Sixty-third General Assembly

Third Committee

17^th Meeting (AM)

THIRD COMMITTEE SPEAKERS HIGHLIGHT POLICY SUCCESSES ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES, BUT SAY

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CONTINUE TO FACE EXCLUSION, EXPLOITATION, POVERTY

Head of Department of Economic and Social Affairs Says 2007 Rights Declaration,

Indigenous Issues Guidelines for UN Country Teams Most Important Recent Achievements

As the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today took up indigenous issues and matters relating to the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, speakers pointed to the continued marginalization of indigenous peoples and stressed the importance of integrating the indigenous community into national development processes, with the aid of carefully developed intergovernmental mechanisms.

“Through the United Nations, we have by now created a number of normative, policy and other practical tools on indigenous peoples’ issues,” said Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, referring to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in September 2007, and the Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues for United Nations Country Teams, developed jointly by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Group.  Those two documents were considered by Mr. Sha to be “the most important of recent achievements” in the field of indigenous issues.

Yet, even with a number of encouraging developments since adoption of the Declaration, indigenous peoples continued to face exclusion, exploitation, discrimination and extreme poverty, Mr. Sha said.  Mr. Sha, also the coordinator of the Second International Decade, noted that the Decade -- which began in January 2005 -- would approach its midpoint soon.  Mindful that a mid-term and end-term assessment of the Second Decade would be due, he said he would be keen to hear from Governments on what type of review would be most useful.

The representative of Greece highlighted the United Nations mechanisms for dealing with indigenous issues -- the New York-based Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Geneva-based Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the roving office of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples.  But, she noted that full integration of indigenous peoples into national policy required the active involvement of indigenous communities themselves.  In many cases, indigenous peoples pursued their own forms of sustainable development, which were deserving of recognition.

Referring specifically to the work of the Permanent Forum, the representative of the Russian Federation said that body was an important tool in promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, keeping in mind the vulnerability of their traditional way of life.  However, to solve the problems of indigenous peoples, the members of that forum would need to work cooperatively with States and Governments.  New Zealand’s delegate, who said her country had been the first to contribute financially to the Permanent Forum, added that the report from the most recent meeting had raised important issues relating to climate change, the Millennium Development Goals and the safeguarding of indigenous languages, which she felt deserved attention.

The representative of Brazil, among many speakers, congratulated James Anaya on his appointment as Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues, while expressing appreciation for a visit by him to Brazil in August at the request of indigenous leaders who had taken part in the May session of the Permanent Forum.  The Special Rapporteur, who assumed his post in May this year, had also addressed, in private, fifty indigenous leaders, and visited indigenous lands in the States of Amazonas, Roraima, and Mato Grosso do Sul.

She said Brazil expected the Special Rapporteur “to produce, as a result of his visit, a credible, meaningful and constructive assessment of the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in our country, shedding light on the structural causes underlying possible violations.”

Pointing to the Special Rapporteur’s absence from today’s discussion, Guatemala’s representative expressed hope that an invitation to appear before the Third Committee would be extended to him in the coming years.  As the world faced a triple crisis -- food, energy and financal -- it was becoming more and more important for the international community to step up and reaffirm its commitment to ensuring the rights of all vulnerable groups, including indigenous women, a point stressed also by the representative of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Commenting briefly on that subject, Elissavet Stamatopoulou, an official from the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who fielded a question from Libya’s delegate on potential effects of the financial crisis on indigenous peoples, remarked that the financial crisis could result in Governments further curtailing support to communities in remote areas, since it was much cheaper for Governments to attend to the needs of communities that were closer to the centres of power.

Also speaking today were the representatives of France, speaking on behalf of the European Union, Denmark, speaking on behalf of the five Nordic countries,the Philippines, Canada, Fiji, Nepal, Colombia, Mexico and Chile.  Representatives of the International Labour Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development also made statements.

The Committee will meet again at 10 am Tuesday, 21 October, to begin its discussion on human rights, including the implementation of human rights instruments and the comprehensive implementation of, and follow-up to, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to take up indigenous issues and the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.  Before the Committee was a report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the status of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations (document A/63/166), a fund that provides financial assistance to representatives of indigenous communities to participate in United Nations meetings.  The Board foresees the need for $868,560 in 2009.

Statement by Under-Secretary-General

SHA ZUKANG, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, also the coordinator of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, noted that a number of encouraging developments had taken place since the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last year.  The Declaration had been recognized as law by one country and used in another country by national courts to correct situations faced by indigenous communities.  Some States had issued formal apologies to indigenous peoples for historic injustices and another had recognized indigenous peoples.  Various constitutional or other legislative bodies had proclaimed the multicultural character of some States where indigenous peoples lived.  Indigenous persons had also been called to occupy high positions in government.

At the international level, he said an international financial institution had adopted a policy on indigenous peoples, and the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) had adopted Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues for United Nations Country Teams, based on norms embodied by the Declaration.

But, indigenous peoples continued to face exclusion, exploitation, discrimination and extreme poverty, he said.  They have, among others:  been displaced from their traditional territories and deprived of their means of subsistence; been excluded from decisions affecting the lives of their communities; and experienced forced assimilation.  At times, indigenous communities suffered from direct violence and persecution, and some even faced the danger of extinction.

He called for robust cooperation between Member States and the United Nations system towards implementation of the Declaration, as well as for concerted action by United Nations Country Teams to implement the United Nations Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues.  Countries were further called on to display “constructive political will and provide the resources to make a real difference” in indigenous peoples’ lives.

He noted that the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues had expressed concern again, at its 2008 session, that country reports on implementation of the Millennium Development Goals did not adequately address the indigenous issues, nor did the preparation of reports adequately involve their participation.  That situation must be rectified in the spirit of the Second Decade.  Problems created by climate change, as well as the food, financial and other crises facing the world, were disproportionately affecting the most marginalized and poorest indigenous communities.

He noted that the Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, which began in January 2005, was fast approaching its midpoint.  The Programme of Action adopted by the General Assembly had suggested, among other things, that the Assembly hold a mid-term and end-term assessment of the Second Decade.  That prompted Mr. Sha to ask the Committee what type of review would be most useful, in terms of form and focus, explaining that his Department was keen to hear the views of Governments.  He expressed appreciation to those Governments and United Nations agencies that had contributed to the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues and encouraged them to continue showing such support.

“Through the United Nations, we have by now created a number of normative, policy and other practical tools on indigenous peoples’ issues,” he said, of which the Declaration and the UNDG Guidelines were “the most important of recent achievements”.  He called on all to work in partnership to accelerate progress towards social justice for indigenous peoples.

NGONLARDJE MBAIDJOL, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, briefly introduced the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations (see document A/63/166), which contained an overview of the financial status and activities of the fund.

Questions and Answers

Addressing the panellists in the question and answer session following the introduction of the reports, the representative of Libya asked what impact the current financial crisis might have on indigenous communities.

Mr. Mbaidjol said he recognized the difficult situation that the financial crisis would put many Member States in, but he hoped that the Trust Fund would continue to receive support from States, despite the crisis.  In addition, he said a comprehensive strategy was needed to address the crisis and to ensure ongoing support from Member States for the Fund.

ELISSAVET STAMATOPOULOU, speaking on behalf of Mr. Sha Zukang, said that any crisis affected, disproportionately, vulnerable communities, especially indigenous communities that lived in very remote areas.  Often, it was much cheaper for Governments to attend to the needs of communities that were closer to the centres of power, since it cost much more to provide services to those in remote areas.  Therefore, the financial crisis could result in Governments further curtailing support to communities in remote areas.

Statements

FABIEN FIESCHI (France), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said at the threshold of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, indigenous peoples were still suffering from marginalization and poverty.  The international community had launched the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and adopted two international instruments dedicated to the welfare of that community.  The September 2007 adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a culmination of 20 years of dialogue between nations and indigenous leaders, was a substantial advance in protecting rights that were long ignored and violated.  That Declaration, though not binding, provided for rights applicable to all indigenous peoples and was strongly backed by the Human Rights Commissioner. 

