Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council today adopted three texts, the first a resolution endorsing the decision of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean to hold its thirty-fourth session in El Salvador during the first half of 2012.

Continuing its resumed 2011 session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended special consultative status for 38 entities to the Economic and Social Council, postponing consideration of an additional 33 until answers to the Committee’s outstanding questions were supplied.

While some strides had been made by the international community in protecting the basic human rights of indigenous peoples, significant breaches of those rights still existed around the world, said prominent indigenous representatives at a Headquarters press conference today.

Despite progress made in ensuring the rights of indigenous communities around the world, indigenous peoples still lacked enough say in what happened on, and to, their territories, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was told today during a day-long discussion focused on the environment and free, prior and informed consent.

Continuing its resumed 2011 session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended special consultative status for 11 entities to the Economic and Social Council, postponing consideration of an additional 40 until answers to the Committee’s outstanding questions were supplied.

Governments, multinational corporations and the banks supporting them financially must respect international environmental standards in their extraction of natural resources or construction of giant infrastructure projects in biologically diverse lands, members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The annual United Nations forum on indigenous issues kicked off today with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on delegates to make further strides against the marginalization of indigenous communities, which still made up an estimated one third of the world’s rural poor.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 43 entities for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and postponed consideration of 18 applications, as it resumed its 2011 session.

The tenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues would give delegates an opportunity to review more than 200 recommendations made over the last decade in discussing such issues as the role of indigenous peoples in the sustainable development debate, Forum Chair Mirna Cunningham said at a Headquarters press conference today.

More than 1,300 delegates are expected to attend the tenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at Headquarters in New York from 16 to 27 May. This year’s Permanent Forum will be especially significant, since it is a review year, which will focus on the implementation of Forum recommendations on economic and social development, the environment and free, prior and informed consent.