Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues                       

Third Session                                              

3^rd & 4^th Meetings (AM & PM)

quality education must incorporate indigenous culture and knowledge,

stress speakers in permanent forum debate

More than merely ensuring the capacity to read and write, indigenous literacy should encompass awareness of the whole body of traditional knowledge, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was informed today.

During its discussion of education, speakers emphasized the need to promote a system of education, which incorporated indigenous culture and knowledge.  As Forum member Qin Xiaomei stated, realizing the right to education for indigenous people required the equal, voluntary enjoyment of various educational categories, as well as the right to establish institutions adapted to indigenous culture and teaching methods.

Stressing that both a supportive policy environment and political commitment were needed to ensure quality indigenous education, Linda King, Interim Chief of the Section on Education for Peace and Human Rights, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that other requirements included the need for formal and non-formal teaching methods at home and in the community; the incorporation of indigenous knowledge in educational curricula; innovative solutions for portraying indigenous knowledge systems as equal to Western systems; and the use of indigenous languages.

Tove Skutnabb-Kanga, a researcher with the Department of Languages and Culture of the University of Roskilde, Denmark, and the Department of Education of Abo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland, said that research had demonstrated that “late-exit transitional programmes”, in which students received the majority of their instruction in their mother tongue, had significantly more educational success than “early-exit transitional programmes”, in which students were taught in their native language for one to two years and then taught completely in the dominant language.  The worst results were garnered from students in regular submersion programmes, which still remained the dominant type of programme.

Also today, the Permanent Forum concluded its discussion on indigenous women with several speakers stressing the need to mainstream issues specifically related to the situation of indigenous women into policies and programmes, both across the United Nations system and within Member States.  Indigenous women should be incorporated into the decision-making process at all levels, particularly at the national level, as States were the main actors in the implementation of the Forum’s recommendations, it was stated.

Specific situations highlighted by representatives of indigenous groups included violations committed against indigenous women in the Philippines by military forces, and genocidal practices and the loss of indigenous lands and territories in Bangladesh, as well as the situation in Suriname, which the Forum was told was the only country in the Western hemisphere that had not recognized indigenous rights.  Moreover, indigenous people in Ethiopia and south-eastern Sudan were being oppressed and marginalized by both countries and atrocities were being carried out by Maoist groups in Nepal and by the Government forces combating them.

Speakers urged that a support fund be created for the participation of indigenous women, who faced economic, political and social limitations, in international forums and conferences; that the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) meet with indigenous women to discuss collaborative strategies to protect indigenous women from rape and other forms of violence; and that the Forum’s mandate be expanded to include governance, treaties and other international agreements.

Also today, Lee Swepston of the International Labour Organization (on behalf of a non-governmental caucus) presented the report of the Inter-agency Support Group, and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, presented that body’s report.

The Forum will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 12 May, to continue its consideration of education and to begin its consideration of culture.

Background

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues met today to conclude a high-level panel discussion on its theme “Indigenous women”.  It was also expected to hold a panel discussion on its mandated area of education.  (For background information, see Press Release HR/4741 of 4 May.)

Panel Discussion on Indigenous Women

Forum member OTILIA LUX GARCIA DE COTI said all indigenous women were to be admired for giving their children the courage to pursue difficult ambitions.  Tired of the destruction they had seen, such women were struggling for peace and striving to build a new world.  She urged States to ratify and implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its optional protocols, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols, the Convention to Eliminate Violence against Women, the Convention on the Rights of All Workers, and the Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.  The international community must defend the rights of indigenous peoples and support all activities aimed at improving the lives of indigenous women and peoples.

Forum member MARCOS MATIA ALONSO said indigenous women were being oppressed because they were women, indigenous and poor, which was exacerbated by the marked absence of such women in policy-making bodies.  The debate on indigenous women should prioritize the right to development, and should not isolate indigenous women from the overall demands of indigenous peoples.  The Forum should avoid becoming a factory of proposals and resolutions without active commitment, and should seek coordinating mechanisms within the United Nations system.  It should question whether consultations with indigenous peoples were taking place and whether the Forum’s recommendations were being implemented by governments or by the United Nations.

Forum member ANTONIO JACANAMIJOY recommended that the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity organize a workshop on indigenous women and traditional knowledge, and that United Nations agencies consider indigenous women when creating and implementing work programmes.  He also recommended that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women consider the safety of indigenous women, and encouraged States to adopt a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.  In addition, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) should consider the recommendations of States Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Forum member IDA NICOLAISEN said that as international agencies, and hopefully Member States, began to formulate policies addressing indigenous women’s issues, the Forum must gather systematic, disaggregated data and highlight the most urgent issues for indigenous women.  There must also be adaptation of existing programmes to focus on the specific needs of indigenous women.  Strategies must be devised to mainstream indigenous women’s issues throughout the United Nations system and to incorporate them in decision-making at all levels, including the national level.  As the key actors, States must play their part in that process.  There should also be efforts to draw attention to the specific needs of indigenous women involved in migration within and across States.

Forum member PARSHURAM TAMANG said that, with the present session’s theme, the Permanent Forum had intended to bring together the whole United Nations system to see what States had done on the issue of indigenous women.  States were the main actors in the implementation of the Permanent Forum’s recommendations on indigenous issues.  Thus, he requested additional information from States on their efforts to mainstream indigenous women’s issues into policy, as well as from representatives of indigenous groups as to their activities to mainstream indigenous women in their own communities.

Forum member NJUMA EKUNDANAYO said she wished to draw attention to the marginalization of indigenous women throughout the world as the victims of all evils.  The recommendations of the Forum concerning indigenous women must address the real needs of indigenous women.  There was a need for statistics on indigenous women and reliable policies, as well as follow-up through the United Nations system and Member States to ensure the implementation of such policies.  Only then would the Forum be able to offer valid criticism of traditional practices.

Panel Discussion on Education

Forum member QIN XIAOMEI said the value of education was not limited to inherited culture, but was a basic human right for indigenous peoples and a prerequisite for realizing those rights.  Investment in education for indigenous peoples was needed to enhance their living standards.  Realizing the right to education required the equal, voluntary enjoyment of various educational categories, and the right to establish institutions adapted to indigenous culture and teaching methods.  Indigenous peoples must not be deprived of the right to equal education on the basis of ethnicity, sex or age.  Education should be affordable, as well as of acceptable form and content.  Indigenous peoples should be allowed to select schools according to their cultures, and establish and manage their own institutions.

States should provide financial, material and human resource support for indigenous education, she continued.  Governments and indigenous peoples should communicate on the basis of equality and trust.  According to the provisions of international human rights instruments, many governments had formulated policies and programmes to safeguard the indigenous right to education and had taken measures to further that right.  She recommended that indigenous teachers be trained to increase their opportunities for employment in the educational sector, that courses on indigenous issues be offered, and that an international indigenous peoples university be set up.

TOVE SKUTNABB-KANGAS, a researcher with the Department of Languages and Culture of the University of Roskilde, Denmark, and the Department of Education of AboAkademiUniversity, Vasa, Finland, said that as minority children had to become minimally bilingual through their formal education, detailed knowledge of bilingual education must be gained in order to make practicable policies.  Thus, while a common sense approach would incorporate a focus on “early start” programmes, research results showed that that “late-exit transitional programmes”, in which students received the majority of their instruction in their mother tongue, had significantly better success than “early-exit transitional programmes”, in which students were taught in their native language for one to two years and then taught completely in the dominant language.  The best results in terms of bilingualism and educational success had been seen in such “late-exit transitional programmes”.  Long-term instruction in the mother tongue was also a much more important determinant of educational success than socio-economic status.  Moreover, the worst results were garnered from students in regular submersion programmes, which was the dominant type of programme currently provided.

Yet, research results showed that States had not implemented the lessons learned from research, she continued.  From the studies cited, one could conclude that there was a clear risk that the policy of using English as a vehicular language could contribute to stunting, rather than promoting English language growth.  It could also be seen, in research results from Sweden, that Finnish-speaking individuals who received medium-level education in Swedish did not speak Finnish to their children.  Submersion instruction had the effect of transferring minority-speaking individuals to the majority group, at least linguistically.  That contributed to a phenomenon of linguistic genocide.  However, among the reasons for maintaining all the world’s languages one could see that, in knowledge societies, uniformity was a handicap; that creativity, innovation and investment were the results of additive teaching and multilingualism; and that linguistic diversity was a prerequisite for biological diversity.

LINDA KING, Interim Chief of the Section on Education for Peace and Human Rights in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, stressed that education was important in improving not only the lives of indigenous girls, but everyone in their society.  Several recent studies had shown that one extra year beyond primary school boosted economic possibilities for women by 10 per cent; resulted in greater literacy and lower fertility; reduced child mortality; and fostered democratic citizenship.  It had also been shown that increased literacy among women had a greater effect on child mortality rates than increased literacy among males.  Other research had shown a link between the expansion of education and increased economic activity.  Also, children who went to school were more likely to protect themselves against diseases, such as HIV/AIDS.

A supportive policy environment, as well as political commitment, was needed to ensure quality indigenous education, she said.  Other requirements included both formal and non-formal teaching methods at home and in the community; indigenous knowledge in educational curricula; innovative solutions for portraying indigenous knowledge systems as equal to Western systems; culture-based curricula that were appropriate to the community; curricula that promoted positive aspects of indigenous cultures; and the use of indigenous languages.  In addition, teachers should be familiar with indigenous cultures and languages, and use responsive and experiential teaching methods.

Responding specifically to the presentation by Ms. King, a representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stressed that mother tongue education was not just a tool to improve the provision of education, but an internationally agreed right recognized by all but one State.  It was important to strengthen indigenous languages, which had been relegated to domestic circles and rural areas, as a result of which their development had atrophied.

Another speaker stressed that many United Nations agencies had missed the point on education for indigenous people.  Indigenous education should not concern merely reading and writing, as indigenous literacy incorporated the body of traditional knowledge and song.

Forum member ERICA-IRENE DAES asked whether UNESCO had any concrete project, forthcoming in the next six months, related to the protection and promotion of indigenous peoples’ right to education.  Forum Rapporteur WILLIE LITTLECHILD commented that once linguistic genocide had been completed, indigenous peoples’ ways of prayer would be severely impacted.  As one elder had stated “You took away my talk”.

In response to those comments, Ms. KING said she had wished to explore the notion of quality of education and what that meant for indigenous peoples.  On the issue of the need for indigenous education to incorporate more than a Westernized approach focused on reading and writing, she said that traditional pedagogy was a phenomenon that UNESCO was trying to understand and incorporate into its thinking.

Regarding concrete projects on the promotion and protection of indigenous people’s right to education, she listed a number of countries in which UNESCO was carrying out programmes.

Responding to the representative from UNICEF, Ms. SKUTNABB-KANGAS said that the Convention cited by her did not explicitly recognize the right to mother tongue education.  Unfortunately, there was no absolute right to mother tongue education laid out in any legally binding international instrument.

Panel Discussion on Women

A member of the Pacific Caucus outlined the situation on the Pacific island of Moluccu, where the Indonesian military had been committing atrocities, including genocide and ethnic cleansing, since 1999.  Women and children were the most vulnerable targets in efforts to eliminate the indigenous population.  In addition, Jihad fighters were forcing Muslim men to provide them with their wives and daughters, who were often forced to undergo female genital mutilation.

Participants also emphasized the importance of communication and media in highlighting women’s concerns, and pointed to the vital roles played by education and secure land tenure in development, food security and poverty alleviation.  Speakers also suggested that governments should protect indigenous rights, give indigenous women more control of resources, and ensure that public officers showed indigenous peoples more respect.

An indigenous woman speaking on behalf of the Native Women’s Association and the Assembly of First Nations of Canada urged her country and the international community to seek out the root causes of the economic and social situation of indigenous women.  The international community should continue bringing pressure on States to expose indigenous problems and improve their living conditions.  Indigenous peoples were at the bottom of every socio-economic index.

Another indigenous representative from Canada called for an examination of the effects of colonization on indigenous women, drawing attention to the “Sisters in Spirit” campaign, which focused on the disappearances of aboriginal women, and called on the Canadian Government to establish a $10 million fund to investigate violence against aboriginal women as a legacy of the colonization experience.

