PRESS CONFERENCE on permanent forum on indigenous issues

 

With serious gaps remaining between legislation and the actual enjoyment by indigenous peoples of their rights, the fifth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, meeting in New York from 15 to 26 May, would tackle matters such as the need for inclusion in decision-making and progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Briefing correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, as the Forum opened its two-week annual session, were José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Foreign Minister of Bolivia; Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum; and Phrang Roy, Assistant President on Special Assignment for Indigenous and Tribal Issues, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The First International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004) had brought interesting developments, said Mr. Ocampo.  Many countries had adopted legislation regarding the rights of indigenous peoples in the areas of land, resources, culture and language.  Some countries, particularly in the Americas, had reformed their constitutions or enacted legislation regarding indigenous peoples.  Advances, although modest, had also been made in other parts of the world such as the Russian Federation and the Philippines.  In addition, a few countries in Africa, including Uganda, Cameroon and South Africa, now recognized indigenous peoples as such.

“Despite this fact, there is a huge implementation gap between legislation and the daily realities of indigenous peoples”, he noted.  According to the World Bank, indigenous peoples constituted 12 per cent of the world’s extreme poor, even though they only represented 5 per cent of the total population.  It was hoped that many of the advances made thus far would be consolidated during the Second International Decade, which had commenced on 1 January 2005.  It was also hoped that during the Second Decade, the General Assembly would adopt the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

He said the objectives of the Second Decade included promoting non-discrimination and inclusion of indigenous people in the design and implementation of all national and international policies; promoting their full and effective participation in decisions that affected them, based on the principle of free, prior and informed consent; redefining development policies that departed from a vision of equity; adopting targeted policies, programmes and budgets for the development of indigenous peoples; and developing monitoring mechanisms.  In several of those areas, he added, the Forum would play an important role.

Ms. Tauli-Corpuz drew attention to the fact that there was hardly any reference to indigenous peoples in national implementation reports on the Millennium Development Goals.  That was why the Forum was looking at the Goals and redefining them to be more coherent with the vision and aspirations of indigenous peoples.  While there had been achievements in the First International Decade in terms of putting in place legal frameworks recognizing indigenous rights, she said the fact remained that poverty had not been addressed.  The World Bank had reported that poverty had worsened in the five countries it had studied -- Bolivia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico.  Among its findings was that 87 per cent of the indigenous population in Guatemala was poor, compared to 48 per cent of the non-indigenous population.

The implementation of laws and legal frameworks had not worked to the advantage of indigenous peoples in terms of addressing extreme poverty and the lack of social services, she noted.  In that regard, the Forum wanted the United Nations system to take seriously the human-rights based approach to development.  Unless the rights of indigenous peoples to land, territories and resources were respected, as well as the right to determine how development should take place in their communities, the appalling situation in indigenous communities would not change.  The impact of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals on indigenous peoples should be assessed and reported in national reports on the Goals.  The Forum had called for the creation of indicators that were more reflective of the realities of indigenous peoples, including non-income indicators of poverty, such as the lack of voice in power systems and the removal of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands.

She added that even if the World Bank had free prior and informed consultation in its policy, that would not stop indigenous peoples from demanding free prior and informed consent, as the two were different concepts.  Free, prior and informed consent meant that indigenous peoples would have to agree that projects could take place in their communities.  Once the draft declaration on indigenous rights, which contained a paragraph on the right of indigenous peoples to have free, prior and informed consent, was adopted, that would influence policies and standards.

The IFAD, stated Mr. Roy, had realized that the technical solutions provided to indigenous communities were mainly guided by the concerns of mainstream society.  It was important to listen to indigenous people, to hear their views and accept their institutions as guiding principles.  The Fund had also discovered the importance of working through the participatory approach and implementing the concept of free, prior and informed consent.  “And our experience on the ground is that, when we do that, we do see a transformation”, he said.  It addition, it found that indigenous women could bring about major transformation.  One challenge for IFAD was to develop mechanisms for more direct funding to indigenous people themselves.

After 500 years of exclusion and being subjected to systematic pillaging and looting of natural resources, the Bolivian people had elected “an indigenous President” on 18 December 2005, stated Mr. Choquehuanca.  Saying that “our future lies in our past”, he stressed the need for the world to listen to indigenous peoples and become aware of the contributions that they could make.

Responding to a number of questions on President Evo Morales’ moves to nationalize his nation’s oil and gas reserves, Mr. Choquehuanca said the moves were meant to provide legal security in order to attract foreign investment.  Multinational companies were not about to leave Bolivia; they would continue to make a profit.  “We are simply changing the rules of the game”, he said, in order to ensure an effective fight against poverty.

As for additional measures the Government intended to make, he said, “We are going to redistribute land in equitable and just manner.”  It was unacceptable that company managers who did not work should hold some 40,000 or 50,000 hectares of land.  Rather than expropriate those lands, the Government wished to ensure that those company managers abided by the law, in order to “serve an economic purpose”.  The Government would also enact a new forestry law, as well as a new law regarding the use of silver resources.  Those who benefited from those resources were not Bolivians, and that was what the Government wanted to change.  In addition, the Government sought to launch several initiatives in the social sphere, including a massive literacy campaign to ensure universal literacy.

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For information media • not an official record