PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL LANDS, WATER, EDUCATION, LAWS VITAL FOR PRESERVING INDIGENOUS CULTURE, PERMANENT FORUM TOLD

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues                       

Third Session                                        

5^th & 6^th Meetings (AM & PM)

PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL LANDS, WATER, EDUCATION, LAWS VITAL

FOR PRESERVING INDIGENOUS CULTURE, PERMANENT FORUM TOLD

As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its third session this afternoon, speakers highlighted the importance of protecting and maintaining such vital cultural elements as land, water, resources, language and traditional law as the only meaningful way for indigenous peoples to survive.

Lack of control over their cultural heritage was a huge threat to indigenous peoples, said Forum Chairperson Ole Henrik Magga, stressing that they must have access to traditional lands in preserving their cultural identities.  United Nations bodies should recognize that indigenous culture was directly linked to land, water and other resources, and language, he said, adding that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had a particular role to play in protecting languages.

Similarly, Forum member Otilia Lux de Coti pointed out that a prism of values, beliefs, shared practices, and perceptions of life reflected indigenous culture.  Education was vital for preserving cultures, as indigenous peoples worked from the reservoir of their culture to build the future with their identity intact.  No culture could exist without education, she emphasized, and education must incorporate culture.

Participants in the discussion on indigenous culture pointed to the use of the media, the most powerful non-violent weapon in the world, to spread information within and without indigenous communities.  The production of indigenous media and films would help protect indigenous language, identity and culture, it was stated, and provide work for the young, who might then stay closer to home.  A global campaign was proposed to collect data on endangered species traditionally linked with indigenous cultures, and to develop strategies to protect them.

Speakers also referred to cultural annihilation that was occurring in their countries.  The Montagnard Foundation, for example, said the Vietnamese Government was trying to annul indigenous peoples by destroying their traditional method of slash and burn farming.  People were being forced to relocate from ancestral lands and settle Vietnamese style in a new location on inferior cropland.

Presentations were also made by a number of United Nations bodies regarding their work relating to indigenous issues.  Among them was the representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who said that this year’s human development report had addressed diversity, not as a good or bad thing but as a social fact.  The report highlighted the limitations of majority democracies, and how they had failed to protect the rights of minorities and indigenous groups.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), stated its representative, had completed the first draft of a study describing the living and housing conditions of indigenous people, their relationship to land, and international human and housing rights instruments.  The study recommended that States ensure adequate resources for indigenous housing development and maintenance, that indigenous people could fulfil their housing needs through economic self-reliance, and that indigenous people should not be evicted from their homes and lands by development projects.

Also today, the Forum concluded its dialogue on education, with speakers emphasizing the need for indigenous people to have full control over their children’s education, which should take place in their own languages and schools.  They also stressed the importance of post-secondary education and life-long learning, especially for women, in closing the socio-economic gap between indigenous and non-indigenous groups.  Such learning, it was noted, should focus on indigenous history, knowledge, technology and values, as well as global knowledge.

Other participants highlighted the special problems faced by indigenous groups in Africa, where cultural and linguistic differences were often overlooked; the use of children as labourers or soldiers kept many out of school; and women were denied basic learning facilities.  Noting that most African governments failed to recognize the Forum, making implementation of its recommendations problematic, one representative urged the Forum to visit the continent and spread awareness of its work.

The Forum will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 13 May, to continue its consideration of culture.

Background

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues met today to continue its discussion of education, and to begin consideration of culture.  (For background information, see Press Release HR/4741 of 4 May.)

Discussion of Education

A representative of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) said UNITAR had international and regional training programmes for indigenous people, which were aimed at strengthening their capacities to analyse conflict, negotiate settlements to improve their situations, and build enduring relationships.  The programmes included negotiation simulations based on real-life situations faced by indigenous communities.

The representative of Canada stressed that life-long learning was vital in addressing problems faced by indigenous women, especially in closing the socio-economic gap between them and the non-indigenous population.  First Nation women in Canada had become leaders in educational services and were guiding the current wave of innovation in education governance.  It was important to support early child development and parental involvement in education, and to promote post-secondary education, so that indigenous women could complete their studies and enter the labour market.

New Zealand’s delegate said the family played a significant role in motivating children to learn and shaping their future attitudes.  The Maoris had undertaken several successful initiatives aimed at early childhood development, as well as primary and secondary education, which were based on Maori pedagogy and designed to meet their needs.  He stressed the importance of a holistic approach to education, building up quality infrastructures, and the continued development of teaching resources and materials.

