Economic and Social Council: Meetings Coverage

The need for urgent action by Governments to ensure the protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples was highlighted by speakers today, as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues put its spotlight on the implementation of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

United Nations and civil society experts today emphasized that indigenous peoples’ rights to food and food sovereignty depended crucially on their access to and control over the natural resources in the land and territories they occupied or used, as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues weighed options for improving and preserving native food systems, and closing legislative gaps on land tenure.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this morning put its spotlight on the native peoples and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, with civil society groups and Forum experts urging firm steps from the region’s Governments to improve the socio-economic conditions of the indigenous peoples, help them adapt to climate change and to reign in corporate-driven globalization.

An intense debate unfolded today in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as participants in a lively dialogue with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) pressed the Geneva-based body to reform in ways that afforded greater recognition of indigenous peoples in its decision-making processes and respect for their right to safeguard, preserve or promote traditional resources as they saw fit.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today again rang with strong calls on former colonial Governments to reassess their constitutional arrangements and restore the “first nation” status of native peoples, and on the Catholic Church to openly denounce the centuries-old “Doctrine of Discovery”, which many civil society representatives said was the “shameful” root of the humiliation and marginalization indigenous people still suffered today.

The Doctrine of Discovery had been used for centuries to expropriate indigenous lands and facilitate their transfer to colonizing or dominating nations, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, urging the expert body to study the creation of a special mechanism, under United Nations auspices, to investigate historical land claims.

Indigenous peoples must be involved “every step of the way”, and only with their free, prior and informed consent, in all efforts to define priorities and programmes for their sustainable and culturally appropriate development, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said this morning, opening the eleventh session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Many youth delegates had spoken candidly about their experiences and expectations throughout the week-long session, said Population Commission Chairman late Friday following adoption of a key draft resolution, reminding members that “what really matters is what happens outside this room, when we are back in our capitals,” where, “we have to walk the talk, to move from paper to people.”

Continuing its 2012 organizational session, the Economic and Social Council this afternoon elected by secret ballot Francisco Thoumi (Colombia) to serve effective immediately as a member of the International Narcotics Control Board until 15 March 2012.

The nearly week-long debate in the Population Commission heard Member States, experts and United Nations agency heads weigh in on the spectrum of concerns facing adolescents and youth, with the hope reinforced today that efforts made to embed credible, cohesive policies into global, national and local strategies were an investment in youth certain to yield positive results.