He congratulated James Anaya on his appointment as Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues and expressed support for him.  Further, he said the Permanent Forum was an essential discussion forum for discussing issues facing indigenous people, and for proposing solutions to the problems facing them.  The European Union was pleased to see that the Human Rights Council had set up an expert mechanism on indigenous issues, which was expected to meet later in the month.  It would allow the representatives of indigenous peoples to “flesh out” the work to be done by the Special Rapporteur.  The Union called upon the international community to promote the rights of indigenous people, so that as the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was observed, the world could see that human rights were indeed universally upheld.

CARSTEN STAUR ( Denmark), speaking on behalf of the five Nordic countries, said that the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples contributed substantively to the maintenance and development of multicultural, pluralistic and tolerant societies.  The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples placed the issue of the special challenges of indigenous peoples high on the international agenda, and it was now up to Member States to facilitate the dialogue on the practical implementation of its principles.  The Human Rights Council had adopted a resolution in 2007 to establish an Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and had, earlier in the year, appointed its members.  That mechanism would be pivotal to the advancement of indigenous peoples worldwide, as would the appointment of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. 

Those mandates and mechanisms in place, along with the adoption of the Declaration and the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, constituted a solid platform on which all Member States could work together to protect and improve the lives and rights of indigenous peoples, he said.  However, indigenous peoples around the world remained among the most marginalized groups in their countries and often suffered from poverty, exclusion, violence and racial discrimination.  There was, therefore, a continuing need to overcome the persistent racism and intolerance that affected indigenous peoples, and that issue should be reflected in the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference. 

LUCIA MARIA MAIERÁ ( Brazil) expressed appreciation for a visit by the Special Rapporteur to Brazil in August, which had been his first country visit since he took up his post in May; he was the twelfth Special Rapporteur to visit Brazil since 1998.  That visit had followed a request directed to him by Brazilian indigenous leaders, who had participated in the last session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May.  Mr. Anaya had met with the President and officials of the National Indian Foundation, which was the federal body mandated to protect indigenous peoples’ rights and to implement the national indigenous policy.  He had also held high-level talks at the Ministry of Justice, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights and others.  He had also addressed, in private, fifty indigenous leaders appointed to the Brazilian National Indigenous Peoples Commission by grass-roots indigenous organizations from all over the country.  He had also visited indigenous lands in the States of Amazonas, Roraima, and Mato Grosso do Sul.

She said Brazil expected the Special Rapporteur “to produce, as a result of his visit, a credible, meaningful and constructive assessment of the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in our country, shedding light on the structural causes underlying possible violations.”  She explained that, in Brazil, a grass-roots movement among indigenous people had given new impetus to a wider debate about the demarcation of traditionally occupied lands and against the “assimilationist policies” in force at the time.   The 1988 Federal Constitution had then replaced the previous assimilationist model with a legal framework based on respect for the cultural identities of indigenous peoples and for their land rights.  Of a total of 653 recognized indigenous lands, Brazil had so far delimited, homologated and regularized 488 lands for their permanent and exclusive possession.  The remaining lands were to be regularized by the end of 2010.

She said indigenous lands in Brazil accounted for 12.5 per cent of the territory, and that 220 different indigenous groups lived in the country.  They spoke more than 180 languages and dialects, and around 500,000 lived on their own land.  An estimated 68 groups still lived in isolation and were protected by policies that sought to minimize risks to their survival and to unwanted contact.  The guarantee of security and physical integrity of indigenous communities and land constituted a minimum standard upon which to build and implement policies and initiatives to:  meet their demand for better access to education and health services; protect traditional knowledge and cultural diversity; build capacity at the community level to manage their own land; and give them more say.

SERGEI CHUMAREV ( Russian Federation) said the United Nations needed to do all that it could to help protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples, especially considering the vulnerability of their traditional way of life.  The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was an important tool towards that work, as was the work of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur and the Expert Mechanism on the issue.  However, to solve the problems of indigenous peoples, the members of those forums and mechanisms would need to work cooperatively with States and Governments.  The provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples had been implemented in the Russian Federation well prior to its adoption by the General Assembly.  The national Constitution included protections for the rights of indigenous peoples, including their rights to land and their right to their traditional way of life.