Other speakers highlighted the need to train fathers and mothers, as well as male and female teachers, to value girls as beings with the same rights and capacities as boys.  Some cultures marginalized girls, expecting nothing from them, and marrying them at young ages to older men.  One participant suggested that the Forum could design, in collaboration with United Nations agencies, programmes to combat the illiteracy of indigenous women and promote scholarships for them, so that they could remain in formal schooling.

Reiterating the need for an in-depth review of educational curricula, as books did not adequately cover gender issues or the history of indigenous peoples, speakers called upon universities to review their curricula in line with Forum recommendations.  They also urged that regional summits of indigenous women be organized with the participation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to evaluate progress in education and the integral development of women, children and youth.

The Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas de México noted that the problems suffered by indigenous women –- which related to lack of access to education, employment, health services and adequate nourishment -– had already been analysed in different forums and that agencies such as UNIFEM and UNICEF must now create a space for direct dialogue with indigenous women.  In Mexico, indigenous women suffered in the most remote areas due to lack of education and inequalities in the standard of living.

Chile’s delegate noted that, while spending on bilingual and intercultural education programmes had increased by nearly 400 per cent in recent years, such efforts had been insufficient to ensuring sustainability for indigenous peoples and a situation of social equity.  It was important for governments to carry out policies promoting the social and cultural inheritance of indigenous peoples.

As the representative of Venezuela stated, to speak of indigenous issues necessarily implied addressing poverty; yet poverty could not be addressed without promoting education.  Recognizing that indigenous peoples’ development should be based on the rights to health, education, housing and safe drinking water, her Government had carried out social projects aimed at combating undernourishment and inadequate housing, as well as the threat caused by the constant occupation of indigenous lands.

A representative of the Boarding School Healing Project called on the Forum to reiterate its commitment to conducting a study of genocidal practices perpetrated against indigenous peoples, including at boarding and residential schools in the United States and Canada.

Others urged United Nations bodies to assist in the establishment of a communications mechanism linking all the islands of the Antilles, the establishment of an international day for indigenous women and the erection of a permanent memorial for indigenous women at United Nations Headquarters.  There was also an offer by the Caribbean Antilles Indigenous Peoples Caucus to host the 2006 session of the Permanent Forum, at which there would be no problem of visa restrictions.

A representative of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation said that 70 per cent of his people were illiterate, and recommended that an educational foundation be set up with outside funding and technical support, without government interference.  The Khmer Krom language should be one of Viet Nam’s official languages, and a school should be established that was operated by the Khmer Krom.  Scholarships and opportunities to study abroad should be equally shared between the Khmer Krom and the country’s remaining population.  The UNESCO should work with the Forum to assist with the education of Viet Nam’s indigenous peoples.

A representative of the African Indigenous Women’s Organization stressed the need to recognize cultural and linguistic diversity among Africa’s indigenous peoples.  In many areas, poor governance denied indigenous women formal education and learning facilities.  She recommended that United Nations agencies, in collaboration with indigenous peoples, carry out case studies on the state of education for indigenous women in Africa.  She also noted that child labour had increased due to poverty, especially in mining areas.  Governments should stop that practice and the ILO should monitor it, so that children could go to school.

Several indigenous speakers highlighted the importance of being educated in their own languages in their own institutions, and having full control over their children’s education.  A representative of the British Columbia Indian Chiefs recommended that the United Nations support community-based educational initiatives for indigenous peoples.  Participants also proposed that the decade dedicated to indigenous peoples be extended to help with educational and other needs of indigenous populations worldwide.

Several speakers highlighted the need to support multilingual and intercultural educational systems by endowing them with resources and ensuring the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples.  In that connection, UNESCO was urged to pressure States to reflect colonial history accurately and promote respect for indigenous peoples.

As one delegate noted, access to Western-style systems of education was necessary for indigenous people to understand the world outside their regions.  However, implementation of such systems posed certain problems.  The Forum should recognize the promise new technologies held for education in remote areas and urge that information collection and analysis of the indigenous experience be conducted before the upcoming 2005 World Summit on the Information Society.

