As a thematic advisory body of the Human Rights Council, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples must include the full, effective, and equal participation of all concerned communities, speakers stressed today, as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues held a discussion on an optional protocol to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous peoples lived in situations of extreme social and economic disadvantage, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said today, pressing Governments to improve their access to basic services, respect their traditional livelihoods, and both return — and protect — the sacred lands on which their survival depended.
Standard measurements of well-being did not capture the distinct economic, social, and cultural aspects of indigenous peoples’ lives, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said today, as they explored the type of information needed to accurately quantify their unique development experiences and how to collect it.
Indigenous peoples represented 15 per cent of the world’s poor and faced huge disparities in terms of hunger, malnutrition and access to health care, even in developed countries, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said today, stressing that their distinct identities and rights should be recognized in the post-2015 development agenda.
Now 15 years old, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was in “real need” of reform to better respond to the socioeconomic, cultural and human rights concerns of its constituents — both within their respective territories and throughout the United Nations system, speakers stressed today as the 16-member body moved into day three of its fourteenth session.
A more efficient, transparent, inclusive and harmonized international system on tax matters was a critical part of financing for development and the post-2015 agenda, the Economic and Social Council heard today during a day-long high-level meeting, where a sharp divergence of opinion emerged on the best institutional way forward.
The world was in for a period of moderate and uneven economic growth, delegations heard as the Economic and Social Council concluded its meeting on the theme “coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of financing for development and the post-2015 agenda” while considering its role in that process.
With the global economy hampered by major geopolitical tensions and other unexpected shocks, the world must reorient finance patterns and better coordinate public and private investments to achieve the post-2015 development agenda, the Economic and Social Council heard today, as it began a two-day special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
To be truly transformative, the post-2015 development framework must include the rights of indigenous peoples, the Deputy Secretary-General said today, stressing to participants at the fourteenth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, that it was time for them to be at the forefront of an agenda that left no one behind.
More than 2,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are expected to attend the fourteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 20 April to 1 May, where Members of the Permanent Forum will engage with indigenous peoples, United Nations Member States, and United Nations agencies.