A representative of Denmark addressed the situation of the indigenous people in Greenland and efforts undertaken by the Greenland Parliament and Home Rule Government to mainstream indigenous women’s issues into policy-making.  Greenland and Denmark had taken a rights-based approach to indigenous peoples, including the right to self-determination.

For her part, a representative of Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas, speaking on behalf of several South American indigenous groups, said that the first thing that must be accomplished by indigenous women was defence of indigenous land, environment and life as a whole.  Indigenous issues could not be properly addressed when fragmented into separate aspects.  Indigenous peoples must be able to count on the right to equal education and health.  In the latter respect, indigenous health must incorporate spiritual, as well as physical wellness.

A representative of the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network recounted the proposals of a 2004 conference on indigenous women in the Philippines.  Key among them was a recommendation to provide justice and redress for indigenous women victims of violence and trafficking.  Many indigenous women were killed or raped by military forces in the region, but were too frightened of the perpetrators to tell their stories.  The situation had worsened since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, with the increased number of military forces entering certain areas to seek out terrorists.

The conference recommended that United Nations mechanisms be used to assist indigenous women in Asia in fighting for their rights.  It demanded justice and accountability for criminal offences against women, and invited the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women to visit Asian areas where violent incidents and trafficking had become serious problems.

Addressing a similar theme, a representative of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum and other Bangladeshi indigenous groups recommended that a special study be carried out on genocidal practices and the loss of indigenous lands and territories in Bangladesh.  Patriarchy was pervasive in the country, she said, and indigenous women were excluded from decision-making processes.  They were also harassed and victimized on the basis of gender and ethnicity.

Other indigenous speakers recommended that the Forum’s mandate be expanded to include governance, treaties and other international agreements.  They also suggested that the Forum work with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to assist members who had visa problems in attending the Forum; urged the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to pay special attention to the discrimination of indigenous women; and called for a United Nations conference on indigenous women to develop a global agenda on indigenous women.

Speakers also highlighted the denial of the right of indigenous women to participate in public policy affairs, which negatively impacted their right to affect issues of particular concern for them.  Women had been considered second-class citizens in their societies since time immemorial.  To combat that phenomenon, the Permanent Forum should support national efforts of indigenous groups to assert their rights.

It was also noted that violence against indigenous women came not only from dominant societies, but also from within indigenous communities.  There should be a thorough examination of the sources of such violence and attention should be drawn to the complementary roles played by women and men in indigenous societies.

Indigenous women also suffered from lack of access to employment and education opportunities, and to health services that responded adequately to their needs.

Drawing attention to the specific situation in her country, an indigenous representative from Suriname said hers was the only country in the Western hemisphere that had not recognized indigenous rights.  While serious violations of indigenous rights continued, the Government had yet to take any steps to implement the decisions elaborated by the Permanent Forum.  She sought the Forum’s assistance, including with regard to drafting a national framework for the realization of indigenous rights.

Among other specific situations to which attention was drawn was that of indigenous people subject to atrocities carried out by Maoist groups in Nepal and by the Government forces combating them, and the fact that a disproportionate number of victims of trafficking in South Asia were indigenous women and girls.

A representative of the Anywaa Survival Organization said that some 100,000 indigenous people in Ethiopia and south-eastern Sudan were being oppressed and marginalized by both countries.  Last year, Ethiopian defence forces and local militia had begun carrying out genocide on the Anywaa.  Women and girls were raped, often by men infected with HIV/AIDS; houses were bombed, leaving no shelter; crops were burned, leaving no food; and men were arrested simply because they were Anywaa, leaving children with no caregivers.  People were suffering from a lack of proper sanitation, contaminated water, and disease-bearing mosquitoes.  He urged the Forum and the international community to consider the suffering Anywaa women and children, and work for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, the return of displaced refugees, and the release of all detainees.

Similarly, a representative of the Sherpa Association of Nepal highlighted the ongoing conflict in her country, which had particularly affected women and girls.  Hundreds of women were being widowed and children orphaned.  Women were forced to participate in the war, taking arms to kill their own relatives.

Other participants recommended that a report be prepared on the positive contributions of indigenous peoples in dispute settlement and peacemaking, highlighting the role of women.  Some also suggested that a support fund be created for the participation of indigenous women -– faced with economic, political and social limitations -- in international forums and conferences.

A representative of the Defensoría de los Pueblos Indígenas del Ecuador en América said his Government and its institutions were corrupt, and paid little attention to the needs of indigenous women and children. When they immigrated to the United States for a better life, they were discriminated against in every sense. It was an illusion that immigrants had equality of education in the United States. Not only was education paternalistic and individualistic, everything was taught in English and the curriculum was unsuitable for immigrants.

A representative from Clan Star, an organization representing Native American women from the United States, asked that the Forum recommend that United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) meet with indigenous women to discuss collaborative strategies to protect indigenous women against rape and other forms of violence, and for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to discuss discriminatory practices, which facilitated such violence against women.  Specific consideration should also be given to rape and other forms of violence perpetrated against indigenous women in situations of war and conflict, and a working group on indigenous women –- as a marginalized group –- should be established.

Finally, a representative from the newly established Institute of Indigenous Affairs described programmes that were being developed to address the need for education on indigenous issues and announced that a seminar for the United Nations would be held at Lake Tahoe in the summer.

Report of Inter-Agency Support Group

Giving a brief overview of the report of the Inter-agency Support Group, LEE SWEPSTON of the International Labour Organization (ILO), speaking on behalf of a caucus of non-governmental organizations, said that the amount of work being done within agencies on indigenous issues was striking.  Supporting those efforts through the adoption of draft decisions at the Economic and Social Council could be a positive step in prioritizing indigenous issues.  Regarding structure, he said there had been consideration of holding more crosscutting discussions on issues such as poverty reduction.  Furthermore, emphasis had been placed on increasing the regional focus on intergovernmental agencies’ work with regard to indigenous issues.

Report of Board of Trustees of Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations

VICTORIA TAULI-CARPUZ, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, noted that the General Assembly had twice expanded the mandate of the Fund to facilitate the participation of indigenous groups in the work of the United Nations system.  Most recently, the Board had recommended to the Secretary-General the approval of 46 travel grants to indigenous groups from around the world.  All regular and potential donors were urged to contribute substantially to the Fund.

Over the years, she said, the Fund had been able to support more than 870 indigenous representatives and had become a model emulated by other intergovernmental bodies.  However, the Fund’s existence had been threatened last year, under the Secretary-General’s reform proposals.  The members of the Board of Trustees asserted that the Fund was very much alive.  For many indigenous peoples living in the worst of conditions, their participation in United Nations processes ensured their very survival.  The Fund had survived that threat and could be cited as an example of best practices.

Resumed Panel Discussion on Education

As the Forum resumed its panel discussion on education, a representative of the Indigenous Women’s Caucus said that indigenous women continued to be denied the most basic of human rights -– education -– and called on the United Nations to declare a second International Decade of Indigenous Women.

The representative of Ecuador said that indigenous peoples continued to face serious conditions of poverty and rejection, and that indigenous women must overcome even greater obstacles due to discrimination faced even within their own communities.  Recently, gains had been made as indigenous women had benefited from greater access to educational opportunities.  His country’s fundamental charter now ensured the full participation of minorities in public affairs and established co-responsibility for compliance with citizens’ rights.  The Government of Ecuador considered that education was a prerequisite to overcoming obstacles to development and particular attention was given to the education of indigenous women.

A representative of the Pacific Caucus recommended that UNESCO fund a world forum on education and indigenous peoples, and that States work together with indigenous educators to promote a system of learning based on culture and knowledge.  The Forum should request that UNESCO seek an education system applicable to indigenous children and youth; recommend a twice-yearly journal for Pacific peoples to publish their concerns; and recommend the immediate adoption of a document on the rights of indigenous peoples.

The vast majority of people being educated in the Pacific were indigenous, she continued.  Significant research had shown that their educational systems were failing to meet expectations, especially in development and economic reform.  Grave concerns had been expressed on the relatively high failure rate in the Pacific, which was related to past colonial structures that were unconnected with indigenous peoples.

* *** *