Among the indigenous representatives addressing specific situations, a delegate from Hawaii noted that the United States still did not recognize the indigenous people of the archipelago of Hawaii. The Forum should urge the United States to improve the educational system for Hawaiians, to reevaluate federal and state laws depriving indigenous peoples of their rights regarding indigenous education –- specifically the “No Child Left Behind” Act, and to provide culturally-based classes for minors in adjudication and detention.  Hawaii should also be re-inscribed on the list of non-self-governing territories.

As a minority group among the indigenous people of Kenya, Ogiek women suffered from an illiteracy rate of more than 95 per cent, from practices of female genital mutilation and early marriage, and from a general lack of access to health care and educational services, said one of its representatives.  To combat such discrimination, UNESCO was urged to establish programmes specifically aimed at facilitating African indigenous women and girls’ access to education.

The representative of Land is Life said the Akha people of northern Thailand suffered from nearly 85 per cent illiteracy and urged UNESCO to support and fund community-based education in the Akha language.  The Forum should also urge UNICEF to investigate the removal of Akha children, particularly young girls, from their villages by American-based missionary groups and the claims of sexual abuse in missionary schools.

A Forum member described efforts to set up an indigenous university in Peru.  So far, all the information that was needed to establish it had been gathered, and a committee made up of three indigenous communities and two farming organizations had been set up.  Many farming communities had decided to join the effort and had contributed to it.  The university aimed to include courses on conserving environments, upholding human rights and improving the lives of indigenous peoples, and would involve indigenous peoples that had practical and theoretical training on important economic issues for indigenous communities.

A representative of the Consultoría del los Pueblos Indígenas en el Norte de México proposed that the Forum request the Mexican Government to carry out programmes on the fundamental privileges and rights of indigenous peoples, especially in the Baja, for public administrators.  Education could not be separated from language, and the Government should also promote the development and practice of indigenous languages.

A representative of the Mbororo Social Cultural y Development Association pointed out that most African governments did not recognize the Forum, making it difficult to implement its recommendations.  The Forum should send a delegation to make those governments more aware of the Forum’s work.

Speakers also pointed to the need to include qualified indigenous women in developing school curricula, so that aspects of indigenous culture would be included.  Indigenous education should include indigenous history, knowledge, technology and values, but should also open up access to global knowledge.

A Forum member highlighted the need for a world conference to discuss various topics in education and culture.  It was recalled that a recommendation was made last year for United Nations agencies to organize a world conference, with the participation of indigenous peoples.

Attention was drawn to the need to reiterate the Forum’s recommendation to the Special Rapporteur on the right to education to pay special attention to the right to education as contained in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between indigenous peoples and States.  Speakers continued to urge that educational curricula be adapted to incorporate indigenous culture and that universities based on indigenous knowledge systems be established.

Finally, a representative of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations reaffirmed that indigenous peoples of North America were losing their languages, which was the outcome of many generations of children being forced to attend residential schools, where they were forced to learn foreign languages and religions.  It was also where many abuses –- spiritual, mental, physical and sexual –- had been perpetrated against them.  It was now time for the United States and Canada to recognize the indigenous peoples’ right to traditional education.

Introductory Presentations on Culture

Forum member OTILIA LUX DE COTI noted that all indigenous peoples had their own language and shared the same blood, as well as history.  Culture was spelled out through a prism of their values, beliefs, shared practices, and perception of life.  Development must involve the participation of all and become a reality through programmes aimed at stemming cultural genocide.  Education was vital for indigenous peoples, who should work from the reservoir of their own culture and build the future with their identity intact.  She stressed that no culture could exist without education, and that education must be based on culture.

TANNI MUKHOPAPDYAY, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said this year’s human development report had addressed the issue of diversity –- not as a good or bad thing, but as a social fact, which required appropriate policy interventions.  One of the most significant myths was the presumption that State unity was dependent on a single homogenizing national identity, overlooking diversity.  One of key ideas in this year’s report was multiple and complementary identities.  The report also focused on the limits of majority democracies, and how they had failed to protect the rights of minorities and indigenous groups.  It also looked at religion and State, customary law, language policies, bilingual education, affirmative action and policies to ensure equal opportunities, the importance of trade negotiations, and progress in reaching the Millennium Goals.

DAVID STEWART, also of the UNDP, addressing disaggregated data collection, noted inequalities or exclusions in health, education and income, political exclusion, and cultural exclusion in a lot of statistical data.  Data on health, education and income was often not comprehensive or comparable, and little political and cultural data was available.  National human development reports offered opportunities for better data, since they were nationally owned, yet independent of governments and fully participatory.

WEND WENDLAND, of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said he wished to make five key points concerning his organization’s work, the first of which concerned protection of traditional knowledge systems.  That issue had been the subject of much recent consideration, including on its international dimensions.  No possible outcomes in that regard had been excluded, including the development of international instruments.  Second, he drew attention to the procedural aspects of securing the participation of indigenous people in WIPO’s work.  Among other elements designed to facilitate such participation, the organization had begun to give briefings for indigenous groups and non-governmental organizations in advance of sessions.  Third, he drew attention to the publication of a set of case studies, compiled by an indigenous Australian lawyer, of actual cases in which indigenous people had attempted to use the copyright system and dealt with lessons learned therefrom.  Fourth, he expressed WIPO’s appreciation of the Forum’s expertise and its input into the organization’s work.  Finally, he recalled that WIPO was a member of the Inter-Agency Support Group and had recently hosted a meeting of that body.

SELMAN ERGUDEN, Chief of the Housing Policy and Development Section and Coordinator of the United Nations Housing Rights Programme of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), said that the Millennium Development Goal to make a significant difference in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 had provided the major policy thrust for his organization’s work recently.  Urbanization had been rightly recognized as a phenomenon affecting indigenous peoples, and UN-Habitat had commissioned a specific research study on indigenous people and the right to adequate housing, as a joint initiative with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The first draft of that study had been included in the UN-Habitat report submitted to the Forum, which elaborated on living and housing conditions of indigenous people, their relationship to land, self-determination in regard to land and housing, and international human and housing rights instruments and mechanisms.  The observations made in the research study concerned issues such as colonization, self-determination and exclusion from decision-making; socio-economic disadvantage; land rights; discrimination against indigenous peoples (and indigenous women in particular); violence against women; and inadequate housing conditions.  Among the preliminary recommendations of the study:  States must ensure that national budgets guaranteed adequate resources for indigenous housing development and maintenance; Governments should ensure that indigenous people had the means to provide for their own housing needs by restoring a land and economic base enabling indigenous people to become economically self-reliant; and States and financial institutions must do everything possible to avoid the eviction of indigenous peoples from their homes and lands for development projects.

Responding to the above introductory presentations, Forum member MILILANI TRASK said that the reports heard this afternoon had been among the most forthright heard by the Forum.  Above all, it was appreciated when agencies were honest about their inability to comply with Forum recommendations.  That honesty allowed for redirection of the thrust of the recommendations.  In particular, the report submitted by UN-Habitat exemplified that commendable practice.

Mr. ERGUDEN said that forced evictions constituted a gross violation of human rights, particularly regarding the right to adequate housing.  Efforts had been undertaken to set up a legal unit to make recommendations on that issue.

Forum member WILLIE LITTLECHILD then made a presentation on the participation of indigenous women athletes at the Olympics, in keeping with last year’s decision to include consideration of sport within the umbrella of culture.  In recent times, he reflected, the number of indigenous girls and women competing at elite levels of sport had increased.  Before the development of the Indigenous Games -– modelled on the modern Olympics -– there had been a lack of opportunity for indigenous women to participate in such sport.  Moreover, due to the possibility of discrimination, many indigenous athletes had hidden their racial identity.  To facilitate indigenous women’s participation in elite-level sport, there should be increased recognition and resources at all levels of the sports industry to assist them.  Furthermore, the international Olympic family should give ongoing support to indigenous women to support their participation at the Olympics.

Among the modern Olympians cited by Mr. Littlechild were Sharon and Shirley Firth of Canada, who competed in cross-country skiing in four different Winter Games, at Sapporo, Japan (1972), Innsbruck, Austria (1976), Lake Placid, United States (1980), and Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (1984); Angela Chalmers of Canada, who competed in track and field in the Summer Games at Seoul, Republic of Korea (1988) and Barcelona, Spain (1992); Cheri Becerra who was a track and field paralympian in the Summer Games in Atlanta, United States (1996) and Sydney, Australia (2002); Nova Periso-Kneebone of Australia, who competed in field hockey in the Summer Olympics at Atlanta, United States (1996); Cathy Freeman of Australia, who competed in track and field in the Summer Games at Atlanta, United States (1996) and Sydney, Australia (2000); and Waneek Horn Miller of Canada, who competed in water polo at the Summer Games at Sydney, Australia (2000).

