Fighting racial discrimination and striving to be acknowledged by States were among the challenges facing indigenous communities worldwide, requiring more collaborative efforts to effect meaningful change, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today during its day-long consideration of human rights.
Indigenous peoples must be able to participate fully, equally and effectively in all stages of the upcoming high-level General Assembly meeting to address their most important concerns, speakers said today as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues debated — at times forcefully — the essential elements for contributing to the unprecedented event.
Against a backdrop pockmarked by cultural disintegration, “suicide clusters” and family displacements from extractive industries, speakers today in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples urged prompt and concerted action to reverse those trends and improve the lives of indigenous children and youth worldwide.
Asia had the highest concentration of indigenous and tribal peoples in the world — more than 150 million — yet many were disproportionately vulnerable to poverty, marginalization and human rights violations, as Governments prioritized economic development over respect for traditional cultures, lands and identities, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today during a half-day panel discussion on the region.
