed as a remedial measure rather than being accepted as a positive manner of teaching. Indigenous peoples continued to suffer genocide as well as the theft of their land and intellectual property.

Also present was Rene Godinez Garcia of Guatemala's Movimiento de Jovenes Mayas por la Objeccion de Conciencia, who described the genocidal warfare perpetrated against indigenous people during his country's armed conflict. Children and young people had been subjected to poverty, exclusion, discrimination, exploitation and prostitution as well as to indiscriminate kidnapping, arrest, detention, torture and other extreme forms of violence. Violations of the human rights of Guatemala's indigenous peoples had never stopped.

Asked how many of the world's people were considered indigenous, Mr. Saldomando said there were no accurate data. Many countries denied that they had indigenous peoples within their borders. In the United States, Department of Corrections data indicated that indigenous prisoners on death row were categorized under the designation "other". According to various existing statistics, there were 300 to 500 million indigenous people world wide.

In response to a question about the worst violations against indigenous people, Mr. Godinez Garcia said that in Guatemala, they accounted for 60 per cent of those killed and 88 per cent of those who had disappeared. Indigenous people also accounted for 75 per cent of those deprived of their freedom; 83 per cent of torture victims; and 71 per cent of rape victims.

Another correspondent asked what had been achieved in the first half of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

Mr. N'Diaye replied that the new Permanent Forum had been the most significant achievement.

Asked how much the United Nations had spent on the International Decade, Mr. Robefroid responded that such expenditure could not be measured in monetary terms. Over the last five or six years, the interventions of United Nations

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agencies had been aimed at giving the issue greater visibility and making it more accepted by the various partners. The success of greater affirmative action efforts to end discrimination would be measured by their impact on the actual decisions made by various governments at the end of the Decade.

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