OLE HENRIK MAGGA, Forum Chairperson, defined culture as a distinctive way of life for people of a particular society, which embodied inspiration, empowerment, and knowledge of diversity.  It was vital that all United Nations bodies recognized that indigenous culture was intimately connected to indigenous land, water and resources.  Indigenous peoples must have access to their traditional lands to maintain and develop their cultural identities.  Some States might feel pressured to commercialize natural resources to feed otherwise starving peoples, although most consumers supported indigenous people struggling to maintain their distinct cultures.

Lack of control over their cultural heritage was a huge threat to the indigenous cultures, he said.  The Forum should try to bring the United Nations system together in working to protect cultural heritage.  It should play an active role in helping people preserve and protect their languages.  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had an important role to play in addressing work that had been carried out in that respect.  What should be done in furthering language development was to use languages in administration, media, education, and the private sector.

Discussion

Speakers pointed to the need for an indigenous media programme -– to use the media, the most powerful non-violent weapon in the world, to spread information within and without indigenous communities.  The production of indigenous media and films would help protect indigenous language, identity and culture, and could provide work for the young, who might then be enticed to stay close to home.

A representative of the American Indian Alliance highlighted the need to initiate with non-governmental organizations and indigenous peoples a global campaign to protect endangered species.  The campaign would disperse information, collect testimonies on the status of specific species that were particularly important to the life of indigenous groups, and facilitate the development of appropriate strategies.

Other participants referred to cultural annihilation that was occurring in their countries.  The Montagnard Foundation, for example, said the Vietnamese Government was trying to annul indigenous peoples by destroying their traditional way of slash and burn farming.  People were being forced to relocate from ancestral lands and settle Vietnamese style in a new location on inferior crop land.

The representative of the International Indigenous Women’s Caucus emphasized the urgency of protecting indigenous culture, as the only meaningful way to survive.  The Forum should arrange for a report on the universal declaration on cultural diversity at its fourth session.  It should also continue to prevent cultural degradation and displacement from traditional homelands, and advocate for culturally adequate consultation in decisions affecting indigenous peoples, as well as the recovery of indigenous languages.  Further, it should support the establishment of an international centre for multicultural and racial studies.

Declaring that insufficient resources were rumoured to be available to fund UNESCO programmes related to indigenous peoples, the representative of Conseil des Innus du Nitassinan said UNESCO should be pressured to commit the necessary resources to indigenous programmes.

Other speakers addressed issues such as collective efforts being undertaken by indigenous peoples to protect their cultural traditions through customary laws, the need for explicit, sui generis legal protections for traditional indigenous knowledge systems, and the increased participation of indigenous groups in the work of the United Nations system.

Among the recommendations directed to the Forum was one for that body to prioritize the organization of a workshop on the holistic protection of indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage.

The representative of a group of indigenous youth organizations said that indigenous youth should be allowed to inherit and practice their traditional cultures, as it was through them that such cultures would be extended into the future.  The Forum should request United Nations agencies to provide assistance for the creation of social and cultural programmes focused on indigenous languages and urge those agencies to press for indigenous-run schools teaching the true history of indigenous peoples.

A representative of the Indigenous Peoples’ Programme of the World Council of Churches reflected on the rapid disappearances of indigenous languages in the United States and Canada.  In the near future, as many as 90 per cent of North American indigenous languages would be lost.  In view of their extremely endangered status, indigenous languages should comprise the theme of the next session of the Permanent Forum.  Moreover, the Forum should support the declaration of an International Year of Indigenous Languages and States should provide funding for the revitalization of indigenous languages.  It would also be appropriate to establish a fund for indigenous languages within the United Nations system.

Speakers also addressed specific situations in which additional support for the cultural integrity of indigenous groups should be extended, including for the Creole language and culture in the Caribbean Antilles; for the Khmer Krom people of Viet Nam; and for the Maori of New Zealand, who were being stripped of their status as indigenous peoples as a result of renewed scrutiny of the island’s foreshore and seabed.

A delegate speaking on behalf of 19 indigenous organizations from the Pacific region said that the territory encompassed by those organizations contained much of the biological diversity of the world and continued to be inhabited by populations determined to protect the existence of their traditional heritage.  Reaffirming once more the need to extend the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples, she called on all States to ratify the International Convention on Indigenous Peoples.  Among other priority cultural concerns were the need to respect indigenous sacred areas, as well as indigenous populations’ right to protect their languages.  Regarding the latter, UNESCO should establish global programmes to help sustain such languages.

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