UNESCO roundtable on the development, culture and identity of indigenous peoples

• © Ayodele Banjo

An estimated 350 million indigenous peoples live in over 70 countries and speak more than 5,000 languages: such is the importance of indigenous people today. Their cultures express the powerful links between humanity and nature, between tradition and modernity, offering a holistic view of the world. They could become a source of renewal for the future. Despite their major contribution to cultural diversity and to sustainable development, many of them are marginalized and deprived of basic human rights.

Indigenous peoples’ traditional ways of utilizing natural resources have helped conserve biodiversity in their territories. However, they remain particularly vulnerable to the impacts of globalization and climate change. It has become increasingly difficult for them to hand down their distinctive knowledge, values, views of the world, and ways of life from one generation to the next because, in many cases, they are forced from their land or have it taken away from them. They also often lack access to the most basic social services.

One year after the historic adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UNESCO will host for the first time a meeting of representatives of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and of the UN Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues (IASG) from 15 to 17 September. They will explore new ways to promote the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples.

A roundtable on “Indigenous Peoples: Development with Culture and Identity” will take place 15 September at UNESCO Headquarters*. It will lay the ground for reflection on this theme which will also be discussed at the 9th session of the UNPFII (New York, 2010). Participants will focus on the contribution of indigenous approaches to sustainable development in the age of globalization. They will also seek to reinforce cooperation among indigenous peoples, governments and the United Nations system as a whole.

The event will be opened by the UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. Participants will include Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Igorot, Philippines), Margaret Lokawua (Karamoja, Uganda) and Carlos Mamani Condorí (Aymará, Bolivia), respectively chair and members of the UNPFII. John Scott of the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity; Julian Burger, Coordinator, Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Unit, Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); Anaisabel Prera, Guatemala’s Ambassador to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO; and Darriann Riber of the Danish International Development Agency will also be participating.

Watch the interview with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

• Author(s):Media Advisory N°2008-57
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 12-09-2008