UNESCO message for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August 2019
Since 1982, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples has provided us with a unique opportunity to raise global awareness of the contributions made by indigenous peoples towards building peace and developing sustainable and resilient societies.
On this Day, we take steps to recognize and acknowledge indigenous peoples as knowledge-holders who have contributed to the conservation and sustainable use of the world’s biodiversity and ecosystems. This was recently highlighted in the landmark Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity, produced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and launched at UNESCO Headquarters in May of this year.
Indigenous persons account for 5% of the world’s population, but make up 15% of the world’s poorest. Worldwide, they face a number of considerable challenges, including growing migration, educational disadvantage, pressure to culturally assimilate, enforced relocation, gender-based violence and other forms of discrimination, poverty, as well as limited access to health services, employment, information services and broadband connectivity.
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