Economic and Social Council

At a Headquarters press conference today, human rights activists urged the United Nations to play a greater role in pushing for implementation of the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in Bangladesh, which was intended to protect the rights of the area’s indigenous peoples.

A strategic approach was urgently needed to address “disturbing” gaps between the world’s richest and poorest children — in particular indigenous children — said delegates to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as it met with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representatives this morning.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today voted to deny the granting of consultative status for the International Lesbian and Gay Association, thus closing its application after 10 years of repeated deferral.

Indigenous peoples must be consulted — and their right to free, prior and informed consent respected — if the target of halving the proportion of people lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation was to be reached by 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goals, members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The uneven development and persistent socio-economic gaps suffered by indigenous populations across the Latin America and Caribbean region undoubtedly stemmed from the historical wrongs committed on its first peoples and the strategic means for correcting those wrongs needed urgent revision, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was told today during a half-day discussion on that region, as it rounded out the first week of its tenth session.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 10 entities for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and postponed its consideration of 32 applications.

Using $1.5 million in start-up funds supplied by the Government of Denmark, the United Nations Indigenous Partnership (UNIPP) would work at the country level to promote dialogue and build partnerships, Raja Devashish Roy, a member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said at Headquarters today.

While the global consensus that now stood behind the 2007 Declaration on Indigenous Rights should be celebrated, its implementation remained a “constant challenge” and strong efforts were needed, nationally and internationally, to make its principles “alive in the reality on the ground”, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was told today during a full-day discussion of human rights concerns.

Completing its fourth day of the resumed 2011 session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended special consultative status for 25 entities to the Economic and Social Council, and postponed consideration of 26 additional groups until the Committee receive answers to its outstanding questions.

The full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples must be regarded as a political, moral and legal imperative without qualification, the Permanent Forum was told today during a half-day discussion on human rights.