National laws supported those rights, he said, and efforts were ongoing to fine-tune legislation to greater support indigenous groups.  Draft legislation was currently being worked on and had the potential to provide further protections through the tax code, land code and the code covering natural resources.  The Russian Federation had also put together a national committee on the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.  That committee had already begun to organize a series of events to celebrate the Decade, such as an international conference held to discuss the United Nations system and its cooperation with indigenous peoples living in the northern regions of the country.  However, globally, the issues of indigenous peoples were far from being resolved, and the international community should work cooperatively to ensure the protection of the rights of those peoples all around the world.

NICOLA HILL ( New Zealand) said indigenous peoples made up 15 per cent of the country’s population and 17 per cent of parliamentary representation.  The issue of land and resources was moving beyond the question of resolving grievances towards building the economic capacity of the Maori people.  Agreeing that the use of indigenous language contributed to the well-being of the Maori people, the Government declared the Maori language an official language and support had been given to home and community language initiatives.  To ensure that the Maori people reached their full potential through educational achievement, the Government had adopted an educational strategy for 2008-2012 emphasizing the notion of “succeeding as Maori”.  Activities under that strategy included:  increasing Maori children’s participation in early childhood education; strengthening their literacy and numeracy; ensuring young Maori were effectively engaged in secondary school; enabling Maoris to access Maori language education options; and focusing on organizational success in the Ministry of Education and various education agencies.  A companion document to the school curriculum had been written in the Maori language and from an indigenous perspective.

She said that, as a Pacific country, New Zealand accepted regional responsibility to promote and protect Pacific indigenous languages.  The New Zealand Human Rights Commission, in its recent statement on language policy, had highlighted the need to retain the Maori language, as well as the indigenous languages of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau, which had close constitutional ties to New Zealand.  In the international context, New Zealand had been the first to contribute financially to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.  The report from this year’s meeting raised important issues relating to climate change, the Millennium Development Goals and the safeguarding of indigenous issues.

RAPHAEL S.C. HERMOSO ( Philippines) said the Philippines was home to more than 14 million indigenous persons and they constituted roughly 16 per cent of the population.  As such, the Government had consistently upheld the promotion and protection of their rights through constitutional guarantees and had established a national commission on indigenous peoples to formulate and implement appropriate policies, plans and programmes to protect and promote the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples, with due regard to their beliefs, customs, traditions and institutions.  The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act rectified historical and structural discrimination inflicted against indigenous peoples by opening up opportunities for a rights-based approach to development, centred on the recognition and sustainability of ancestral lands and domains.

The Philippine Government had worked to secure land tenure for the indigenous population, in tandem with the implementation of a framework plan for the sustainable development and protection of ancestral domains, he said.  In addition, the Government also provided livelihood projects for indigenous persons, helped to preserve the history and customs of indigenous groups through the documentation and harmonization of customary laws, and promoted and protected the rights of indigenous peoples to their own health through the use of traditional medicines.  In the area of education, the Philippines had developed a culture-sensitive core curriculum for students from indigenous communities.  In the future, the Government hoped to:  accelerate the delineation and titling of ancestral domains and lands; maximize equitable benefit sharing for indigenous communities to help reduce poverty; and increase the competence and capacity of indigenous communities as development partners and on governance and human rights matters.

ERICA-IRENE A. DAES (Greece), aligning herself with the statement made on behalf of the European Union, said that the United Nations and its Member States should do everything possible to operationalize the provisions of the historic Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, proclaimed by the General Assembly in September 2007.  Over the previous few decades, the demands for recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples had led to the gradual and peaceful emergence of a common body of opinion relative to those rights in national, regional and international human rights and humanitarian law.  In paragraph seven of the Declaration’s preamble, the General Assembly called on States to play a pivotal role in promoting and protecting those rights.  To give effect to the rights affirmed by the Declaration, States could launch, in partnership with indigenous peoples, legal and political reform programmes and institutional support systems, and provide reparations for past wrongs.  Further, such measures needed to be undertaken on an across-the-board basis by State agencies in their respective spheres of competence.

The United Nations system carried a broad and weighty responsibility for promoting the Declaration’s provisions, she said.  The Organization had already begun to operationalize that mandate via the creation of a number of entities and processes, such as the New York-based Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Geneva-based Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the roving office of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples.  Harmonious and cooperative relations between the State and indigenous peoples would require the active involvement of indigenous communities, authorities and organizations, as befits their role as primary actors in the actualization of the rights of their peoples.  It was important to place the rights outlined in the Declaration alongside the goal of sustainable development, since indigenous peoples pursued their own diverse forms of sustainable development.  Their efforts should be recognized and supported by the rest of the world.

NELL STEWART ( Canada) said her country was focused on a practical approach to improve the quality of indigenous peoples’ lives, and its experiences were relevant to the challenges faced by many other nations.  For example, regarding steps taken to address the Indian Residential Schools system, which had separated more than 150,000 Aboriginal children from their communities, she said Prime Minister Stephen Harper had offered a formal apology in the House of Commons to former students.  The system had had a “damaging impact” on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language.  The apology had been well-received by Aboriginal Canadians, whose leaders were present in Parliament, and had been issued in conjunction with a settlement agreement that had provided for compensation to former students who lived at Government and church-run Indian Residential Schools.  In total, $1.4 billion had been distributed to 64,000 individuals.  The agreement also provided for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be overseen by Canada’s most senior Aboriginal judge.

She said the principles of reconciliation also provided the basis for addressing constitutionally-protected Aboriginal and treaty rights, including rights of self-government.  Historic and negotiated modern treaties with indigenous groups covered over 80 per cent of the country -- “comprehensive claims” arose in areas where Aboriginal land rights were not dealt with by treaty or through legal means; “special claims” applied when the claim was not necessarily land-related and dealt with grievances of “First Nations” in terms of the way Canada was managing First Nation funds or other assets.  A Specific Claims Tribunal was created in 2008 to improve the pace and outcome of negotiations, providing First Nations the option of going before an independent tribunal for a binding decision.  Aboriginal communities, governments and private companies in Canada had developed considerable experience in negotiating working arrangements to ensure responsible corporate behaviour, as well as to ensure Aboriginal participation in, and benefit from, the development of natural resources.  Canada shared that expertise with the world through experts’ meetings and bilateral discussions.

She said tripartite agreements and frameworks allowed parties to deliver culturally appropriate prevention and protection services.  Canada believed that such initiatives might be valuable to current and future thematic studies to be undertaken by the Expert Mechanism.  Also, Canada strongly advocated for more attention to the condition of indigenous peoples in urban centres, because rural-urban migration patterns of indigenous peoples worldwide created additional social and economic challenges.  The Government was working with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to sponsor an event on those issues in China in November.  Member States were invited to participate.

BERENADO VUNIBOBO ( Fiji) said the current subject touched a “soft spot” in his country, considering its own history of domestic development and nation-building.  In a country like Fiji, the struggle to create an acceptable formula -- wherein the rights of all citizens were measured on a fair and objective scale -- had indeed been a costly one.  Indigenous populations in Fiji were a majority and owned, collectively, 83 per cent of the land and resources.  However, despite those figures, the indigenous population still lacked a standard of living commensurate with the value of the wealth they collectively owned.  Locally, there had been a conscious drive to assess whether indigenous bureaucratic institutions established by the State were delivering the maximum benefit to indigenous groups.  The concept of “free, prior and informed consent”, as highlighted in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, referred to the need for consultation and cooperation, in good faith, regarding projects affecting indigenous lands and territories and the development or exploitation of resources.

