Economic and Social Council

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.

A new milestone for the rights of indigenous peoples — their first ever World Conference, slated for 2014 — was on the horizon, said leaders and activists at a Headquarters press conference today, noting that the meeting would offer a unique opportunity to create a framework for addressing the most pressing challenges facing indigenous peoples today.

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.

The enduring impact of historical wrongs must be a priority for States as they reviewed their relationships with indigenous groups, emphasized leaders and activists at a Headquarters press conference marking the opening today of the eleventh annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

A high-level event convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to mark the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be part of a two-week meeting beginning at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday.