0121 handbook 2003opt
TRANSCRIPT
INTERNATIONALWORK GROUP FORINDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
THE P
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AN
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In recent years, one of the main priorities of IWGIA’s publications has been to circulate information on the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. IWGIA’s publication, The Indigenous World, includes regular yearly updates on recent events in this regard.
In 1998, IWGIA published the book The Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples – the struggle for a new partnership. Now, in 2003, with the Forum already established and its first session held last year, IWGIA wishes to continue to prioritise the dissemination of information and analysis on this issue. With this in mind, we are now publishing this Handbook on the Permanent Forum on In digenous Issues in order to provide basic information on the nature of the new UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the aim being to enable indigenous organisations to have greater influence within this new body.
THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
3
Lola García-Alix
IWGIACopenhagen 2003
THE PERMANENTFORUM ON
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
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THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
Author: Lola García-Alix
Copyright: The author and IWGIA(International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs)
Translations: Mario Di Lucci and Elaine Bolton
Coverand layout: Jorge Monrás
Print: Eks-Skolens Trykkeri apsCopenhagen, Denmark
ISBN: 87-90730-75-5ISSN: 0105-4503
INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUPFOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRSClassensgade 11 E, DK-2100 - Copenhagen, DenmarkTel: (+45) 35 27 05 00 - Fax: (+45) 35 27 05 07E-mail: [email protected] - website: www.iwgia.org
Acknowledgements:
This handbook has been published with the financial support of the World Bank, theNorwegian Development Cooperation Agency, the Danish Ministry of Foreing Affairsand the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The content of the manual does not necessarily express the opinion of the donors.
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CONTENTS
Preface ....................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER I The United Nations ................................................................................ 8 Organisational Chart .......................................................................... 16
CHAPTER II The United Nations System ................................................................ 18
CHAPTER III The United Nations and Human Rights ....................................................................................... 36 Organisational Chart ........................................................................... 44
CHAPTER IV Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent Forum .......................................................................... 46
CHAPTER V The process of establishing the Permanent Forum ......................................................................... 56
CHAPTER VI Establishment of the Permanent Forum ........................................... 62 Organisational Chart showing position of the Permanent Forum ..................................................................... 68
CHAPTER VII The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ................................................................................. 70
CHAPTER VIII Practical details ..................................................................................... 86
Annexes The ECOSOC resolution ..................................................................... 98 Joint declaration of the indigenous representatives .................... 101 IWGIA and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues .......................................................................... 103
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W ith the establishment of the PermanentForum on Indigenous Issues in 2000
and the inaugural meeting held in May 2002,the United Nations has taken the first step to-wards putting the goal of the UN Decade ofthe World’s Indigenous Peoples 1995-2004into practice, outlined by the UN as thestrengthening of international cooperation forthe solution of the problems faced by indig-enous peoples.
The establishment of the Permanent Fo-rum undoubtedly marks an historic mile-stone but it also marks the beginning of along process that will require great effortson the part of all those involved to ensurethat the Permanent Forum is able to fulfil itsrole successfully within the United Nationssystem.
The Permanent Forum is the first bodywithin the UN system in which indigenouspeoples are represented with the same sta-tus as governmental representatives. Al-though neither ideal nor perfect, the indig-enous peoples of the world have - with thegreatest of efforts - gained an institutionalplatform that can be used by internationalorganisations to coordinate efforts aimed atimproving indigenous peoples’ living con-ditions. The first obstacle has therefore beenovercome but there still remain many obsta-cles ahead. Members of the Forum, govern-ments, indigenous peoples’ representativesand NGOs are faced with the challenge ofestablishing and developing working proce-dures for the Permanent Forum that will en-able it to put good ideas into practice andimplement its broad mandate in the best pos-sible way.
It is clear that the process, which requiresthat the Permanent Forum move from theoryto action, from good intentions to concrete re-sults that are of benefit to indigenous peo-ples, will be a long and difficult one. The firmand coordinated support of all those involvedin the process will be essential if the processis to move forward successfully, and if thePermanent Forum is to be capable of respond-ing to the expectations of the indigenous peo-
ples. It is now up to members of the Forum,indigenous peoples, governments, and NGOsto make some of the dreams come true. Thesuccess of the Permanent Forum will not onlydepend on the individual members of theForum but also on the competence, credibil-ity and legitimacy of those wishing to havean impact on its work.
The Permanent Forum is mandated to co-ordinate activities between the various UNbodies and agencies and it will provide ex-pert advice and make recommendations toECOSOC. How will this be done? What arethe possibilities and limitations? To what ex-tent do the UN agencies address indigenousissues and what is the potential for enhanc-ing the position of such issues?
The aim of this handbook is to help thosewanting to find a path through the UN sys-tem in relation to indigenous issues. Thereare two important issues, or pitfalls, to bearin mind.
The first is that the Permanent Forum is afocal point for discussion and coordination,and will hopefully develop as a dynamic in-stigator and initiator of projects and activi-ties relating to indigenous peoples. However– and this is absolutely essential – the workto be done and the means to be raised arelocated in the many bodies and agencies un-der or associated with the UN and not in thePermanent Forum. Those who think that par-ticipation in the meetings of the PermanentForum is an end in itself or sufficient are la-bouring under a misapprehension. This isreflected in this handbook, which gives dueregard to the position of indigenous peoplesand issues in the work of a number of UNagencies.
The second issue is the connection be-tween the Permanent Forum and the localconditions under which indigenous peopleslive. As with all other UN institutions, noth-ing will come out of the Permanent Forumdiscussions unless there is someone to putthings into practice. Health issues must, forexample, be brought home to the country of-fices of the World Health Organisation
PREFACE
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(WHO); issues that involve the World Bankmust be raised with the local offices or localWorld Bank-funded projects. How this is tobe organised is a key issue, along with thequestion of how to bring local issues to theknowledge of the international head officesof the agencies and how to use the Perma-nent Forum in this process.
This handbook should facilitate the effortsof those wanting to have a brief overview ofthe structure of the UN and the role that in-digenous people have or could potentiallyhave. The handbook also tries to clarify theposition of the members of the PermanentForum vis-à-vis governments, agencies andNGOs.
The members of the Permanent Forum areexpected to be experts, appointed in their in-dividual capacity. They are not, or should notbe, appointed only because of their politicalposition or status. In fact, none of the indig-enous members ‘represent’ a local or regionalconstituency – they must see themselves asspeaking on behalf of all the indigenous peo-ples of the world. Nevertheless, each memberof the Forum must be accepted by indigenouspeoples (the indigenous members) and gov-ernments (government-appointed members)as legitimate experts. Otherwise they will notbe listened to. For the indigenous members,therefore, they must ensure and maintainbroad consultation with indigenous organi-sations. To fulfil such aims, regional consulta-tive meetings have been held prior to and sincethe establishment of the Forum and these aredealt with in this handbook.
Such regional meetings are also condu-cive to dialogue between members of the Fo-rum and specialised indigenous NGOs. Themembers of the Forum depend upon research-ers and other experts to investigate issues thatare being dealt with by the Forum, as does theSecretariat of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum is unique withinthe United Nations in that it is the only forumin which indigenous peoples have gainedseats as equals alongside government-ap-pointed members. Indigenous Peoples have
taken with them and extended the traditionof involvement and openness of the WorkingGroup on Indigenous Populations (under theCommission on Human Rights), up to thelevel of just below the Economic and SocialCouncil (ECOSOC). To this must be addedthe fact that the Forum’s mandate is broaderthan – and different from - that of any otherUN body dealing with indigenous peoples’rights. The question is whether it is realisticfor indigenous peoples to be able to have animpact at that level. Will they be listened to?
A major challenge for indigenous peopleswill be, firstly, to bring the UN bodies andrelated agencies into the Permanent Forumand, secondly, to gain credibility within thesystem in order to play the advisory rolestated in the mandate given by ECOSOC. Theintention is to give the Forum a status suchthat all these institutions have to bring issuesrelevant to indigenous peoples and commu-nities into this arena. In this case, indigenouspeoples will be listened to. One condition forthis will be that these institutions gain fromseeking the expert advice of the Forum, itsmembers, observers and Secretariat.
The Forum should promote, encourageand advise governments and internationalagencies on how to develop standards fordealing with indigenous peoples.
Another challenge is for the Forum toreach out to indigenous communities fromthe Amazon to the Philippine Cordilleras,from the Arctic to Aotearoa.
This handbook deals with the history, theestablishment and the structure of the Per-manent Forum. The mandate of the Perma-nent Forum is broad and is not restricted tohuman rights issues. This means it is a newphenomenon in the UN system. This is thor-oughly dealt with in a number of the chap-ters. There are some things the PermanentForum can do and others that cannot bedealt with, and there are rules and regula-tions as to how to behave. This and otherpractical information is extremely importantand dealt with in a separate chapter.
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The League of Nations was established immediately after the FirstWorld War. Its first meeting took place in Geneva in 1920 with
the participation of 42 States, 26 of which were non-European. Atotal of 63 States belonged to this organisation during its twenty-fiveyears of existence.
The basic aim of the League was two-fold: firstly, it sought to main-tain peace through collective action. For this, conflicts between Stateswould be referred to the League’s Council for arbitration and concili-ation. Its members undertook to defend each other from aggression.Secondly, the League wished to promote international cooperationon economic and social affairs.
At the end of the 1930s, and with the outbreak of the Second WorldWar, it became clear that the League had failed in its main objective ofmaintaining peace and so the members decided to dissolve the or-ganisation.
The League of Nations held its last meeting in 1945, in which year itwas replaced by the United Nations Organisation (UNO).
THE UNITTHE UNITTHE UNITTHE UNITTHE UNITEEEEEDDDDD NA NA NA NA NATITITITITIOOOOONNNNNSSSSS
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THE UNITEDNATIONS
CHAPTER I
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONSLEAGUE OF NATIONSLEAGUE OF NATIONSLEAGUE OF NATIONSLEAGUE OF NATIONS WAS THE FORERUNNER TO THE UNITED NATIONS
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T he United Nations was officially createdon 24 October 1945, when the “Charter
of the United Nations” was ratified by itsfirst 51 member States. Now, every year onthat date, United Nations Day is celebratedthroughout the world. With the recent in-clusion of Switzerland and East Timor inSeptember 2002, the number of memberStates of the United Nations has now risento 191.
The United Nations is an organisation ofsovereign States. The States voluntarily jointhis organisation with the aims of promot-ing world peace through international co-operation, supporting economic and socialprogress and promoting respect for humanrights.
When governments decide to becomemembers of the Organisation they acceptthe obligations contained in the Charterof the United Nations,1 and undertake tofulfil the obligations therein established.
The Charter of the United Nations is an in-ternational treaty that establishes the fun-damental principles of international rela-tions. It has the status of international legis-lation as it is a treaty and thus binding onall States signing it. For this reason, all themember States of the United Nations must
fulfil the obligations they have contracted viathe Charter, including that of promoting re-spect for human rights and cooperating withthe United Nations and other nations toachieve this aim. However, the Charter doesnot set out specific rights, nor the way inwhich these must be applied by memberStates.
The United Nations serves as a centre for har-monizing and coordinating international ef-forts to resolve the problems facing humanitybut it is not a world government, nor does itestablish laws. However, the Organisationprovides the means necessary to find peace-ful solutions to international conflicts and toformulate policy on issues affecting all hu-mankind. In the United Nations, all member
States, big or small, rich or poor, with differ-ent political points of view and social sys-tems, have both a voice and a vote.
It is important to remember that, being madeup of sovereign and independent States, theUN is not a homogeneous and independentorganisation, so decisions on any UN initia-tive or activity depend on the will of the mem-ber States to accept it, finance it and undertakeit. On issues of peace maintenance and inter-national policy, particularly, a complex andfrequently slow negotiation process is re-
THE UNITED NATIONS
THE UNITED NATIONS IS ONLY FORMED OF COUNTRIESRECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN STATES
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND NATIONS LIVING WITHIN THE STATES ARE NOTREPRESENTED, AND ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE UN
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quired to reach a consensus among all Statesthat takes into account national sovereigntyand international needs.
STRUCTURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
The principles are:
• All member States are sovereignequals.
• All member States must obey the Char-ter.
• Countries must try to resolve their dif-ferences through peaceful means.
• Countries must avoid the threat or useof force.
• The UN cannot intervene in the inter-nal affairs of any country.
• The countries must try to help theUnited Nations.
Apart from establishing the general prin-ciples and purposes previously men-
tioned, the Charter of the United Nations alsoestablishes the basic structure of the organi-sation.
The Charter establishes six principal organs:the General Assembly, the Security Council,the Trusteeship Council, the InternationalCourt of Justice, the Secretariat and the Eco-nomic and Social Council. In turn, these or-gans can create other bodies to assist themon specific issues, and these are known asthe subsidiary organs.
In addition, the UN has a system of affili-ated organisations, which comprises nine-
teen specialized agencies and various pro-grammes and funds. These affiliated organi-sations have their own budgets and govern-ing bodies, establish their own rules andguidelines and provide technical assistanceand other types of practical aid in virtuallyall spheres of economic and social activity.
The United Nations and its affiliated organi-sations make up what is known as theUnited Nations System, the main aim ofwhich is to promote respect for human rights,protect the environment, fight disease andreduce poverty.
The purposes are:
• To maintain international peace andsecurity.
• To develop friendly relations, respect,tolerance and cooperation betweennations, based on respect for the prin-ciples of equal rights and the self-de-termination of peoples.
• To promote respect for human rightsand fundamental freedoms withoutdistinction.
• To ensure the economic and socialprogress of all peoples through inter-national cooperation.
• To be a centre for harmonising the ac-tions of nations in the attainment ofthese common ends.
The Charter establishes the basic purposesand principles of the United Nations:
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PRINCIPAL ORGANS
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL ORGANS OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND THEIR SUBSIDIARY ORGANS:
In the opening ceremony of the International Year of Indigenous Populations held inNew York in 1993, indigenous leaders were invited by the Secretary-General to speakbefore a plenary session of the General Assembly.
The General Assembly has established a number of committees and commissions tostudy specific issues and present reports and recommendations to the plenary GeneralAssembly.
THE SECURITY COUNCIL
The General Assembly is made up of rep-resentatives of all the member States of
the United Nations and is a kind of “parlia-ment of nations” that meets to consider themost pressing world problems. Each memberState has a vote. Decisions on important is-sues, such as international peace and secu-rity, the admission of new members or the UNbudget are adopted by a two-thirds majority.Other issues are decided by a simple majority.In recent years, there have been special effortsto get decisions adopted by consensus insteadof through a formal voting procedure.
The General Assembly has its permanentheadquarters in New York and meetsonce a year between September and De-cember. The General Assembly may alsohold an extraordinary session if the Se-
curity Council or a majority of memberStates request it.
The General Assembly is a body made upexclusively of member States. Only they havea voice and a vote in the Assembly’s delib-erations. Some bodies with observer statusmay, at the prior invitation of the Presidentof the Assembly, speak before the plenaryGeneral Assembly.
One of the subsidiary organs of the GeneralAssembly of most relevance to indigenous
peoples is the “Third Committee”. This com-mittee considers all social, humanitarianand cultural issues before presenting themto the General Assembly.
The Charter of the United Nations givesthe Security Council the crucial respon-
sibility of maintaining international peaceand security. It can meet at any time when
peace between States is threatened. It is es-tablished in the Charter that all memberStates are obliged to comply with decisionsof the Council.
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THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL
THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
THE SECRETARIAT
The Trusteeship Council was set up to su-pervise the administration of colonial
territories under the protection of other mem-ber States. The main aim of this system wasto lead these territories progressively to-wards the development of self-governmentand independence.
The aims of this organ have been fulfilledand, at this current time, all territories underits supervision have achieved self-govern-ment or independence, either as separateStates or via their union with independentneighbouring countries.
T he International Court of Justice is themain legal organ of the UN. It settles
legal disputes between States and gives ad-visory opinions on any legal issues pre-
sented to it by the different principal organsof the United Nations. The Court only con-siders legal disputes between States.
The Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day running of the United Nations,
and is made up of international civil servantswho work in offices throughout the world.The Secretariat provides services to theother principal organs of the UN and ad-ministers the programmes and policies theyformulate.
The staff of the Secretariat are only ac-countable for their activities to theUnited Nations and receive instructionsfrom no governments or authorities out-side the organisation. At the same time,the member States undertake to respectthe exclusively international nature ofthe role of the Secretary-General and his
The Council is made up of 15 members, 5 arepermanent members: China, USA, UnitedKingdom, France and Russia. The other 10are chosen by the General Assembly for atwo-year period.
The Council can adopt measures to ensureits decisions are complied with. It is the onlyUN organ that can impose economic sanc-tions or order an arms embargo. On someoccasions, the Council has authorised mem-ber States to employ “all means necessary”,
including joint military measures, to ensurefulfilment of its decisions.
The Security Council also recommends itscandidate for the post of Secretary-Generalto the General Assembly and proposes theadmission of new members to the UnitedNations.
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“...One in 20 members of the human family are members of indigenous communities. I have nodoubt that, as new members of the United Nations family, you will make an immense contribu-tion to the Organisation’s mission of peace and progress. On behalf of the United Nationsfamily, I want to pledge our strong support to your cause and concerns.”
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United NationsClosing Speech of the 1st session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Under the general authority of the Gen-eral Assembly, the Economic and So-
cial Council (ECOSOC) coordinates the eco-nomic and social work of the United Nationsand the United Nations System.
ECOSOC is a principal organ of the UN thatexamines international issues of an eco-nomic or social nature and regulatory for-mulates recommendations, undertaking anessential role in encouraging internationaldevelopment cooperation.
The Economic and Social Council is madeup of 54 member States, chosen by the Gen-eral Assembly for a three-year period. It meetstwice per year, although it can also hold ex-traordinary sessions should this be deemednecessary. During its meetings, the Council
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
considers reports from all its subsidiary or-gans on issues of an economic, social andhumanitarian nature.
The subsidiary organs meet regularly andpresent their reports and recommendationsto ECOSOC meetings.
For example, the Permanent Forum will ad-vise ECOSOC on all issues related to indig-enous peoples. Other organs advise theCouncil on issues of human rights, socialdevelopment, the situation of women, crimeprevention, drugs or environmental protec-tion. Five Regional Commissions promoteeconomic development and cooperation intheir respective regions.
staff and agree not to attempt to influ-ence this.
Head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-Gen-eral, who is appointed by the General As-sembly on the recommendation of the Secu-rity Council for a renewable period of fiveyears. Mr. Kofi Annan from Ghana is cur-rently UN Secretary-General.
The Secretary-General is the internationalrepresentation of the values and moral au-thority of the United Nations, and one of hismost important tasks is the use of his “goodoffices”, that is, the adoption of measures, inpublic or private, based on his independ-ence, impartiality and integrity, in order toavoid the commencement, increase or exten-sion of international conflicts.
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THE SUBSIDIARY ORGANS OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
As previously explained, the Economicand Social Council can establish what-
ever subsidiary organs it may require to ful-fil its mandate on economic and social is-sues and the promotion of human rights.
ECOSOC has different kinds of subsidiaryorgans, such as:
GOVERNMENTAL BODIES
• Nine Functional Commissions, whichare the Statistical Commission, the Com-mission on Population and Development,the Commission on Social Development,the Commission on Human Rights, theCommission on the Status of Women, theCommission on Narcotic Drugs, the Com-mission on Crime Prevention and Crimi-nal Justice, the Commission on Science andTechnology for Development and the Com-mission on Sustainable Development.
Of the nine functional commissions,only the Commission on HumanRights considers specific issues on therights of indigenous peoples. In anycase, it is important to remember thatthe work of the other commissions,such as for example, the Commissionon Sustainable Development, the Com-mission on Social Development andthe Commission on the Status ofWomen, etc., also considers issues ofvital importance to indigenous peo-ples.
• Four standing committees or commis-sions, which are the Committee for Pro-gramme and Coordination, the Commis-sion on Human Settlements, the Commit-tee on Non-governmental Organisations
and the Committee on Negotiations withIntergovernmental Agencies. Both thefunctional commissions and the stand-ing committees and commissions arepurely governmental bodies, whichmeans that only governments can bemembers and only members have votingrights. The States that are not members ofthese organs can participate in the delib-erations as observers.
• Five regional commissions, which arethe Economic Commission for Africa(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); the Economicand Social Commission for Asia and thePacific; the Economic Commission forEurope (Geneva, Switzerland); the Eco-nomic Commission for Latin Americaand the Caribbean, and the Economicand Social Commission for Western Asia.
The regional commissions deal with the-matic issues in the different regions. Theiraim is to contribute to economic develop-ment, coordinate actions aimed at the pro-motion of the different regions, strengtheneconomic relations of countries withinand between regions and promote socialdevelopment.
Like the functional commissions and per-manent committees, these bodies are ex-clusively governmental.
EXPERT BODIES
ECOSOC can establish thematic expert bod-ies. The members of these bodies are expertswith recognised competence on the relevantissue. These experts act independently andserve in their own personal capacity, not asState representatives.
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The expert bodies deal with issues such asdevelopment policy, natural resources andeconomic, social and cultural rights, or in-ternational cooperation on the transporta-tion of dangerous goods.
In July 2000, ECOSOC established thePermanent Forum on Indigenous Issuesas an expert body of ECOSOC.
These subsidiary organs of ECOSOC may,in turn, establish other subsidiary organs,which, in turn, advise on specific issues orquestions within their mandate.
For example, the Sub-commission on thePromotion and Protection of Human Rightsis a subsidiary organ of the Commission onHuman Rights which, in turn, is a subsidi-ary organ of ECOSOC.
ECOSOC and Non-governmentalOrganisations
According to the Charter of the UnitedNations, the Economic and Social Coun-cil can hold consultations with non-gov-ernmental organisations (NGOs) inter-ested in the issues that are withinECOSOC’s remit. The Council recog-nises that these organisations often havespecial experience or technical knowl-edge of use to the work of the Counciland so they should have an opportunityto express their opinions.
In order to be able to collaborate officiallywith the United Nations, interested NGOsneed to be recognised by ECOSOC as hav-ing consultative status. To obtain thisrecognition, the organisation must senda request to ECOSOC’s Committee onNon-governmental Organisations. Thiscommittee is made up of 19 memberStates of the United Nations, and itmeets every year. At these meetings, the
committee considers the requests re-ceived. The Committee then recommendsto ECOSOC a number of organisationsto be granted consultative status. The fi-nal decision is taken by an ECOSOCmeeting.
The non-governmental organisationsrecognised as having consultative sta-tus can send observers to the publicmeetings of ECOSOC and its subsidiaryorgans, give its opinion in writing onissues related to the work of the Counciland, on prior request, present oral inter-ventions at meetings of the Council orits subsidiary organs. In addition, theycan consult the United Nations Secre-tariat on issues of mutual interest.
There are currently 2,143 NGOs recognisedas having consultative status with the Eco-nomic and Social Council (ECOSOC), andthey are classified into three categories.
• General category: granted to organi-sations involved in most of the Coun-cil’s activities.• Special category: granted to organi-sations with particular competence inconcrete areas of the Council’s activity.• Roster category: granted to organisa-tions that may occasionally make con-tributions to the work of the Council, itssubsidiary organs or other organs of theUnited Nations.
At this moment, approximately twentyindigenous organisations are recognisedas having consultative status withECOSOC.
Note
1 The Charter of the United Nations can be foundat http://www.un.org/Overview/Charter/contents.html
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SIMPLIFIED CHART OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM
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THE UNITED NATIONSSYSTEM
T he United Nations system1 is made up of the Secretariat of theUnited Nations, the United Nations Programmes and Funds,
and the specialized agencies.
These bodies have their own budgets and governing bodies, theirown regulations and guidelines, and provide technical assistanceand other practical support in almost all areas of economic and so-cial activity.
The Programmes and Funds are part of the United Nations, and thespecialized agencies are linked to the United Nations via coopera-tion agreements and are autonomous bodies created by means ofinter-governmental agreements. Some of the specialized agencies areof special relevance to indigenous peoples.
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CHAPTER II
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SPECIALIZED AGENCIES AND BODIES OF THE UNITED NATIONSOF GREATEST RELEVANCE TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The International Labour Organisationwas created in 1919 by means of the
Treaty of Versailles. When the United Na-tions was established in 1946, the ILO wasthe first specialized agency associated withthe UN, with special responsibility for workand social issues. The ILO currently has 175member States.
Its tasks include promoting social justice forworkers and formulating international poli-cies and programmes to contribute to im-proving their living and working conditions.It prepares international labour standards,which serve as guidelines for authorities inimplementing these policies, and undertakestraining and education programmes in or-der to contribute to continuing these efforts.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)
In addition, it approves conventions and rec-ommendations establishing internationallabour standards in areas such as freedomof association, salaries, quotas and condi-tions of work, severance compensation, so-cial security, holidays, industrial safety, em-ployment agencies and work place inspec-tions. Through its technical cooperation pro-grammes, its experts help in human resourceplanning, professional training, manage-ment techniques, employment policies, oc-cupational health and safety, social securitysystems, cooperatives and small-scale craftindustries.
More information can be found at:www.ilo.org
THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The ILO was the first international or-ganisation to consider indigenous
issues. The ILO began its work on indig-enous peoples in the 1930s, when the or-ganisation began to pay particular atten-tion to the situation of the people thenknown as “native workers”. In 1953, theILO published a study on indigenouspeoples. In 1957, it adopted ConventionNo. 107 and Recommendation No. 104concerning the protection and integrationof indigenous and tribal populations. Dueto the paternalistic and assimilationistattitude of this convention, in 1989 theInternational Labour Conference ap-proved a revised version, which is Con-
vention No. 169 concerning indigenousand tribal peoples.
Convention No. 169 is of great signifi-cance to indigenous peoples, as it wasthe result of great efforts on the part ofthe international indigenous movementand, although for many indigenous or-ganisations it is still incomplete, it hasturned many indigenous demands into le-gal rights. It is the only current InternationalTreaty to consider the problems of indig-enous peoples in a comprehensive manner.
Like any international convention, Con-vention No. 169 is of a binding nature,
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which means that the text is a legal re-quirement for those States ratifying it. TheILO has established mechanisms bywhich to monitor treaty implementation.Once a country has ratified the Conven-tion, it must send reports to the ILO onhow it is being implemented. These re-ports must include information on thesituation of indigenous peoples, both inlegislative and practical terms.
To date (February 2002), the countrieshaving ratified Convention No. 169 are
Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica,Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Hon-duras, Mexico, Holland, Norway, Para-guay and Peru.
The ILO also has two technical coopera-tion programmes specifically designedfor indigenous peoples: the INDISCOprogramme and the Project to PromoteILO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peo-ples. Both programmes work with indig-enous organisations, NGOs and alsogovernments.
THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Established in 1944, the World Bank ismade up of five affiliated institutions.1
Its principle mission is to combat poverty inorder to obtain lasting results and to helppeople to help themselves and the environ-ment in which they live by providing re-sources and knowledge, creating capacityand forging associations in the public andprivate sectors.
The owners of the World Bank are more than181 countries, represented by a Board ofGovernors and Executive Directors whoseheadquarters are in Washington DC. Themember countries are shareholders with apower of final decision within the WorldBank.The Bank has offices in more than 100countries, employing more than 10,000 peo-ple.
The World Bank is a main provider of devel-opment assistance. The Bank’s clients areStates to which the institution grants loans.The Bank operates in close cooperation withthe International Monetary Fund (IMF),
which is an inter-governmental organisationwith 171 members. This institution seeks topromote international cooperation aroundinternational monetary affairs and to facili-tate trade through production capacity.
The structural adjustment programmes pro-moted by the Bank have been strongly criti-cized by indigenous peoples and others be-cause they did not take into account the so-cial costs and their impact on the poorestsectors of the population. The impact of theseprogrammes to indigenous peoples is thatthey often risk loosing their lands and terri-tories.
During the 1990s, the Bank launched vari-ous reform processes, which includedgreater funding for environmental projectsand poverty reduction programmes. TheBank then began to pay more attention tothe demands of the civil society and to putgreater energy into the search for participa-tory policies and transparent loans.
21
In practice, implementation of the social andenvironmental reforms promised by the Bankhas been much slower than expected and sothere are ongoing debates and pressure onthe Bank to ensure that it:
• Fulfils and implements the new regula-tions and widens the package of reforms;
• Implements more effective disseminationpolicies, such as the translation of docu-ments into local languages and their dis-semination through Public InformationCentres within the countries;
Recognises the right to informed participa-tion in order to promote an open dialogueon development problems, real participationin funding processes and joint evaluationmechanisms of programmes and projects.
Note
1 The International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment, the International Finance Corpo-ration, the International Development Associa-tion, and the International Centre for Settlementof Investment Disputes and the Multilateral In-vestment Guarantee Agency.
THE WORLD BANK AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The impact of the World Bank’sprojects and programmes on indig-
enous peoples has been the object of con-troversy in recent decades.
In response to severe international criti-cism of the destructive impact of itsprojects on indigenous peoples duringthe 1960s and 70s, the World Bankadopted its first policy on “tribal” peo-ples in 1982, known as OperationalManual Statement 2.34 (OMS 2.34). Thispolicy requires World Bank staff to in-clude measures to protect the territorialrights, health and cultural integrity of in-digenous peoples and to ensure thatthose peoples affected by projects partici-pate in their planning and implementa-tion. However, in practice, the policymade little contribution to reform withinthe Bank. The Bank’s projects thereforecontinued to have serious negative im-pacts on indigenous peoples throughoutthe 1980s.
For this reason, and to improve implemen-tation of their policies on indigenous peo-ples, in 1991 the World Bank revised its
policy on Indigenous Peoples and pro-duced Operational Directive 4.20(OD4.20).
This Operational Directive attempts toensure that Bank staff takes positive ac-tion to protect indigenous rights: guar-anteeing land ownership and rights toresources; mitigating the negative im-pacts of development projects; guaran-teeing their participation; and ensuringthey share in the benefits. Importantly,the policy contains provisions for the re-jection of projects whose negative impactscannot be adequately improved or whoseborrowers have not presented appropri-ate plans in terms of complying with thepolicy.
In spite of weaknesses in this OperationalDirective, indigenous peoples considerthat this policy could help safeguard therights of indigenous communities af-fected by World Bank projects, providedthat it is adequately implemented.
During the mid-1990s, the Bank began afurther review of OD4.20 and other pro-
22
tection policies as part of a “conversion”process at all levels of the Bank, with theaim of standardising and clarifying op-erational directives for staff and borrow-ers. According to the Bank, this reviewwas necessary to improve the quality offulfilment of protection provisions. Fortheir part, indigenous peoples expresseda fear that the true reason was to mini-mise the obligatory rules and limit thecover of the political provisions, and theystated that any new policy shouldstrengthen the existing one, particularlywith regard to its provisions on land andresource security.
In 2000, the Bank published the prelimi-nary policy document. In spite of theBank’s declarations that there had beenno dilution of the regulations with regardto OD4.20, indigenous peoples andNGOs stated that this document wasweaker than existing policy, primarily be-cause it contained no obligatory provi-sions to protect indigenous peoples’ landrights, it did not recognise the right toprior and informed consent, it did notprohibit forced resettlement, it lacked in-digenous monitoring and supervision re-quirements of the Bank’s operations andit had not been extended to cover struc-tural adjustment loans.
For more information see: www.worldbank.org
WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO)
The World Intellectual Property Organi-sation (WIPO) was established with the
primary tasks of preserving and increasingrespect for intellectual property throughoutthe world and promoting industrial and cul-tural development by stimulating creativeactivity and technology transfer.
Intellectual property comprises two areas:industrial property related to inventions and
other patents on inventions, registered brandtrademarks, designs, names etc., and copy-right and other rights linked to literary, mu-sical and artistic works, films, performances,interpretations and phonograms.
It disseminates information and maintainsan international register and encouragesother forms of administrative cooperationbetween member States.
WIPO AND THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
WIPO’s recognition of the fact that theissue of protecting indigenous peoples’heritage falls within its mandate hasopened the path to important opportuni-ties for indigenous peoples.
In 1992, the Working Group on Indig-enous Populations and WIPO organiseda technical conference on IndigenousPeoples. The participants recommendedthat the United Nations should produce
23
For more information see: www.wipo.org
more effective measures to protect indig-enous peoples’ intellectual and culturalproperty rights.
In 1998, WIPO launched a new pro-gramme of activities to examine currentand future possibilities for protecting tra-ditional knowledge, genetic resourcesand folklore. During 1989 and 1990,WIPO held a series of consultations withindigenous peoples and produced the firstsystematic study on their needs and ex-pectations in terms of intellectual prop-erty issues among the owners of traditional
knowledge and folkloric expressions. Onthe basis of these studies, WIPO decidedto set up an inter-governmental commit-tee on intellectual property, genetic re-sources, traditional knowledge and folk-lore. The aim of this committee is to pro-mote a consensus around the knowledgeand resources that need to be protected.
This Inter-governmental Committee ofWIPO has met on three occasions and asmall number of organisations have par-ticipated in the debates.
THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION (WTO)
The World Trade Organisation (WTO), esta-blished in 1995, provides a legal and
institutional framework for the multilateraltrading system. The WTO is the successorto the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT).
Its main objective is to secure the liberalisa-tion of world trade for economic growth anddevelopment.
Its functions are:
• to implement the 29 multi- and plu-rilateral trade agreements that constitutethe WTO;
• to act as a forum for multilateral tradenegotiations;
• to resolve trade disputes, and to examinenational trade policies.
The WTO covers not only trade in goodsbut also in services and trade-related as-pects of intellectual property, which may
include areas as diverse as agriculture, tex-tiles, government procurement, and rulesof origin. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) is oneof the 29 agreements in the founding FinalAct of WTO. It requires State patent protec-tion mechanisms for all fields of invention,although State members may also excludeinventions from patentability if necessary toprevent commercial exploitation, to protectpublic order, morality, human, animal orplant life or health, safeguard production,or avoid prejudice to the environment. How-ever, this latter option is considered to re-quire alternative protection by way of devel-oping an effective sui generis system. The Council for Trade-Related Aspects of In-tellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Council)monitors the TRIPs Agreement, which pro-vides protection for different kinds of intel-lectual property rights, including patents.
24
TRIPs also sets out transition arrangementsand enforcement obligations for members. The Committee on Trade and the Environ-ment is the WTO body that explores suchissues as: the relationship between provi-sions of multilateral environmental andWTO agreements; interfacing sustainabledevelopment, environment and trade; the
impact of environmental measures on mar-ket access; trade in domestically prohibitedgoods; transparency in trade-related envi-ronmental measures; TRIPs; and traditionalknowledge. It also co-operates with the Un-ion for the Protection of New Varieties ofPlants (UPOV) and FAO Commission onPlant Genetic Resources and publishes a bul-letin.
....”We believe that the whole philosophy un-derpinning the WTO Agreements and theprinciples and policies it promotes contra-dict our core values, spirituality andworldviews, as well as our concepts and prac-tices of development, trade and environmen-tal protection. Therefore, we challenge theWTO to redefine its principles and practicestoward a ‘sustainable communities’ para-digm, and to recognize and allow for the con-tinuation of other worldviews and models ofdevelopment. Indigenous peoples, undoubt-edly, are the ones most adversely affected byglobalization and by the WTO Agreements.However, we believe that it is also us who canoffer viable alternatives to the dominant eco-nomic growth, export-oriented developmentmodel. Our sustainable lifestyles and cultures,traditional knowledge, cosmologies, spiritu-ality, values of collectivity, reciprocity, re-spect and reverence for Mother Earth, are cru-cial in the search for a transformed societywhere justice, equity, and sustainability willprevail.”
Indigenous Peoples Seattle DeclarationThird Ministerial Meeting of the World
Trade Organisation30 November – 3 December 1999
In December 1999, in relation to the ThirdMinisterial Meeting of the World Trade
Organisation, held in Seattle, indigenouspeoples produced what was known asthe Seattle Declaration. In this, indig-enous peoples stated that trade liberali-sation and export-led development,which are the basic principles on whichpolicies promoted by the WTO are based,were creating extremely negative impactson the lives of indigenous peoples.
In their opinion, the WTO agreementswere undermining their right to self-de-termination, their sovereignty as peoples,the constructive treaties and agreementsthat indigenous peoples had negotiatedwith the States in which they lived.
In this important declaration, indigenouspeoples describe the serious impacts ofthese agreements on their communitiesand ask the WTO to consider this prob-lem urgently, demanding that:
• An urgent social and environmentaljustice analysis be undertaken to lookinto the cumulative effects of theseAgreements on indigenous peoples.
• A review of the Agreements be under-taken to address the inequities andimbalances that adversely affect in-digenous peoples.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE WTO
25
The Declaration also includes a largenumber of concrete proposals in relationto the Agreement on Agriculture, serviceand investment liberalization and theTRIPS Agreement.
The Declaration can be found at:http:// www.itpcentre.org/legislation/english/wto99.htm
For more information see: www.wto.org
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
The World Health Organisation has beenin existence since 7 April 1948 with the
primary aim of achieving the highest possi-ble level of health for the world’s population.
The WHO focuses mainly on primary healthcare, through education on prevailing healthproblems, food supply and adequate nutri-tion, clean water and sanitation, mother andchild health, family planning, immunisa-tions, prevention of local diseases and pro-vision of essential medicines.
It also helps countries to strengthen theirhealth systems by establishing infrastruc-ture, promoting investment in human re-sources, encouraging the necessary re-search for the development of appropriatetechnology and undertaking programmesto eradicate the main illnesses affectingchildren, with particular focus on tropicaldiseases.
For more information, see: www.who.org
THE WHO AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Over recent years, the WHO has givengreater attention to projects aimed
at indigenous peoples and has promotedimportant initiatives to discuss the issuewith indigenous organisations.
In 1998, the WHO organised a Forum onIndigenous Peoples and Health in col-laboration with the Working Group onIndigenous Populations.
In this Forum, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundt-land, Director-General of the WHO, said
“...WHO will play a role to ensure that thebillion and a half people who have been ex-cluded from economic development and the
health ‘revolution’ of the 20th century are liftedfrom poverty and ensured healthy lives in the21st. Redressing the plight of indigenous peo-ples is an integral part of this agenda.”
The recommendations of this Forum werethat:
• Indigenous peoples and their per-spective on health should penetratethe policy-making process.
• The existing expertise and experienceof voluntary organisations should bebuilt upon, and their role enhancedby involving them in monitoring pro-grammes and initiatives.
26
• New communication technology, al-though held in suspicion, could beused in positive ways, e.g., to ex-change ideas and points of view andto develop energy.
The 51st World Health Assembly, bear-ing in mind the recommendations of theForum on Indigenous Peoples and Health,urged members:
“To develop and implement national plansof action or programmes on indigenous peo-ple’s health, in close cooperation with indig-enous peoples, with the aim of:
• guaranteeing indigenous peoples accessto health services;
• supporting the involvement of indigenousrepresentatives in WHO meetings;
• ensuring that health services are cultur-ally sensitive to indigenous peoples; re-specting, preserving and maintaining theknowledge of traditional healing andmedicine in close cooperation with indig-enous peoples; ensuring the active par-ticipation of indigenous peoples in iden-tifying their health needs and appropri-ate research to formulate strategies to im-prove their health situation and its fu-ture direction.”
UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMMES AND FUNDS
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organisation was created on 4 No-
vember 1946 with the aim of contributing toworld peace and security through education,science and culture.
UNESCO gives priority to the attainment ofa basic education adapted to the actual needsof peoples. It collaborates in the training ofteachers, educational planners and admin-istrators and encourages the building ofschools and provision of the necessaryequipment with which to run them.
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION (UNESCO)
In terms of cultural activities, this institu-tion seeks to safeguard cultural heritage bystimulating creation and creativity and con-serving cultural organisations and oral tra-ditions, as well as promoting books andreading.
In terms of information, UNESCO promotesthe free circulation of ideas via audio-visualmedia, encourages the freedom of the pressand the independence, pluralism and diver-sity of the media.
For more information, see: www.unesco.org
I n addition to the specialised agencies there are also a number of United Nations Programmes and Funds. Some of these are important to indigenous peoples, others have to
date only to a very limited extent or not at all dealt with indigenous issues.
27
UNESCO has paid particular attentionto the need to protect the cultural herit-age and intellectual property of indig-enous peoples. In cooperation with theWorld Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO), UNESCO produced the “ModelTreaty on the Protection of Expressionsof Folklore against Illicit Exploitation”.This Model Treaty recognises that indig-enous peoples are the traditional own-ers of artistic heritage, including folklore,
UNESCO AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
music and dance, created within indig-enous territories and passed downthrough the generations.
In addition, in recent years, some ofUNESCO’s programmes have taken intoaccount the importance of indigenouspeoples’ cultural heritage and have sup-ported many programmes in educationaland cultural spheres.
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)
This programme is the most importantsource of multilateral development co-
operation. It is financed with funds from thevoluntary contributions of member Statesevery year. It was established in 1965 bymerging two of the United Nations techni-cal cooperation programmes.
UNDP has a network of 115 offices, whichreceive support from more than 30 regionaland international organisations which, inturn, collaborate with 152 of the world’s gov-ernments to promote improved living con-
THE UNDP AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
In recent years, the UNDP has paid fargreater attention to activities on behalf
of indigenous peoples and many of itssmall grant programmes and program-mes of a regional and national naturehave given special consideration to in-digenous peoples.
The general objective of UNDP’s associa-tion and cooperation with indigenous peo-ples is to include indigenous perspectivesand development concepts within UNDPprogrammes and to ensure that the concernsand interests of indigenous peoples are re-flected in the organisation’s activities.
ditions, fair economic growth, ecologicallysound agricultural development, forestry,soil improvements, water supply, environ-mental health, energy, urban development,education, health and housing.
It collaborates with non-governmental or-ganisations to encourage a spirit of entre-preneurship as a factor in self-sufficient andsustainable development, and promotes eco-nomic and social development to addressthe needs of the poorest sectors of the popu-lation, in particular.
28
In 2001, the UNDP published the docu-ment “UNDP and Indigenous Peoples:A Policy of Engagement”.3 This impor-tant document has the aim of providingUNDP staff with a framework for estab-
lishing sustainable collaboration with in-digenous peoples. It highlights the mainguiding principles of their relations withindigenous peoples.For more information, see: www.undp.org
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)
This programme was created in 1972 follow-ing the UN Environment Conference. Its
headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya.
It serves as a catalyst for the activities of gov-ernments, scientific communities and non-governmental organisations through the for-mulation and implementation of projectsrelated to environmental issues, such as theatmosphere, climate change, the depletionof the ozone layer, water resources, oceans,coastal zones, deforestation, desertification,health and biotechnology, among others.
UNEP projects are financed by interestedgovernments and international organisa-tions and have enabled the participation ofmore than 30,000 scientists and techniciansin 142 countries in projects coordinatedthrough the Global Environment Monitor-ing System, which comprises some 25 net-works, each with an associated database.
For more information see:www.unep.org
Since the Earth Summit in 1992, UNEPhas taken responsibility for promoting
the States’ recognition of the traditionalmethods and knowledge of indigenouspeoples, and ensuring that indigenouspeoples gain a share of the economic andtrade benefits deriving from the use of thesetraditional methods and knowledge.
UNEP also collaborates with indigenousand local communities on implementingand evaluating the activities that are be-ing carried out in support of the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity.
UNEP has undertaken an internationalevaluation of biodiversity, with the in-
volvement of indigenous peoples. In thisresearch, the following were identified asthe primary causes of a loss of bio-diversity: degradation or total loss ofhabitat, excessive exploitation of biologi-cal resources, contamination, the intro-duction of non-native (outside or exotic)species and climate change. The generalconclusion of this important report wasthat the forests, marine and coastal areasand agricultural ecosystems and inter-nal waterways were the most threatened.
In relation to this international evalua-tion, UNEP carried out various investi-gations into the “human values ofbiodiversity”, in which it considered the
UNEP AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
29
traditional, religious and cultural valuesrelated to biological diversity. This re-search highlighted the interdependencebetween indigenous peoples and theirenvironment.
UNEP also addresses the promotion andprotection of indigenous rights in accord-ance with international environmentalstandards.
UNICEF AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)
Article 30 of the Convention on theRights of the Child recognises the
right of indigenous children to enjoy theirculture, religion and language.
In 1991, the Executive Board of UNICEFapproved a resolution giving UNICEF amandate to improve the way in which itsprojects help indigenous children to en-
The United Nations Children’s Fund hasbeen responsible for supervising the
survival, protection and development of chil-dren since it was set up by the General As-sembly in 1946.
UNICEF defends the rights of children andwomen and addresses their needs the worldover. Its activities are guided by the UN Con-vention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).This Convention defines and expresses thecivil, political, social, economic and culturalrights of all children. It also states the obli-gations of governments and families, of theinternational community and local commu-nities, to ensure that all children have thepossibility of personal development.
Within the framework of this Convention,UNICEF addresses such issues as child la-bour, land mines, sexual exploitation, childtrafficking, and indigenous women and chil-dren. One of UNICEF’s tasks is to promote
ratification of this Convention by the Statesand to establish international standards toprotect children the world over.
UNICEF also implements programmes inthe areas of health, nutrition, education,water and sanitation, the environment,women in development countries and otherspheres of importance to children. It focuseson training the community in areas of ob-stetrics and childcare, these programmesbeing undertaken in collaboration with theWorld Health Organisation.
It is also responsible for establishing pro-grammes of promotion and development edu-cation and channels funds from industrial-ised countries to provide humanitarian as-sistance to children in the developing worldin order to address the problems facing them:extreme poverty, poor health, lack of school-ing, discrimination, psychological trauma,physical and sexual exploitation and abuse.
30
joy their rights as recognised by the Con-vention. For this reason, over the last fewyears, the organisation has developedvarious programmes aimed specificallyat improving the living conditions of in-digenous communities. Of these, thePROANDES programme (Programme ofBasic Services for the Andean Region) canbe mentioned, which is being implementedin the poorest areas of Bolivia, Colombia,Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, where many
indigenous peoples live, and the sustain-able development projects for children inthe Amazon basin, the main aim of whichis to improve the living conditions of in-digenous women and children.
Indigenous children in various countriesalso benefit from UNICEF’s programmeson issues such as child labour, education,health and child sexual exploitation.
For more information see: www.unicef.org
UNITAR was established in 1965 as an au-tonomous body of the United Nations withthe aim of helping the UN achieve its mainobjectives in terms of maintaining interna-tional peace and security and promotingeconomic and social development.
UNITAR is financed through the voluntarycontributions of member States, inter-govern-
UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTE FOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH (UNITAR)
mental organisations, private foundationsand other non-governmental sources thatsponsor the Institute’s training programmes.
It organises grants and regional refreshercourses in international law and, at the re-quest of the member States, it provides advi-sory services to diplomacy institutes in de-veloping countries.
I n recent years, UNITAR has organisedvarious international and regional
training courses to strengthen the capac-ity of indigenous peoples in the areas ofconflict resolution and the promotion ofpeace processes.
In May 2002, UNITAR organised a spe-cial seminar on the United Nations Sys-tem for the recently appointed membersof the Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues.
UNICEF AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
For more information see: www.unitar.org
31
The idea to create the International Fundfor Agricultural Development arose
during the World Conference on Food, heldin 1974. IFAD’s Governing Council cameinto force on 30 November 1977 with the prin-ciple aim of mobilising resources to improvethe food production and nutrition of low in-come groups in developing countries.
INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)
IFAD provides loans, generally under highlyfavourable conditions. It is concerned not onlywith with increasing agricultural productionbut also improving employment, nutritionand income distribution prospects at locallevel, since for every dollar contributed insupport of its projects, IFAD has managed tomobilise two more from other external donors.
IFAD AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Over the last few years, IFAD (the International Fund for Agricultural
Development) has expanded its initia-tives in support of indigenous peoplesand has developed region- specific strat-egies for indigenous peoples. The Fundhas specifically focused on indigenouspeoples as beneficiaries of its interven-tions because of their poverty and needfor social justice in Latin America and alarge part of Asia, and has channelled asignificant proportion of its loans andgrants to supporting indigenous peoples.
However, according to IFAD’s prelimi-nary discussion document, “Valuing Di-
versity in Sustainable Development”, theFund’s special interest in supportingthese groups does not stem only from is-sues of poverty reduction, social justiceand humanitarian concerns, but also be-cause it has been amply demonstratedthat national economies and society as awhole stand to gain from ending themarginalization of these groups and be-cause indigenous peoples’ value systemsare such that indigenous peoples play acrucial role in the stewardship of natu-ral resources and biodiversity.
For more information see: www.fida.org
The United Nations Industrial Develop-ment Organisation (UNIDO) was estab-
lished by the General Assembly in 1966 asthe body responsible for promoting and ac-celerating the industrialisation of developing
countries. Its status as a specialized agencywas achieved in 1979 but it only became afully autonomous body on 1 January 1986.
UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION (UNIDO)
For more information see: www.unido.org
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Given that one of the UN’s objectives isthat of eliminating hunger, the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation was estab-lished on 16 October 1945.
From its headquarters in Rome, Italy, the FAOformulates programmes to raise nutritionallevels and living conditions, and improvethe efficiency of the production, preparation,marketing and distribution of food and ag-ricultural and livestock products from farms,forests and fisheries, promoting rural devel-opment and improvement. The FAO pre-
UNITED NATIONS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION (FAO)
pares developing countries to face up toemergency food situations and, where nec-essary, provides emergency aid. It promotesagricultural investment, improved agricul-tural production, livestock rearing and tech-nology transfer to developing countries. Italso encourages natural resource conserva-tion, stimulating the development of fishing,fish farming and sources of renewable en-ergy.
For more information, see: www.fao.org
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD became a permanent organ of theGeneral Assembly following the First UnitedNations Conference on Trade and Develop-ment held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1964.Geneva is also where it currently has its
headquarters. Among its tasks is that of pro-moting international trade, in particular fordeveloping countries, with a view to speed-ing up their economic growth.
In recent years, the UNCTAD Secretariathas been collaborating with the Secre-
tariat of the Convention on Biological Di-versity around the issue of the econom-ics of biodiversity conservation.
UNCTAD is promoting the use of eco-nomic instruments and incentives to en-sure that environmental resources areconserved and used in an ecologicallysustainable way.
For more information see: www.unctad.org
UNCTAD has adopted a “Biotrade Ini-tiative”, which is designed to provide theglobal community with information onhow to develop the world’s biodiversityresponsibly.
It is important that indigenous organisa-tions monitor this initiative on Biotradeclosely, along with the activities being de-veloped by its Secretariat.
33
T he Office of the United Nations High Com-missioner for Refugees was established
in 1951 to protect refugees and promote last-ing solutions to their problems. Its basic roleis that of providing international protectionto refugees who, by definition, do not enjoythe protection of their country of origin.
UNHCR ensures that refugees are providedwith asylum, and that they obtain a favour-able status in their country of exile. The fun-damental element of international protectionis the generally accepted principle of prohi-
OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)
bition of rejection, by virtue of which the for-cible expulsion or repatriation of a person totheir country of origin or former place of resi-dence is prohibited.
It must also ensure that people with refugeestatus are protected from rejection, illegal de-tention or expulsion; have the right to work,education and assistance, along with theright to intellectual and industrial property;access to the courts and freedom of movement.
For more information see: www.unhcr.ch
The United Nations University was esta-blished in 1973 following approval of
its Charter by the General Assembly and,since 1975, it has functioned as an autono-mous body of the United Nations with itsheadquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Its activitiesare aimed at promoting cooperation betweeninternational and scientific experts to con-tribute to resolving urgent problems.
UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY (UNU)
Although it is called a university, the UNUhas no students, nor teaching body norpremises for university teaching. The UNUconsiders problems by means of interna-tional networks of academic and researchinstitutes, including its own research andtraining centres.
This was established in 1978 in Nairobi,Kenya, with the aim of promoting the good
development of human settlements throughmeasures aimed at improving the housing ofthe poorest of the world’s population.
The centre provides technical cooperationto government programmes, undertakes re-search, organises expert meetings, practicalcourses and training seminars, in additionto publishing technical courses.
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMME (HABITAT)
Habitat develops and implements nationaland international policies and programmeson human settlements, urban and regionalplanning, housing construction and the es-tablishment of infrastructure in rural andurban areas, low cost construction tech-niques and methods for water supply.
For more information see:www.habitat.org
34
This programme, largely administeredand financed by the UNDP, sends more
than 2,000 specialists and workers to pro-vide services in over 100 countries, mostlyin the developing world.
These people work on development and emer-gency aid programmes being implemented bygovernments with the support of the UNDP
UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS (UNV)
and the UN’s specialized agencies or in pro-grammes implemented by the volunteersthemselves on behalf of governments.
The UN volunteers support local organisa-tions promoting self-sufficiency throughcommunity participation
For more information see: www.unv.org
This was established by the General Assem-bly in 1976 and became UNIFEM in 1985.
This body provides direct support to wom-en’s projects aimed at promoting their inclu-sion in the planning of important develop-ment programmes and projects.
Although it has a small budget, coming pri-marily from international non-governmen-
tal organisations and private donors, alongwith voluntary donations from more than100 institutions, UNIFEM has improved thecondition of women in America, Africa,Asia, the Pacific and Caribbean by offeringaccess to credit, training and technology tomore than 550 projects.
For more information see:www.unifem.undp.org
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND FOR WOMEN (UNIFEM)
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)
The WFP was established in 1963 and isthe only multilateral body providing
food assistance in the developing world. Itprovides a quarter of all international food
aid, as well as producing regulations for thepurchase and transport of an even largershare of the food aid provided by differentcountries.
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)
What was, in 1967, a trust fund offeringtechnical assistance to reduce the high
demographic trends of the 1960s became, twoyears later, the largest provider of assistanceon population issues to developing countries.
The role of the United Nations PopulationFund is to promote international-level train-ing to address population and family plan-ning needs. It also promotes an understand-ing of population factors, such as demo-
3535
graphic growth, fertility, mortality, age struc-ture, spatial distribution and migration.
UNFPA helps governments draw up popu-lation projects and programmes and pro-vides financial assistance for their imple-mentation. 50% of the Fund’s resources isaimed at issues related to mother and child,
Notes
1 http://www.unsystem.org/en/2 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Fi-
nance Corporation, the International Development Association, the InternationalCentre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Multilateral Investment Guar-antee Agency.
3 This document can be found athttp://www.undp.org/policy/docs/policynotes/IP%20Policy%20English.pdf
health and family planning. The other 50%is devoted to information and training ac-tivities, data analysis and research in termsof demographic and socio-economic rela-tionships, and evaluating policies and pro-grammes to improve the situation of women.
For more information see: www.unfpa.org
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Since its formation, the organisation has given special priority tothe promotion and protection of human rights. Article 1 (3) of the
1945 Charter of the United Nations defines one of its main objectivesas the “promotion and encouragement of respect for human rightsand for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race,sex, language, or religion”.
When looking at the work of the United Nations in the areaof human rights, it is important to note the existence of twodifferent types of body: those based on the Charter of theUnited Nations and those based on the Treaty system.
36
BEFORE THE UN BEGAN TO CONSIDER THE ISSUE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, THIS WAS CONSIDERED TO BE THE EXCLUSIVE AFFAIR
OF THE DIFFERENT STATES
THEUNITED NATIONSAND HUMAN RIGHTS
CHAPTER III
37
BODIES BASED ON THE CHARTEROF THE UNITED NATIONS
THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The Charter entrusts the United Nationswith the task of creating bodies respon-
sible for examining and addressing humanrights issues and formulating new standards.
In the area of human rights, the most impor-tant organ based on the Charter of the UnitedNations is the Commission on HumanRights. This is the main organ of the UnitedNations devoted to protecting and promot-
ing human rights. Its task is to give overallpolitical direction, study problems relatedto human rights, develop and codify newinternational standards and ensure ob-servance of human rights, in addition to ex-amining the situation of those rights in anypart of the world and reviewing informationcoming from States and non-governmentalorganisations.
The Commission on Human Rights is a governmental body made up of 53 mem-ber States chosen by ECOSOC for a three-year period. All other member States
who are not represented on the Commission participate in its work as observers. TheCommission meets once per year, for six weeks, usually during March and April inGeneva but, where necessary, its members may also call extraordinary meetings.
NGOs that have consultative status with ECOSOC can also participate and presentwritten and oral interventions to the Commission on any issue related to human rights.
The Commission has two main functions: one is the promotion of human rights,which is of a preventive nature and the other is the protection of human rights,which is of a corrective nature.
The following are among the Commission’s activities in terms of promoting human rights:
• Coordination of the human rights activities of the United Nations System• Formulation of international standards on human rights (Declarations, Covenants,
Conventions)• Preparation of studies and reports on human rights
In 1996, the Commission decided to include a new subject, entitled “IndigenousIssues”, within its programm , in order to give particular attention to the problems ofindigenous peoples. Since then, under the agenda point known as “IndigenousIssues”, the Commission has considered reports and resolutions from the WorkingGroup established to consider the Draft Declaration on the Rights of IndigenousPeoples, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, the Permanent Forum onIndigenous Issues and the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
38
Many indigenous organisations participate actively in the Commission’ssessions, presenting oral and written interventions under this agendapoint.
It is important to remember that the Commission is not an international tribunaland so does not have the capacity to judge or punish government behaviour inthe area of human rights. In spite of this limitation, the Commission’s activitiesin the area of human rights protection are:
T he establishment of specialized mechanisms to study issues of particularimportance, and to investigate cases of complaints. For this, the Commis-
sion has the power to create other subsidiary organs or mechanisms, such asthe appointment of experts, special rapporteurs or the establishment of work-ing groups.
The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, which come under the SpecialProcedure system, have a mandate to raise matters of specific human rightsviolations, provided they are within their remit, with the relevant governments.NGOs, individuals, victims, families, prisoners (basically anyone) can presentcomplaints to the specific Special Rapporteur. The Special Rapporteur inter-venes with governments, sometimes sending the response received from theGovernment to the plaintiffs for their subsequent intervention, and this inter-vention is reflected in the report the Special Rapporteur presents to the Commis-sion on Human Rights. Rapporteurs are clearly a real barometer by which tojudge the human rights situation of any country.
At its 57th Session (2001), the Commission on Human Rights decided toappoint a Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples for a three-year period.The President subsequently appointed Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Mexi-can academic and researcher, a specialist in indigenous rights, as Spe-cial Rapporteur.
Consideration of individual complaints on human rights violations. Thesecomplaints are confidentially considered by the Commission under a proce-dure known as “the 1503 procedure”.1
This procedure is the oldest of the UN’s human rights mechanisms. It wasestablished in accordance with an ECOSOC resolution, adopted in 1971. Itdeals with systematic violations of human rights. Information/complaints re-ceived are dealt with confidentially. Under existing procedures, the Sub-Com-
SPECIALIZED MECHANISMS
39
mission has a Working Group on Communications to consider demands correspondingto the 1503 procedure. The Working Group on Communications sends serious cases tothe Working Group on Situations, under the Commission on Human Rights. Reports arenot published. When the Working Group on Situations meets, during the meeting of theCommission on Human Rights, the sessions are held behind closed doors.
In recent years, the number of indigenous organisations and individuals using the1503 procedure to present complaints of violations of their basic human rights haveincreased considerably.
SUBSIDIARY ORGANS AND MECHANISMS OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Until 1999, when ECOSOC decided to change the name of this body, theofficial name of the Subcomission was Sub-Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
The Sub-Commission is the main subsidiary organ of the Commission onHuman Rights. It was established by the Commission at its first session, in1947, under the authority of the Economic and Social Council.
The Sub-Commission meets annually in Geneva and is made up of 26 mem-bers acting in an individual capacity. It initially devoted its time to issues ofdiscrimination and minorities, vulnerable groups and contemporary forms ofslavery but it has now widened its sphere of action, developing legal stand-ards and making recommendations to the Commission.
The Sub-Commission is made up of 26 experts exercising their roles in a personalcapacity and who are chosen by the Commission from expert applications pre-sented by the States, bearing in mind the criterion of a fair geographic distribution.
Its tasks are:
• To carry out studies, particularly in the light of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, and to make recommendations to the Commission on theprevention of all kinds of discrimination in relation to human rights andfundamental freedoms and the protection of racial, religious and linguisticminorities;
• To undertake any other task entrusted to it by the Council or the Commis-sion.
The Sub-Commission has its own subsidiary organs2 , including the WorkingGroup on Indigenous Populations, established in 1982 and which is made upof five members of the Sub-Commission.
40
The Sub-Commission has a specific point on its work agenda to consider“Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples”. Under this agenda point, theSub-Commission examines the annual reports of the Working Group on Indig-enous Populations and the reports from the Special Rapporteurs on this matter.The Sub-Commission was the first UN body to officially abandon the expres-sion “indigenous populations” in favour of “indigenous peoples” in 1988.
Among the greatest achievements of the United Nations is that of having estab-lished a body of international human rights legislation along with the neces-
sary mechanisms for their promotion and protection. For the first time in history,there is a universal code of human rights that all nations can sign and to which allpeoples can aspire.
The bodies based on the Treaty System have been created by virtue of legally bindinghuman rights treaties. The main role of these organs is to monitor application of thetreaties on the part of governments that have ratified and thus agreed to be party to them.
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
On its creation in 1946, the United Nations began the initial task of classifyingand then codifying human rights, in order to take them beyond the sphere of
morality and enshrine them in binding legislation.
At its first work session, the Commission on Human Rights began to prepare thedocuments aimed at formulating, defining and protecting the basic human rightsand freedoms of all human beings. This process gave rise to the formulation of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved by the General As-sembly in 1948. This declaration proclaims a long list of all fundamental rights andfreedoms accorded to all human beings by the international community. Its main aimwas to provide individuals with a series of rights and mechanisms that could defendthem during future atrocities and violations such as those committed during theSecond World War.
No-one doubts that the Declaration is a fundamental document in the history of human-ity and international relations. However, it must be remembered that it was a product ofa particular moment in time and of the cultural concepts that wrote it. With time, and thechanging events on the international scene, a multitude of aspects have arisen that thedeclaration at that time did not take into account, either because they had not yet arisenor because the world organisation as it was then did not envisage them.
BODIES BASED ON THE TREATY SYSTEM
41
Indigenous peoples consider the protection provided by the Universal Decla-ration as it stands is insufficient because it ignores collective rights, essentialto their survival as distinct communities. The effectiveness of the current in-struments for the promotion and protection of human rights falls far short ofconsidering the realities of indigenous peoples, simply because they were notconsidered at the time of its writing.
THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANTS
D ue to the non-binding nature of the Declaration of Human Rights, in 1951 the Gen-eral Assembly considered that, in order to be able to implement the Universal
Declaration, two Covenants needed to be drawn up: one on civil and political rights,and the other on economic, social and cultural rights. Both covenants express thegeneral provisions established by the Declaration in terms of specific rights and areof a binding nature, which means that States having agreed to be “party” to them arelegally required to comply with them. The covenants also indicate the measuresStates need to take to make these rights effective and establish an obligation on thosehaving ratified these International Conventions to report regularly on implementa-tion. The majority of the world’s countries are party to these covenants, which makessupervision of their human rights practices possible.
The General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights3 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in1966, but they did not enter into force until 1976, when a sufficient number of govern-ments had agreed to ratify them.
The main difference between the two covenants is that they have different implemen-tation measures: immediate for the first and gradual for the second. In any case, thetwo covenants are considered inseparable and interdependent.
The two covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formthe International Bill of Human Rights.
The United Nations subsequently adopted and brought into force a series of otherhuman rights treaties to grant greater protection to particularly vulnerable groups oragainst atrocities. These treaties are:
• The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimi-nation (1969).
• The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discriminationagainst Women (1979).
• The Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treat-ment or Punishment (1984).
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
42
• The International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Work-ers and their Families, which is the most recent of these treaties, adopted by theUnited Nations in 1990. However, it has not yet entered into force as it has notbeen ratified by the necessary number of governments.
Treaty monitoring bodies
The implementation of all these international human rights treaties is supervised bythe committees or “treaty monitoring bodies”. The legal basis for the establishment ofmost of the treaty bodies can be found in the treaties themselves or was given by theEconomic and Social Council.4
These treaty monitoring bodies are made up of independent experts with recognisedskills in the area of human rights, who are chosen by the States parties
The roles of these committees are:
• To consider the periodic reports submitted by the States on how they are imple-menting the obligations they have assumed by ratifying the treaty.
• To receive and consider individual communications.5
• To consider communications on the part of States party to the Treaty regardingthe failure of other States to fulfil their obligations as signatories to the Treaty.6
• To make general recommendations and comments.
• To inform the General Assembly of their activities.
Some of the treaty bodies have contributed substantially to the progressivedevelopment of indigenous rights through a general interpretation of the ap-plication of the human rights conventions and, in their reports and recom-mendations, they have recognised and protected the collective rights of indig-enous peoples.
Both the Committee for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination(CERD) and the Human Rights Committee have been used by a relativelysmall number of indigenous people and organisations, with very favourableresults in terms of recognition of their rights. Unfortunately, for the vast major-ity of indigenous organisations, the procedures of these treaty bodies are notwell-known. However, there is no doubt that the mechanisms are of vital im-portance and of great potential to advancing the recognition of indigenouspeoples as subjects under international law.
43
List of international treaties and their corresponding treaty bodies
International Treaty Treaty Body
International Covenant on Civil Human Rights Committeeand Political Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Committee on Economic, SocialSocial and Cultural Rights and Cultural Rights
Convention against Torture and other Committee against TortureCruel, Inhuman or DegradingTreatment or Punishment
International Convention on the Committee on the EliminationElimination of all Forms of Racial of Racial DiscriminationDiscrimination
Convention on the Rights of the Child Committee on the Rights of the Child
International Convention on the Committee on the EliminationElimination of all Forms of of Discrimination against WomenDiscrimination against Women
To obtain more detailed information on the human rights bodies and mechanisms, see theOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights web site at: www.unhchr.ch
Notes
1 For more information on the Commission’s dif-ferent mechanisms for presenting complaints tothe organs of the Commission on Human Rights,see IWGIA document no. 21 Human Rights andIndigenous Peoples: a Handbook on the United Na-tions System by Florencia Roulet.
2 The Sub-Commission currently has four workinggroup meetings prior to each session : the WorkingGroup on Communications (which examines allthe complaints received along with the governmentresponses and selects communications that reveala clear and proven pattern of persistent violationsof human rights and fundamental freedoms to bepresented to the Sub-Commission; the WorkingGroup on Contemporary Forms of Slavery; theWorking Group on Indigenous Populations; andthe Working Group on Minorities.
3 The “International Covenant on Civil and Politi-cal Rights” also has an “Optional Protocol tothe International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights”, of 16 December 1966, which empowers
the Human Rights Committee to receive and con-sider communications from individuals allegedlythe victims of violations of any of the rights statedin the Covenant. It also has a “Second OptionalProtocol to the International Covenant on Civiland Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of thedeath penalty”, of 15 December 1989.
4 In the case of the International Covenant on Eco-nomic, Social and Cultural Rights, the bodymonitoring its implementation, the Committeeon Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, wasestablished by a subsequent resolution of theEconomic and Social Council.
5 The Optional Protocol to the International Covenanton Civil and Political Rights, the International Con-vention on the Elimination of all Forms of RacialDiscrimination and the Convention against Tortureestablish the right of individuals to present specialcommunications to these committees.
6 This procedure has never been used by any Statein the treaty monitoring bodies.
44
CHR WORKING GROUPON THE DRAFT DECLARATION
ON THE RIGHTS OFINDIGENOUS PEOPLES
SECURITYCOUNCIL
GENERALASSEMBLY
ECONOMIC ANDSOCIAL COUNCIL
COMMITTEEON
ECONOMICSOCIAL
ANDCULTURAL
RIGHTS
THIRD COMMITTEEVOLUNTARY FUNDFOR INDIGENOUS
POPULATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTSCOMMITTEE
COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATIONOF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATIONOF DISCRIMINATIONAGAINST WOMEN
COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTSOF THE CHILD
UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM AND UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM AND UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM AND UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM AND UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM AND
44
THEPERMANENT
FORUMON
INDIGENOUSISSUES
45
SUB-COMMISSIONON PREVENTION OF
DISCRIMINATION ANDPROTECTION OF MINORITIES
INTERNATIONALCOURT OF JUSTICE SECRETARIAT
NEW YORKOFFICE
GENEVAOFFICE
DIVISION FOR THEADVANCEMENT OF
WOMEN
OFFICE OFTHE HIGH
COMMISSIONERFOR
HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION ON THESTATUS OF WOMEN
COMMITTEEON NGOs
FUNCTIONALCOMMISSIONS
COMMISSION ONHUMAN RIGHTS
WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
45
46
INDIGENOUSINDIGENOUSINDIGENOUSINDIGENOUSINDIGENOUSPPPPPEEEEEOOOOOPLESPLESPLESPLESPLES AAAAANNNNNDDDDD
INDIGENOUS PEOPLESAND THE UNITED NATIONS
The first existing record of a request for indigenous participa-tion in an inter-governmental institution was in the 1920s,
when an Iroquoi indigenous leader travelled to Geneva to informthe League of Nations (the forerunner to the United Nations) ofthe situation of the indigenous peoples of Canada and to requestits mediation in their long-running conflict with their govern-ment.
Following the creation of the United Nations in 1946, there werea number of attempts to get the organisation to consider the situ-ation of indigenous peoples. One initiative worthy of mentionwas a proposal made by the Bolivian government in 1948 to cre-ate a sub-commission to study the social problems of aboriginalpeoples. Unfortunately this initiative, too, failed to gain supportwithin the system and 20 years were to pass before the situationof indigenous peoples was once more formally considered by theUnited Nations.
AntecedentesAntecedentesAntecedentesAntecedentesAntecedentes
46
CHAPTER IV
THE BEGINNING
47
In 1923, Deskaheh, leader and spokesperson for the Council of the Iroquoi Confed-eration of Canada, travelled to Geneva to present his longstanding dispute with
the Canadian government to the League of Nations. Deskaheh’s stay in Geneva at-tracted considerable attention and, after many months of hard lobbying work, theIroquoi leader gained the support of a number of governments, including Hollandand Japan, to present his case to the League of Nations. Unfortunately, despite all hisefforts, the League of Nations decided not to consider his case, arguing that the de-mands presented by Deskaheh related to Canada’s internal affairs, thus falling out-side the competence of the League of Nations. The Canadian government did notallow Deskaheh to return to Canada after his trip to Geneva.
nity and, particularly, the human rightsbodies of the United Nations, to considertheir situation and take appropriate meas-ures to protect their basic rights.
This incipient international indigenouslobby had the support of a small number ofnon-governmental organisations and someindependent experts and managed to get theSub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimi-nation and Protection of Minorities1 to be-
I n the late 1960s and early 1970s, indig-enous movements arose in a large number
of countries in response to the systematicviolations of their most basic rights and thediscriminatory and assimilationist policiesprevailing at the time. During the course ofthis struggle, a process of indigenous organi-sation was developing at local, national andregional level, out of which arose an incipi-ent international indigenous lobby. Thislobby called upon the international commu-
BACKGROUND
48
STUDY ON DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
48
gin to formally consider the situation of in-digenous peoples. In 1972, the Economic andSocial Council authorised the Sub-Commis-
On the basis of this decision, the Sub-Commission appointed one of its
members, Mr. Jose Martinez Cobo from Ec-uador, as Special Rapporteur to undertakethis study on discrimination against indig-enous populations. This study was carriedout between 1972 and 1984.2
While the Sub-Commission was preparingthe study on discrimination against indig-enous peoples, one event of great importancein the formation of an international indig-enous movement occurred in Geneva. Thiswas the “NGO Conference on Discrimina-tion of Indigenous Populations in America”,which took place in Geneva in 1977.
sion on Prevention of Discrimination toundertake a special study on discriminationagainst indigenous peoples.
The Study undertaken by MartinezCobo begins with a working definitionof who indigenous peoples are and con-siders an extremely wide spectrum ofissues, such as indigenous identity, cul-ture, legal systems, health, housing, edu-cation, language etc. Its conclusionsclearly reflect the fact that the conditionsin which the world’s indigenous peo-ples live are conducive to discriminationwith regard to all the different issues con-sidered by the Rapporteur. It concludeswith a series of proposals and recom-mendations.
49
THE WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
Dr. Erica Irene Daes, former chairperson of theWorking Group on Indigenous Populations
This event was attended by more than 100indigenous representatives from the wholeWestern hemisphere, some non-governmen-tal organisations and a small number of gov-ernments.
The conference produced one of the first in-ternational indigenous documents, entitleda “Draft Declaration of Principles for theDefence of the Indigenous Nations and Peo-ples of the Western Hemisphere”.3 Amongthe most important recommendations of thisconference was the establishment of a work-ing group of the UN Sub-Commission onPrevention and Discrimination of Minoritiesto consider the situation of indigenous peo-ples.
But perhaps one of the most important re-sults of this conference was the establish-ment of a model for coordination betweenthe different indigenous peoples of the worldin terms of formulating their demands, onethat has been used and developed by indig-enous peoples at subsequent internationalmeetings.
Because of this conference, a small numberof indigenous NGOs managed to obtain con-sultative status with the Economic and So-cial Council, and the representatives of theseindigenous organisations began formally toparticipate, gradually and in increasingnumbers, in the human rights bodies of theUnited Nations.
I n 1981, bearing in mind the recommenda-tion of the 1977 Conference and the re-
ports regularly presented by the Rapporteur,Martinez Cobo, in his study on Discrimina-tion, the Sub-Commission recommended that
the Commission on Human Rights shouldestablish a Working Group on IndigenousPopulations. A year later, in 1982, ECOSOCauthorised the Sub-Commission to createthis working group as a subsidiary organ tothe Sub-Commission on Prevention of Dis-crimination and Protection of Minorities.Since then, this Working Group has met an-nually in Geneva, normally during the lastweek of July.
In addition to facilitating and encouraging dia-logue between governments and indigenouspeoples, the Working Group has two main tasks:
• To review events relating to the promo-tion and protection of the human rightsand fundamental freedoms of indigenouspeoples. To analyse this material andsend its report to the Sub-Commission.
For this, the Working Group receives andanalyses oral and written informationpresented to it by indigenous organisa-
50
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ECONOMIC AND SOCIALCOUNCIL (ECOSOC)
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
SUB-COMMISSION ON THEPROMOTION AND PROTECTION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS
WORKING GROUP ONINDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
tions, governments, specialized agenciesand other UN organs.
• To give particular attention to changesin international standards relating to thehuman rights of indigenous peoples.
It should be noted that the Working Group’smandate does not authorise it to examineconcrete complaints of alleged human rightsviolations with the aim of formulating rec-ommendations or adopting decisions onconcrete cases or countries.
As a subsidiary organ of the Sub-Commis-sion, the Working Group on IndigenousPopulations is located at the lowest level ofthe hierarchy of UN human rights bodies.Its recommendations have to be consideredand accepted first by its superior body, theSub-Commission, then by the Commissionon Human Rights and ECOSOC, beforereaching the General Assembly.
The Working Group is made up of five inde-pendent expert members of the Sub-Commis-sion – one from each of the world’s geopo-litical regions.
The current members of the WorkingGroup (July 2002) are:
Mr. M.A. Martínez from Cuba(President)Mr. Yokota from JapanMs. Motoc from RomaniaMs. Hamson from Great BritainMr. Guisse from Senegal
The Working Group on Indigenous Po-pulations established flexible rules of pro-cedure from the start, enabling all those in-terested and, more particularly, the repre-sentatives of indigenous communities andorganisations to participate in the delibera-tions of the Working Group.
This procedure of open participation, unprec-edented in UN bodies, was key to consoli-dating the Working Group as a focal pointfor UN activity on indigenous peoples. Sincethen, and over the last twenty years, thou-sands of indigenous representatives have at-tended the meetings of the Working Groupto make known their situation, their aspira-tions and their demands.
No more than 50 people attended its firstsession, held in Geneva in 1982. Sincethen, the number of participants hasgradually increased, spectacularly soduring the 1990s. In recent meetings,more than 800 participants have beenrecorded, thus making it one of the larg-est UN fora on human rights.
51
THE DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The indigenous peoples’ organisations thatevery year attend the Working Group meet-ings also take the opportunity of their trip toGeneva to hold indigenous meetings beforeand during the Working Group meetings.The aim of these indigenous meetings is todiscuss common problems, draw up strate-gies for their participation in internationalorganisations and determine joint positions.
The Working Group has produced someimportant studies, for example:
• Study on treaties, agreements and otherconstructive agreements between Statesand indigenous populations4 producedby the current Chair of the WorkingGroup, Mr. Miguel Alfonso Martínez.
• Study on the cultural and intellectualproperty of indigenous peoples5 pro-duced by the person who was, for 12 con-secutive years, chair of the WorkingGroup, Dr. Erica Daes.
• Study on Indigenous Peoples and theirRelationship to Land6 also written by Dr.Daes.
But the most significant achievement of theWorking Group has been the formulationand adoption of the Draft Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples.
In 1985, the Working Group decided to be-gin work on formulating a draft Declarationon the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. For al-most a decade, the Working Group devoteda large part of its time to drafting this text, inwhich representatives of indigenous peo-ples, government delegations and experts onthe subject participated very actively.
The final text was adopted by the WorkingGroup in 1993 and then in 1994 by its supe-rior body, the Sub-Commission on the Pro-motion and Protection of Human Rights. In1995, following formal procedures, the Com-mission on Human Rights considered thetext submitted by the Sub-Commission anddecided to establish an Inter-sessional Work-ing Group with a mandate to consider thetext presented and draw up a draft Declara-tion for its consideration and adoption bythe UN General Assembly.
The Working Group on Indigenous Po-pulations has been the main forum for in-digenous peoples from all parts of the worldto discuss all kinds of international issues.This is no less true in relation to the Perma-nent Forum although the process of estab-lishing this institution took place outside theWorking Group.
The Draft Declaration is a long and com-plex document with a preamble and 45
articles, divided into nine sections.
The text recognises the wide range of basichuman rights and fundamental freedoms ofindigenous peoples. Among these are theright to unrestricted self-determination, aninalienable collective right to the ownership,use and control of lands, territories and othernatural resources, their rights in terms of
maintaining and developing their own po-litical, religious, cultural and educationalinstitutions along with the protection of theircultural and intellectual property. The Dec-laration highlights the requirement for priorand informed consultation, participationand consent in activities of any kind thatimpact on indigenous peoples, their prop-erty or territories. It also establishes the re-quirement for fair and adequate compensa-tion for violation of the rights recognised in
52
Mr. Luis Chávez (Peru), president of the Working Group ofthe Commission on Human Rights for the Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
the declaration and establishes guaranteesagainst ethnocide and genocide.
Article 3 of the Draft Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples
“Indigenous people have the right ofself-determination. By virtue of that rightthey freely determine their political sta-tus and freely pursue their economic,social and cultural development.”
The Draft Declaration also provides for fairand mutually acceptable procedures to re-solve conflicts between indigenous peoplesand States, including procedures such asnegotiations, mediation, arbitration, nationalcourts and international and regional mecha-nisms for denouncing and examining hu-man rights violations.
The Declaration notes that the rights men-tioned within it form minimum standardsfor the survival and well-being of the world’sindigenous peoples.
A s noted previously in this chapter, thetext adopted by the Sub-Commission
in 1994 was subsequently considered by theCommission on Human Rights. The Com-mission then decided7 to establish an open-ended Working Group that would meet be-tween sessions to examine the text presentedby the Sub-Commission and draw up a draftDeclaration to be examined and approvedby the General Assembly within the frame-work of the International Decade of theWorld’s Indigenous People (1995-2004).This resolution also established a specialprocedure so that indigenous representa-tives could participate in the debates of thisWorking Group, whose members are mem-ber States of the Commission on HumanRights.
Since its establishment in 1995, this Work-ing Group has met annually and has so farheld eight meetings. Unfortunately, after al-most eight years, very little progress has beenmade and the discussions between govern-ments and the indigenous representativesseem to be at a deadlock. So far, only twoarticles, 5 and 43, have been adopted, both
directly related to recognising the individualrights of indigenous peoples.
THE WORKING GROUP OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ONTHE DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
53
THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTSAND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
In spite of the fact that a majority of govern-ments claim that they have no great prob-lems with the general principles of the dec-laration drawn up by the Working Groupon Indigenous Populations, the reality is thata large number of them continue to have se-rious problems with the original text and areopposed to explicit recognition of the collec-tive rights of indigenous peoples, particu-
larly the right to self-determination, as statedin Article 3 of the Declaration.
At this precise moment, the adoption of aDeclaration that responds to indigenous de-mands seems very far off, despite being oneof the main objectives of the InternationalDecade of the World’s Indigenous People,which ends in 2004.
I n 2001, the UN Commission on HumanRights decided to appoint a Rapporteur
on the Situation of the Human Rights of In-digenous Peoples. Later that same year, theChair of the Commission on Human Rightsappointed Dr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Mexi-can lecturer and researcher, a specialist onindigenous rights, as Special Rapporteur fora three-year period.
The appointment of the Special Rapporteuris another great achievement on the part ofindigenous peoples in their already longstruggle to gain protection and recognitionof their fundamental rights from the UN sys-tem.
The Special Rapporteur’s mandate is:
• To gather information and communica-tions from all relevant sources – includ-ing governments and indigenous peo-ples, communities and organisations –on violations of the human rights andfundamental freedoms of indigenouspeoples.
• To formulate recommendations and pro-posals on measures and activities to pre-vent and remedy violations of the basichuman rights and fundamental freedomsof indigenous peoples.
• To work in close contact with other spe-cial rapporteurs, special representatives,working groups and independent expertsof the Commission on Human Rights andthe Sub-Commission on the Promotionand Protection of Human Rights.
The work of the Special Rapporteur includesmissions to gather information and commu-nication with governments on allegations ofviolations of the human rights of indigenouspeoples.
In his first report, presented to the Commis-sion on Human Rights in April 2002, Dr.Stavenhagen introduced a general overviewof the main human rights issues facing in-digenous peoples and set out a work agendafor his future activities.
This first report of the Special Rapporteur8
can be found on the web site of the Office ofthe High Commissioner for Human Rights:http://www.unhchr.ch/indigenous/rapporteur.htm
The Rapporteur will present his second re-port to the Commission on Human Rightsin April 2003.
54
WORLD CONFERENCES
S ince the early 1990s, the UN has organ-ised a series of world conferences or
summits.
Among the objectives of these conferencesare:
• To mobilise national and local govern-ments and non-governmental organisa-tions (NGOs) around action on seriousglobal issues.
• To serve as an international forum inwhich proposals can be discussed withthe aim of establishing a consensus be-tween nations on issues of particular rel-evance to the international community.
• To establish processes in which govern-ments can make concrete commitmentsto solving the problems raised.
• To establish international standards andguidelines for national policies.
The participation and contribution of civilsociety, in debates both on the official andunofficial processes of these conferences, hasturned these events into real “global fora”that have played a key role in guiding thework of the United Nations.
Indigenous peoples have participated ac-tively in these international events and havemade substantial progress in terms of recog-nition of their rights.
The United Nations Conference on Environ-ment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro(Brazil) in 1992 represented an extremelyimportant step forward for indigenous peo-ples in their relationship with the United Na-tions. Here, the international community rec-ognised that indigenous peoples and theircommunities play a crucial role in environ-mental management and development. In
addition, the need to recognise, promote andstrengthen the role of indigenous peoplesand their communities in national and in-ternational activities aimed at ecologicallysound and sustainable development washighlighted.
A large number of the legal instruments ap-proved by this conference recognise the fun-damental role of indigenous peoples in themanagement and use of the environment.Chapter 26 of the programme of actionadopted by the Conference (Agenda 21) wasdevoted to indigenous peoples.
Another result of this world conference wasthe signing of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity, which includes provisions specifi-cally concerning indigenous peoples.
On the basis of this conference, subsequenthigh-level conferences, such as on Popula-tion and Development in 1994, Social De-velopment in 1995, the Fourth World Con-ference on Women in 1995 and the UnitedNations Conference on Human Settlements(Habitat II) in 1996 have all formulated rec-ommendations on indigenous peoples.
Indigenous peoples held a parallel meetingin which hundreds of indigenous representa-tives participated and in which they adoptedtheir own declaration on the environmentand development, known as the Kari-OkaDeclaration.
The World Conference on Human Rights heldin Vienna in 1993 was attended by a largenumber of indigenous representatives withvery important results. The Conference rec-ognised the responsibility of all memberStates of the United Nations to respect the
55
THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR AND DECADE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
human rights and fundamental freedoms ofindigenous peoples. Among the recommen-dations from this Conference to the GeneralAssembly were the proclamation of the Dec-
ade for indigenous peoples and the estab-lishment of a Permanent Forum for indig-enous peoples.
I n December 1992, the General Assemblyproclaimed 1993 as the “International
Year of the World’s Indigenous People”. Atthe end of that same year, the General As-sembly, on the recommendation of the WorldConference on Human Rights, proclaimedthe “International Decade of the World’s In-digenous People” (1995-2004) and decidedthat the theme of the Decade would be “In-digenous People: partnership in action”.
The aim of the Decade is to strengthen inter-national cooperation as regards solving theproblems faced by indigenous peoples interms of human rights, the environment, de-velopment, health, culture and education.
The programme of activities approved by theGeneral Assembly to achieve the Decade’sconcrete objectives includes the approval ofthe draft Declaration on the Rights of Indig-enous Peoples and the establishment of aPermanent Forum on Indigenous Issueswithin the UN system.
In July 2000, when ECOSOC established thePermanent Forum, the United Nations tookan historic step on behalf of the internationalcommunity in terms of recognising indig-enous peoples, thus fulfilling one of the ob-jectives of the Decade. Unfortunately, the
other main objective, that of adopting a Uni-versal Declaration on the Rights of Indig-enous Peoples, still seems very far from be-coming a reality, and there is little hope that,in the short period of time remaining beforethe end of the Decade, indigenous peopleswill be able to have an instrument as impor-tant as a Universal Declaration protectingand promoting their fundamental rights, sovital to their survival and their future.
Notes
1 Now called the Sub-Commission on the Promo-tion and Protection of Human Rights, which isthe main subsidiary organ of the Commissionon Human Rights. It is made up of 26 indi-vidual experts appointed by their respectivegovernments. It is a non-governmental advisorybody.
2 United Nations document: E/CN.4/Sub2/1986/7
3 This declaration is included in United Nationsdocument E/CN.4/Sub.2/476/Add.5, Annex4 (1981).
4 UN Document: E/CN.4/sub.2/1999/21UN Document: E/CN.4/sub.2/1999/21
5 Published in 19936 UN Document: E/CN.4/sub.2/2001/217 Resolution of the Commission on Human Rights
1995/32, 3 March 19958 E/CN.4/2002/97 and E/CN.4/2002/97 Add1
56
D iscussions on the establishment of a Permanent Forum on In-digenous Issues within the UN system lasted almost a decade,
the process being – at times - an excessively formal one, tedious forsome, long and difficult for others. But there is no question that, overthe course of these ten years of discussions, what originally seemedno more than a Utopia gradually turned into reality.
The idea of a Permanent Forum to consider issues specific to indig-enous peoples within the United Nations system is closely linked tothe development of an international indigenous movement and tothe progressive impact indigenous peoples have achieved withinthe Human Rights bodies of the United Nations over the last threedecades.
The establishment of a body such as the Permanent Forum on Indig-enous Issues represents an historic milestone in the indigenous strug-gle of the last few decades in terms of gaining a position within theinternational community and being able to draw attention to theirproblems and demands with regard to issues that are of direct con-cern to their future and their survival as peoples.
THE PROCESSTHE PROCESSTHE PROCESSTHE PROCESSTHE PROCESSTHE PROCESS
56
THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING A PERMANENT FORUM
CHAPTER V
57
“The UN didn’t recognise us. Our issuesdidn’t even appear on their agenda. Wedidn’t exist. We knocked on the door ofthe UN in 1977 and they scarcely moved.For many years, it seemed as if very littlewas happening. But now, when we lookback, we can see how far we have come.”
THE DISCUSSION PROCESS
THE IDEA OF A PERMANENT FORUM
Chief Oren LyonsHaudenosaunee Confederation
A lthough the idea of establishing a newbody focussing on indigenous peo-
ple’s issues within the UN system can befound in various indigenous and UN docu-ments, it was not until the Vienna WorldConference on Human Rights in 1993 thatthis possibility was officially consideredwithin the UN agenda.
The Declaration and Programme of Actionof this World Conference on Human Rightsrecommended that the General Assemblyshould consider the establishment of a Per-manent Forum. That same year, when theGeneral Assembly adopted the programmeof activities for the International Decade of
the World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004), it identified the establishment of aPermanent Forum and the adoption of aDeclaration on the Rights of IndigenousPeoples as the two main objectives of theDecade.
