PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN, PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES

PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN, PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES

As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its two-week session this afternoon, it was expected to adopt a set of concrete recommendations to the United Nations system on important indigenous issues, the Chairman of the Permanent Forum said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Meeting for the first time since its inaugural session last year, the focus of the Permanent Forum’s two-week session, which opened on 12 May, was “indigenous children and youth”.  A subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, the Permanent Forum is mandated to create specific recommendations for the United Nations system to improve the quality of life of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Ole Henrik Magga of Norway, Chairman of the Permanent Forum, said the Permanent Forum’s broad mandate included issues such as socio-economic development, environment, health, human rights, culture and development.  The Forum sought to advise the Economic and Social Council in those areas, to contribute to the coordination among the United Nations system on indigenous issues and to raise awareness. 

Describing the situation of indigenous peoples in many countries as “alarming”, he said the world’s indigenous peoples faced a very difficult situation at all levels.  They were the poorest people in terms of income, education and all measures of development.  During the session, the Permanent Forum had been informed about atrocities being carried out against indigenous people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Indigenous people in that country were being killed, mutilated and even eaten.  On Wednesday, he had met with the President of the Security Council to express his concern at the developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  He had asked the Council to do everything in its power to stop the violence.  Indigenous peoples were counting on the United Nations to do something. 

Indigenous peoples faced myriad other difficulties in their daily lives, including lack of access to health care, shelter and education.  School children, for example, were sometimes punished for using their own languages.  “I have seen that in my own country”, he said.

The Permanent Forum’s Rapporteur, Willie Littlechild of Canada –- or “Walking Wolf” in Cree -– said he was extremely delighted with the outcome of the Permanent Forum.  The Permanent Forum’s focus on children and youth had been innovative.  Globally, there were some 350 million indigenous people.  About
180 million of them were children.  The Forum, therefore, had addressed the majority of the world’s indigenous people.

Another highlight of the session was the recognition within the United Nations system of indigenous cultures, he said.  The Forum had made specific recommendations for the Economic and Social Council and the various United Nations agencies.  Prioritizing the recommendations, and translating “words into action”, would be a challenge.  While he was sad that the two-week session was concluding, he was happy with its outcome.

Otilia Lux de Coti of Guatemala, the Forum’s Focal Point for Culture, and Guatemala’s Minister of Culture and Sports, agreed that the outcome of the second session had been positive.  A subsidiary body of ECOSOC, the Permanent Forum had identified objectives and generated specific recommendations.  The Permanent Forum had two principle challenges.  The first was to make its recommendations to the United Nations system and States a reality.  Indigenous peoples wanted their views reflected in the policies and programmes that affected them.  The second was to see that the Permanent Forum received the necessary funding and concrete support it needed.  Twenty years from now, it would be important to see that the Forum’s recommendations contributed to the elimination of poverty and the historic inequalities that indigenous peoples suffered from for generations.

Asked whether the Forum’s report was available to correspondents,
Mr. Littlechild said that it was, except for the human rights session.  There had been some 1,800 pre-registrations for the session from about 500 different indigenous nations and organizations. 

In response to another question, he said the Permanent Forum’s challenge now was to establish priorities.  In each one of the mandated areas, there had been a call by indigenous delegations -- and even some States -– for more meaningful, effective and direct participation.  One of the loudest calls over the last two weeks was the desire for more direct participation by indigenous people.

Replying to a question on the participation of States, Mr. Magga said the body was very new to the United Nations system.  There had been a growing interest from States, with 30 States participating last year and 70 this year.  The Government of Denmark, for example, had announced that its contribution of
1 million Danish kroner to the voluntary fund.  He believed other countries would follow that example.  States had also indicated that they would support the work of the Permanent Forum more directly. 

The Permanent Forum had also received support from the World Bank, he said.  While the activities of the World Bank had been, and continued to be, very controversial, it had offered its support in economic terms and had announced a programme to support regional capacity-building and projects directly affecting indigenous peoples.  States seemed to be taking the Forum more seriously.  There was a need to balance the dialogue between States, United Nations agencies and indigenous organizations.  So far, progress had been made in promoting dialogue.  The only solution to the indigenous issues was dialogue.  The Permanent Forum, which consisted of experts serving in their own capacity, was a United Nations body and did not represent indigenous peoples or States. 

Mr. Littlechild said that equally important was the interest of the various United Nations agencies in indigenous issues.  Last week, the Permanent Forum had received an urgent appeal to look into allegations of gross violations against indigenous people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The Permanent Forum had requested a meeting with the Security Council, which had directly responded to that request, providing a powerful signal that the United Nations, at the highest level, was willing to work with the Indigenous Forum. 

Regarding the theme of next year’s session, Mr. Littlechild said there had been a long, hard debate on the proposal for next year.  There had, in fact, been three proposals:  indigenous women, indigenous self-determination and indigenous participation.  One idea had been to mainstream indigenous issues with the current issues of the United Nations system.  At the current point in the Forum’s young history, members had agreed that it was important to focus on the issue of indigenous women.  That did not mean, however, that it would not, in the future, focus on the issue of self-determination.  It had been a very difficult decision to make.

The issue of self-identification remained a very difficult issue, he continued.  In Canada, for example, the Inuit, which comprised the vast majority of Northern Canada, had just created their own province.  Self-identification was an important issue and the discussion was ongoing.

Responding to a question on the Forum’s direct relevance to indigenous peoples, Mr. Magga said that work on indigenous issues had first started at the local level.  Little by little, however, it had advanced to the regional and international levels.  There was a need to work simultaneously at all levels.  The Permanent Forum would work to create conditions within the United Nations system and to gain United Nations support in different ways, including through the drafting of conventions, declarations, and, in some cases, direct support through one of its agencies.  

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