United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. May 15^th to 26^th, 2006 – New York

 Daniel LeBlanc, OMI

Séamus Finn OMI and Daniel LeBlanc OMI participated as OMI and under the auspices of Vivat International (ECOSOC recognized NGO), of which we as Oblates are associates. Sanjeeb Drong,  Nerola Tysong along with others from Bangladesh who collaborate with the Oblates, as well as Miguel Angel Medrano and others from Peru also participated.

Sanjeeb Drong and Nerola Tysong in the main assembly

On the closing day of its Fifth Session, members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues made strong recommendations and drew world attention on issues that remain critical for the survival and development with identity of 370 million indigenous peoples worldwide.

The UN Permanent Forum tabled a demand for the adoption of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the two week meeting ended.

The Permanent Forum strongly recommended the adoption of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the General Assembly during its sixty-first session in September 2006. The Forum is convinced that the Declaration will be an instrument of great value to advance the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples and would represent a major achievement for the Second Decade, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum.

HIV/ AIDS, indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and governmental role in the Second Decade for Indigenous Peoples are also on the list.

The two weeks high level meeting attracted over 1200 indigenous peoples representatives, NGOs and academia, senior representatives of more than 55 Member States, some 31 UN system agencies and other inter-governmental organizations. The annual Session provides a platform for indigenous peoples to voice their demands and dialogue with governments and the UN system about their concerns.

For the first time in the Forum's history, a half-day segment of the meeting was dedicated to one specific region - Africa. The African Union's Chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, indigenous peoples' representatives and governments attended the session. Attention was drawn to the continuing challenges faced by African indigenous peoples, and the Forum made a number of recommendations regarding health, capacity-building, education and related issues.

In related discussions on this year's theme of the Millennium Development Goals, indigenous peoples’ participation was reiterated, particularly in the understanding of what poverty and well being is for indigenous communities. Participatory indicator setting and appropriate data collection and disaggregation were recommended.

The spread of HIV/ AIDS and its impact on indigenous peoples was also a priority during the meeting. The Permanent Forum urged UNAIDS and other global partners to develop resources and ensure access to treatment and prevention of the epidemic in indigenous communities.

In its recommendations, the Forum members also highlighted the situation of peoples living in voluntary isolation like the Jarawa, Onges and North Sentinel of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in South Asia; and the Ayureo, Taromenane, Tagaeri, Awa-Guaja, Cacataibo and others of the Gran Chaco and Amazon regions of South America. They asked governments and civil society to ensure that indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation are protected against encroaching, aggression, forcible assimilation and acts of genocide. Human rights mechanisms of the United Nations should examine the plight of indigenous peoples from French Polynesia, Guam and Marshall Islands who have been victims of nuclear testing in the Pacific they added.

Indigenous children and families in a landscape of risk:

Challenges and solutions in realizing MDG’s

 (VIVAT side event at Forum)

“Although often invisible, indigenous children and families are consistently named among the most impoverished and vulnerable populations in the world.

This side event will look at challenges, historical and current, as well as possible solutions to help realize the Millennium Development Goals of universal primary education and improved health among indigenous children and their families. The need to provide education that is culturally sensitive and improve indigenous children’s health that has been compromised by poverty, lack of access, and marginalization will be addressed.”

The side event was well attended and provided an opportunity for a detailed presentation on the challenges which are faced by indigenous youth in the United States by Hilary Weaver, a member of the Lakota tribe who is a professor at the University of Buffalo in New York state. This presentation focused on the sense of uprootedness, loss of identity and connection with customs and traditions that have plagues many tribal groups in North America. A story of pilgrimage and recovery which is unfolding for one tribal group in Australia was presented by Aseli Raass, SVD from the Irrkerlantye Development Centre, Australia.

Gretta Fernandes, SSpS Vivat Director join Séamus and

Daniel at the Vivat session

Going forward, the Forum will continue dialoguing with indigenous peoples, governments and the UN system to develop concrete strategies on resolving priority concerns of their indigenous peoples. Action plans and partnerships during the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (2005-2015) are also high on the list.

The 6th Session of the Permanent Forum is proposed to be held in Bangkok in May 2007 and will focus on the theme of “Territories, Lands and Natural Resources".

Below, please find related sites where more detailed information can be found:

Search in Google:

UNPFII

Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum

SERVINDI (Peru)

About this 5^th Session of the United Nations Forum on Indigenous Issues:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session_fifth.html

About the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: http://www.cwis.org/drft9329.html