Human rights

Indigenous youth should have the right to receive education in their mother tongue and determine their curricula in line with their time-tested cultures and customs, rather than be obliged to assimilate into a mainstream educational system virtually unresponsive to their way of life, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today as it continued its work.

More than 2,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are expected to attend the twelfth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at New York Headquarters from 20 to 31 May, where members will engage with indigenous peoples, Member States and agencies of the world body.

In a single round of voting today, the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child elected nine members to the 18-member committee charged with monitoring implementation of the treaty and its two Optional Protocols.

The United Nations, as the global human rights standard-bearer, must step up efforts to realize the rights of persons with disabilities, both at the national level and in its own work, speakers stressed today, as the fifth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities drew to a close.

Investing in children with disabilities during the early stage of their development was among the many practical measures that Member States should take, United Nations officials and delegates said today, as the fifth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities continued.

Hundreds of advocates and experts on disability gathered alongside Government delegates today as the fifth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Conference of States Parties — the largest international meeting on disability issues — is held each year to exchange experiences and ideas for the implementation of the Convention, which was adopted on 13 December 2006.

Even as the number of States signing on to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities continued to grow at an “exhilarating” pace, there remained a critical need for the United Nations to act as a “real, practical and daily advocate” for those who had once been all but invisible on the world stage, delegates stressed today.

The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this morning re-elected four members and elected five new members to its monitoring body, the Human Rights Committee.

This year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August) will shine a spotlight on indigenous media — television, radio, film and social media — and their role in helping to preserve indigenous cultures, challenge stereotypes and influence the social and political agenda.