In Fiji, it had become apparent that serious reforms were needed to ensure the lives of indigenous persons would be brought to the fore of 21st century realities, he said.  Individual indigenous entrepreneurs wishing to use their lands for personal advancement must not be held hostage by regulatory regimes.  Nationally, improved policies were being devised to ensure the maximum use of indigenous land and resources while, at the same time, guaranteeing that maximum benefit from such initiatives would fall directly back to the landowners.  Reforms in cultural and traditional leadership institutions were also being facilitated to better ensure the preservation of indigenous institutions.  “Stagnation in institutional evolution invites abuse, breeds indifference and attracts apathy”, he said.

AMRIT RAI ( Nepal) said the world was home to more than 370 million indigenous peoples in some 70 countries, representing “huge cultural diversity and possessing tremendous conventional wisdom”.  He expressed pity that many indigenous people had been deprived of their human rights and were subject to discrimination and exclusion.  The international community should step up its efforts to protect those rights, and the United Nations had a significant role to play, in that regard.  The reports, resolutions and recommendations of various United Nations bodies were instrumental for raising awareness on the issue.

He said Nepal was home to five dozen ethnic groups and indigenous peoples, and its Interim Constitution guaranteed the rights and freedoms of traditionally marginalized groups such as women, Dalits, indigenous peoples, ethnic groups and others.  It had adopted policies and programmes for social justice and affirmative action.  Indeed, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly was one of the most inclusive assemblies in the world, and its members were in the process of writing a new constitution.  The Government had allocated a budget to empower traditionally oppressed communities, such as the Dalit and others, who had fallen behind in the development process.  A national inclusiveness commission had been formed, and it was hoped that Nepal would benefit from the expertise of its indigenous peoples in terms of resource management and other tasks associated with nation-building.

He said Nepal had participated regularly in activities of the Permanent Forum of indigenous peoples and other United Nations forums dealing with human rights.  It had recently ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169 in recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples, and had extended an invitation to the Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues to visit Nepal.  The United Nations system should strengthen its capacity to better assist indigenous people.

CONNIE TARACENA ( Guatemala) lamented the absence of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples during the day’s discussions and expressed her delegation’s hope that an invitation to the Special Rapporteur to appear before the Third Committee would be extended in the coming years.  At the halfway point to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, poverty continued to have a feminine, rural and indigenous face.  As the world faced a triple crisis -- food, energy and finance -- it was becoming more and more important for the international community to step up and reaffirm its commitment to ensuring the rights of all vulnerable groups, but especially indigenous women.  Indigenous associations should be given greater support, both financial and technological, to help them better satisfy the needs of the groups they served.  The work of various international organizations towards that end, such as the World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund, was warmly welcomed.

The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was an important step forward in protecting and promoting the rights of those persons, she said.  Next year, it would be necessary to have a report from the Secretary-General on the implementation of that Declaration.  It would also be important to undertake a 2010 midway evaluation on the progress made on the objectives of the Second Decade.  At the national level, she said her Government had organized a number of public awareness activities in support of the Decade.  It had also organized a regional congress with Mayan writers and the eighth linguistic congress on the Mayan language.  As well, work towards the creation of a Mayan university of higher studies, run by the State but led by indigenous professionals, had already begun.  All such efforts were aimed at supporting indigenous communities.

CLAUDIA BLUM ( Colombia) said her country had ratified ILO Convention 169 and incorporated its provisions into its national law and development plans.  Since 1991, national courts had ruled on several cases dealing with indigenous issues, thereby clarifying the standards and norms in that area.  Some 1.3 million people in Colombia were indigenous, belonging to one of 84 communities and representing 74 languages.  As part of State policy to broaden its safeguards for indigenous peoples, millions of hectares of national territory had been identified as indigenous land reserves, comprising 27 per cent of Colombia’s territory.  The Government would continue to acquire additional territory to broaden those reserves, and had allocated funds for that purpose, as stipulated in the Constitution.

She said indigenous groups in Colombia enjoyed much autonomy, with indigenous authorities recognized as public authorities with a special status.  Traditional justice was considered a special component of the wider national justice framework, with a special jurisdiction.  Electoral districts had been drawn up to ensure indigenous representation in the national legislature.  Progress had been made with regard to culturally sensitive education, focusing on improving bilingual and multicultural education at primary school.  In addition, indigenous peoples were given priority access to healthcare, including subsidized care for the most vulnerable.  The country was developing a body of case law on indigenous peoples’ rights, in line with ILO Convention 169.  In 2007, the Ministry of the Interior had held 74 consultations prior to decision-making, including on 23 hydrocarbon projects, 5 mining and energy projects, 18 projects on the eradication of illicit crops, 12 infrastructure projects, and 6 projects touching on biodiversity issues.  Forty-three consultations had taken place in 2008 on similar subjects.

She said of special concern to the Government was the violence perpetrated by illegal armed groups and financed by the drug trade, though there had been a steady reduction in such crimes.  It had also strengthened its policy on internally displaced persons, so it could better attend to the needs of indigenous peoples affected in that way.  Further, the Government had approved a waiver for obligatory military service among indigenous peoples.  The United Nations should promote constructive dialogue on ways to support national action currently under way.

ALEJANDRO ALDAY GONZÁLEZ ( Mexico) said indigenous peoples made up almost 12.7 per cent of Mexico’s population, and as such, their issues were a priority for the Government.  Integrating indigenous peoples into Mexico’s social and cultural development, with full respect for their cultures and traditions, was a top priority.  Over recent years, legislative and policy reforms provided greater support for the rights of indigenous peoples, and there was now a recognition of their cultural rights in the national constitution.  As well, the rights of indigenous peoples had also been recognized in 22 local constitutions.  At the international level, Mexico had participated actively in the creation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the establishment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on that issue.  Guatemala’s invitation to the Special Rapporteur to make a presentation to the Third Committee, in the next session of the General Assembly, was important and should be supported.

Turning back to national efforts, he said Mexico had established a national commission for the development of indigenous peoples, which studied existing policies and proposed new public policies, programmes and actions in support of the rights of indigenous persons.  A comprehensive response to the needs of indigenous peoples required:  the reorientation of public policy and supporting legislative powers in support of indigenous groups; the enhanced participation of indigenous groups in public policy development; and the implementation of programmes for intercultural development, especially in more remote regions that had not been reached by other actions.  Mexico also fully supported the linguistic rights of indigenous peoples, and the Government had undertaken numerous initiatives to ensure the multicultural and multilinguistic nature of Mexican society.

BELÉN SAPAG ( Chile) discussed the various laws in place to protect indigenous peoples in her country, under the President’s leadership.  For instance, it had adopted ILO Convention 169, created a law governing the marine coastal region and passed laws governing education.  Currently, the Government was seeking to reform the laws governing indigenous land and was engaged on dialogue on that issue.  Improvements could also be seen in the area of indigenous health and education, based on a philosophy of full incorporation of the entire population based on equality.

She said the country was focused on implementing a national programme that placed human rights at the centre of an integrated development plan that upheld the principle of multicultural diversity.  A Council of Ministers for indigenous matters had been set up, which would work with a Presidential Commission to drive forward progress in the next two years, in particular.  Those bodies were also responsible for monitoring compliance.

Urban indigenous issues were of particular interest to her country, and it was working to comply with past agreements to bring about the economic and social development of indigenous persons.  Government policy would focus on jobs, housing, infrastructure, identity, sports and health.  It would modify the school curriculum to include a special focus on multicultural issues.  She praised the Permanent Forum for its excellent work at the most recent session, and for choosing participants that were highly representative of the broad spectrum of indigenous communities.

INÉS ALBERDI, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said there were an estimated 370 million indigenous peoples living in more than 70 countries around the world.  Although they were among the most resilient of peoples worldwide, they were also among the poorest and most vulnerable, due to a history of racial discrimination, social exclusion and economic marginalization.  For indigenous women, gender discrimination intersected with other forms of discrimination, such as race and ethnicity, and they were often targets of gender-specific and racially motivated violence and discrimination, including forced pregnancy or sterilization, sexual assault and domestic abuse.  In recent decades, indigenous women had mobilized to address the needs of their communities and to ensure that those issues were visible on the international agenda.

Indigenous women had a particular knowledge of natural resource management, based on their expertise in medicinal and agricultural biodiversity, to sustain their communities and promote environmental sustainability, she said.  The most significant work of UNIFEM in that area had been in Latin America, where, since 1995, it had worked with indigenous women’s groups to get countries and communities to value and draw upon indigenous knowledge and to create synergies between those women and other decision-makers, human rights activists and women’s groups.  At the 10^th Regional Conference on Women, held in Quito in 2007, indigenous women presented a manifesto in favour of building a “pluri-national state”, and noted that respect for the rights of indigenous women was tied to the struggle to protect and respect the collective rights of their peoples.  At the national level, UNIFEM had helped indigenous women in Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and Paraguay to introduce gender and multi-ethnic perspectives in public policies and poverty reduction plans and had strengthened their voice in decision-making.  Regionally, in Asia it had supported indigenous women primarily in the context of supporting the implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

ELENA GASTALDO, International Labour Organization, said ILO Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal peoples in 1989, and the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, formed an international framework of rights and principles that guided international and national action to promote and ensure indigenous people’s rights and well-being.  The focus must now be on transforming those commitments into concrete action, and to ensure the right of indigenous people to decide on their own priorities in the development process.  Twenty years of experience in the application of ILO Convention 169 had shown that consultation and participation were key to bringing about an inclusive national development process.  Regular, systematic and institutionalized mechanisms for consultation and participation at the national level must be established in close cooperation with the indigenous and tribal peoples concerned.

In that context, she said the ILO was currently preparing a guide on ILO Convention 169, and had also published a guide for including indigenous peoples in poverty reduction strategies.  The ILO project to promote Convention 169 was focused on national action through its work in a number of countries.  In Africa, the ILO was collaborating with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to document existing legal provisions for the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, and to provide recommendations for improving them.  In Latin America and Nepal, the project was focused on building capacity to improve implementation.  Further, the ILO had participated in the elaboration of the United Nations Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples as a tool to promote more systematic and coherent action by the United Nations system at the country level.

She said combating discrimination based on indigenous or tribal origin was central to the efforts of the ILO to address exclusion and marginalization.  A recent publication, Eliminating discrimination against indigenous and tribal peoples in employment and occupation, examined how ILO Convention 111 on discrimination in the workplace could provide a framework for addressing such discrimination.  Along those lines, ILO Convention 100 on equal remuneration was vital for addressing the pay gap to which indigenous women were particularly vulnerable.

XENIA VON LILIEN-WALDAU, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said that indigenous people accounted for 5 per cent of the global population, but represented 15 per cent of the world’s poor.  Most of them lived in rural areas, often considered “marginal”, such as hills, mountains, forests, drylands, deserts, small islands and the Arctic.  Over the previous 30 years, IFAD had invested approximately $1.3 billion in support of indigenous peoples, and much of that support had been focused on strengthening their organizations and institutions and empowering them, so that they could influence the decisions that affected their lives.  Poverty was about more than just low income levels -- it was about historical processes of dispossession and discrimination; a lack of respect for political, cultural and economic rights; and the use of natural resources without free, prior and informed consent.  Capacity-building, self-determined development and ownership could be considerably enhanced by entrusting indigenous communities and their institutions with the direct management of resources and funds.

The Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility was the instrument through which IFAD built direct partnerships with indigenous communities that designed and implemented grass-roots development projects based on their own perspective, she said.  The first round of projects was approved in 2007 and 30 projects were currently being implemented.  Those projects included:  community-led public awareness projects; projects aimed at empowering indigenous groups to manage their national resources through strengthened technical capacities; initiatives to strengthen the capacity of indigenous peoples to engage in policy dialogue; and projects aimed at providing human rights training to indigenous women and helping them to strengthen their role as custodians of ancestral knowledge and skills.  Overall, she said, to overcome the many challenges that faced indigenous peoples, it was important for all stakeholders to engage with indigenous peoples as full and equal partners in development policies and programmes and ensure that the principle of free, prior and informed consent was respected in the design and implementation of strategies and programmes affecting them.  It was also necessary to continue supporting indigenous peoples through development projects and the protection of their rights over their ancestral land and territories.

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