Despite scattered gains in land, language and legal rights, a glaring lack of political will around the world is inhibiting fundamental change on the ground in thousands of communities in every region, delegates told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today as it continued its work.
In progress at UNHQ
Human rights
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today heard myriad challenges these communities face in pursuing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as calls for indigenous peoples’ inclusion at the highest level of decision-making by granting them Observer Status in the General Assembly.
With the successful inclusion of indigenous peoples’ concerns in the major global frameworks, the priority now is to translate these aspirations into concrete improvements, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today in its fourth day of discussions.
Indigenous peoples face a worrying escalation in their criminalization and harassment, especially when defending and exercising rights to their territories and natural resources, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today as it continued its third day of discussions.
Protecting and partnering with the custodians of traditional knowledge must be an active part of the solution to climate change consequences for the benefit of all humankind, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today as its eighteenth session continued.
Traditional knowledge is at the core of indigenous identity, culture, languages, heritage and livelihoods, and its transmission from one generation to the next must be protected, preserved and encouraged, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, as they opened its eighteenth session.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Nicholas Koumjian of the United States as Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
Speakers sounded the alarm over the rise of nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies around the world today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks at the General Assembly commemorative meeting for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in New York today:
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, observed on 25 March: