Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

In progress at UNHQ

Human rights

HR/4987

Recognizing Poverty’s Diversity, Turning Indigenous Peoples’ Uniqueness into Asset for Economic Development Will Help Meet Their Needs, Permanent Forum Told

The “diversity of poverty” should be recognized in efforts to meet the needs of indigenous people, whose distinctiveness should be also used as an asset to catalyse their economic development, Jean-Philippe Audinet, Director of the Policy Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today as delegates continued their in-depth dialogue with United Nations agencies.
HR/4986

Permanent Forum, Indigenous Groups, Seek Change in United Nations Working Methods to Turn Their Concerns into Driving Force behind, Not Just Object of, Strategies

As representatives of United Nations agencies and funds shed light today on their respective strategies to address indigenous peoples’ concerns, members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and indigenous peoples’ organizations worldwide implored the United Nations to change its working methods so that indigenous peoples were the driving force behind –- and not merely the object of ‑- those efforts.
HR/4985

Indigenous Groups Call for Halt by Foreign Companies to Land Use for Oil, Mining, Without Their Prior Knowledge, Consent, as Permanent Forum Continues

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its discussion of human rights today amid calls for Governments tostrictly carry out their obligations under international human rights accords, notably in the Amazon where protests by native inhabitants recently erupted after moves to open the region to oil and mining by foreign companies without their consultation.
HR/4984

Special Rapporteur Says Optimism for Indigenous Peoples’ Better Future Animated by Positive Developments, but Tempered by Reality of Ongoing Struggles

As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its eighth annual session this afternoon, the United NationsSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, shed light on his recent efforts to redress their grievances over the deeply-rooted disregard for their values and land rights by Governments and corporations.
HR/4982

Indigenous People Worldwide Urge Governments to Redress Entrenched Lack of Respect for Their Values, Overhaul Legislation, Endorse Declaration, in Permanent Forum

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples continued its eighth annual session today, with indigenous speakers decrying Governments’ near-total disregard for their rights in the development of roads, waterways and extractive projects; negotiation of free trade agreements; and drafting of national legislation that impacted their lives.
HR/4980

‘We Ignore Indigenous Peoples at Our Peril’, Says Deputy Secretary-General, as Permanent Forum Opens Eighth Annual Session amid ‘Swarm Of Crises’

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this morning opened its eighth annual session aimed at finding ways to further implement the landmark 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which gained momentum last month when the Australian Government officially endorsed the accord after previously voting against it.