From then on, the issue of establishing aPermanent Forum on Indigenous Issueswithin the UN began to receive officialconsideration and thus began a long proc-ess of discussion and negotiation be-tween governments and representativesof indigenous organisations to define thenature and specify the powers of this pos-sible new UN body.
I n 1995 and 1997, the first expert seminarswere organised, the first in Copenhagen,
Denmark and the second in Santiago deChile.
The first seminar on the possible establish-ment of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous
Peoples took place in Copenhagen in June1995, under the auspices of the Danish gov-ernment and the autonomous governmentof Greenland.
58
THE FIRST SEMINAR
This initial seminar provided the first everopportunity for official dialogue be-
tween indigenous representatives and gov-ernments on the possibility of establishinga new body within the UN system specifi-cally focussing on indigenous issues. In ad-dition, the participants discussed the mainissues relating to establishment of this newbody such as its mandate, structure, par-ticipation, etc.
In general terms, the majority of participantswere agreed that the possible Forum shouldhave a wide mandate and equal member-ship between government and indigenousrepresentatives, but the only real consensusthat was reached at this seminar was con-cerning the need to evaluate existing UNmechanisms, procedures and programmeson indigenous peoples to see how far theycould be effectively used before continuingto discuss the establishment of a Forum.
STATEMENT OF MISSION FOR THE PERMANENT FORUM
Presented by indigenous participants at the First Seminar on the possible establish-ment of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples
The Permanent Forum should:• Be able to make clear decisions and intervene effectively on an urgent basis on
behalf of indigenous peoples throughout the world;• Be involved in and coordinate action for the resolution of conflicts affecting the
indigenous peoples in any way;• Oversee the implementation and monitor the effectiveness of international and re-
gional instruments and programmes affecting indigenous peoples;• Monitor and advise on the implementation and effectiveness of actions of the United
Nation’s bodies and Member States in relation to indigenous peoples;• Provide indigenous peoples with a high-level and public forum to participate in
decisions and consider a wide range of matters affecting indigenous peoples inareas of development, environment, culture, education, economics, social, intellec-tual property, trade with particular emphasis on traditional and innovative sys-tems;
• Eliminate racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples;• Promote and advance world acceptance and understanding of all peoples.
THE SECOND SEMINAR
The second seminar was held in June1997, in Santiago de Chile. This second
seminar was very significant, as it helped con-siderably in defining the nature of the Forummore clearly and in broadening the consensuson the main issues, such as the need for this
new body to be placed at a high level within theUN structure, preferably reporting to the Eco-nomic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the needfor it to have a wide mandate, equal member-ship between governments and indigenous peo-ples and an open participation procedure.
59
THE REVIEW OF THE EXISTING MECHANISMS, PROCEDURES AND PROGRAMMESWITHIN THE UNITED NATIONS CONCERNING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 1
This seminar also identified some of the spe-cific roles that the Forum could play, suchas:
• Contributing to conflict resolution,• Coordinating UN activities on indig-
enous peoples,• Undertaking impact evaluations of activi-
ties and policies related to indigenouspeoples,
• Disseminating information on the situa-tion and needs of indigenous peoples.
These proposals, which had previously beenconsidered very sceptically by a large numberof governments, were now accepted by thevast majority in Chile.
The seminar recommended that the Com-mission on Human Rights should refer theissue of the establishment of a PermanentForum to ECOSOC for consideration and forits establishment as soon as possible.
Following the recommendations of thefirst seminar that was held in Copenha-
gen, the General Assembly requested the Sec-retary-General to produce a review of the ex-isting mechanisms, procedures and pro-grammes within the United Nations con-cerning indigenous people”
This report, produced by the Secretary-Gen-eral and presented to the General Assemblyin 1996, was decisive in terms of continuingthe official UN discussions on the possibleestablishment of a Permanent Forum andgave a great boost to the debate at a time whenthe idea was only supported by a limitednumber of governments.
The conclusions of this study indicated that,in spite of the growing interest in and con-cern for indigenous issues among the differ-ent organisations and departments of theUN, particularly the Human Rights bodies,it was clear that there were many weaknessesand inconsistencies within the UN systemwith regard to indigenous issues.
Of these weaknesses, the Secretary-Generalnoted that:
• There were no internationally acceptedguidelines on indigenous rights.
• There were no permanent mechanismsguaranteeing a regular exchange of in-formation between the concerned and in-terested parties (governments/ UN agen-cies and indigenous peoples), in spite ofthe fact that UN agencies were increas-ingly implementing and planning pro-grammes and projects for indigenouspeoples.
• There were no adequate mechanismswithin the UN system that made the ef-fective participation of indigenous peo-ples possible in the work of the UN.
The Secretary-General’s report clearlyhighlighted the current lack of appropri-ate mechanisms for the effective participa-tion of indigenous peoples within theUnited Nations system and the need toestablish an integrative and coordinatingmechanism for indigenous peoples withinthe UN.
60
THE INDIGENOUS CONFERENCES
THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE “AD HOC “ WORKING GROUP
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UN PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
The indigenous organisations who wereactively involved in the official discus-
sion process initiated their own parallel re-gional processes for information, discussionand strategic development around the estab-lishment of the Permanent Forum. Five in-ternational indigenous conferences wereheld in Temuco (Chile), Kuna Yala (Panama),Indore (India), Arusha (Tanzania) andChiang Mai (Thailand). The indigenous dec-larations resulting from these conferences,and the Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ Decla-ration on the establishment of a Permanent
Forum, had a decisive impact on the waythe official debates and meetings progressed,and were included as official documenta-tion of the UN meetings and as annexes tosome of the UN official reports.2
The indigenous conferences formulated anddeveloped the main issues in terms of whatindigenous people felt should be the char-acteristics of this new body, achieving a sig-nificant impact in this regard and interact-ing constructively with the extremely formalUN process.
In 1998, on the basis of the recommenda-tions of the seminars organised in Copen-
hagen and Santiago de Chile, the Commis-sion on Human Rights adopted a resolution3
that paved the way for a new stage in theprocess of establishing the Permanent Fo-rum. This resolution decided to establish anAd Hoc Working Group to formulate andconsider proposals for the possible estab-lishment of a Permanent Forum.
The Ad Hoc Working Group met for the firsttime in 1999, and the most significantprogress made at this session was that itconsolidated the idea of establishing a Per-manent Forum and made headway in terms
of discussions around basic issues such asits mandate, level and composition.
In 1999, based on the results of this first ses-sion of the Ad Hoc Working Group, the Com-mission on Human Rights decided to renewthe Group’s mandate so that it could con-clude its work and present concrete propos-als to the Commission regarding establish-ment of this new body. This second and lastmeeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group washeld in February 2000, and managed toachieve a long-awaited consensus aroundissues fundamental to the establishment ofthe Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peo-ples.
O n the basis of the agreements reachedat the 2nd meeting of the Ad Hoc Work-
ing Group, the Danish government spon-sored a resolution on the establishment ofthe Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issuesat the 56th session of the UN Commissionon Human Rights. On 27 April 2001, the
Commission decided to adopt a resolution4
in which it recommended to ECOSOC theestablishment of a Permanent Forum on In-digenous Issues.
In July 2000, the UN Economic and SocialCouncil considered the resolution of the UN
61
Commission on Human Rights and adopted,by general consensus, the establishment ofa Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues –an unprecedented event in the internationalcommunity. Finally, the General Assemblyendorsed ECOSOC’s decision at its Millen-nium Session in December 2000, and the Per-manent Forum on Indigenous Issues becameofficially established within the United Na-tions system.
However, before being able to hold its firstsession, issues of vital importance to indig-enous peoples still had to be decided, suchas the process for nominating its membersand the financing of this new body. Thesetwo issues were to be the main focus of in-digenous peoples’ attention during 2001.
In the process that resulted in the establish-ment of the Permanent Forum there were of-ten opposing viewpoints that seemed im-possible to reconcile. Very often the cleavagewas between indigenous peoples and some
governments on one side and on the otherside governments that wanted to limit thescope of the Permanent Forum mandate onthe other. But there were also diverging view-points within the indigenous group, the in-digenous caucus. Some of these divergencesrelated to the strategy to be followed, othersto the problem of creating legitimacy orrepresentativity between indigenous com-munities and the indigenous representationin the Permanent Forum. Such problemswere transferred to the process ahead.
Notes
1 UN/GA Doc: A/51/493 of October 1996.2 The declarations of these indigenous conferences
are published in IWGIA document 91, The Per-manent Forum for Indigenous Peoples – The Strug-gle for a New Partnership.
3 Resolution of the Commission on Human Rights1998/20 of 9 April 1998.
4 Resolution of the Commission on Human Rights2000/87 of 28 April 2000.
62
EST EST EST EST ESTABLISHIABLISHIABLISHIABLISHIABLISHINNNNNGGGGGIOIOIOIOIO THE P THE P THE P THE P THE PEEEEERRRRRMMMMMAAAAA
FORUM FORUM FORUM FORUM FORUM
62
The challenge to ensure adequate implementation of the ECOSOCresolution and to enable the recently established Permanent Fo-
rum to hold its first session did not end with the official establish-ment of the Permanent Forum.
The two most important challenges facing the indigenous organisa-tions following the establishment of the Permanent Forum were:
• To ensure indigenous control over the nomination of the eightindigenous experts;
• To achieve allocation of the necessary financial resources fromthe UN system to enable the creation of a Secretariat for the Per-manent Forum, staffed by qualified indigenous people.
CHAPTER VI
ESTABLISHINGTHE PERMANENTF ORUM
63
THE NOMINATION PROCEDURE
T hroughout the whole discussion pro-cess leading up to establishment of the
Permanent Forum, and even more so afterits official establishment, one of the main de-mands of the indigenous organisations wasthat they should have control over the proc-ess for nominating the eight indigenous “ex-perts”. Although the resolution refers to thenominations being made on the basis ofbroad consultation between the President ofECOSOC and the indigenous organisations,it specifies no criteria by which to definewhat is meant by “broad consultation”.
For this reason, the indigenous organisa-tions placed great emphasis on the fact thatthe best, indeed only, way of ensuring“broad consultation with indigenous or-ganisations”, as established in the resolu-tion, would be by holding regional consul-tation processes, organised by the indig-enous peoples themselves, in order to iden-tify the most appropriate indigenous candi-dates.
During 2001, the indigenous organisationsheld various meetings with the Vice-Presi-dent of ECOSOC and the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson,in which they stated that unless the indig-enous peoples had the possibility of recom-mending their own candidates, through thewidest possible regional indigenous consul-tations, there would be a risk that some gov-ernments would attempt to control or influ-ence the nomination process for indigenouscandidates. This would quite clearly be with-out the participation or consent of indig-enous peoples and would be contrary to thespirit in which the Permanent Forum wasestablished.
In spite of a lack of official funding to sup-port this process of regional indigenous con-sultation, those organisations that had beenmost active in the process of establishing thePermanent Forum set up regional commit-tees to organise regional consultations forthe nomination of indigenous candidates.
Regional consultations for the nominationof candidates from Asia, Central America,South America, Russia, the Pacific and theArctic were held during the second half of2001.
The organisational processes to achievethese consultations were frequently longand, in some cases, controversial, but theyundoubtedly represented the first major ef-fort of the indigenous organisations toachieve a consensus around nominatingtheir own “experts” and thus guaranteeingthe necessary legitimacy of the eight indig-enous members of the Permanent Forum.This was, of course, only the beginning andthese processes will need to be improved andperfected on future occasions, but the wholeexperience established an extremely con-structive precedent in the search for appro-priate procedures by which to choose theindigenous “experts”.
In addition to the candidates nominated bythe regional consultations, the office of theHigh Commissioner received approximatelyfifteen further individual nominations forcandidates from a number of indigenousorganisations.
64
THE DECISIONS TAKEN BY ECOSOC TO ENABLE THE FIRST SESSIONOF THE PERMANENT FORUM TO TAKE PLACE
THE OFFICIAL NOMINATION OF THE 16 MEMBERS OF THE PERMANENT FORUM
The ECOSOC meeting, held in Geneva inJuly 2001, once more considered the is-
sue of the Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues and took decisions on some of thepoints outstanding so that the first sessionof the Permanent Forum could be held:
• The first session of the Forum would takeplace in the UN headquarters in NewYork from 13 to 24 May 2002.
• The regional distribution of experts nomi-nated by the governments would corre-spond to the five regional groups operat-ing within the UN system, a system ofrotation being established between theregions for the three remaining places.
• The choice of the 8 indigenous expertswould be announced by the President ofECOSOC no later than 15 December2001.
• ECOSOC requested that, when consider-ing the 2002-2003 budget, the General As-sembly should allocate financial re-sources that would ensure the good run-ning of the Permanent Forum, such as toreflect its broad mandate.
The ECOSOC meeting took place atthe same time as the 19th Session ofthe Working Group on IndigenousPopulations and so the indigenouscaucus, meeting in Geneva, decidedto ask ECOSOC if they could make anintervention on the agenda point de-voted to the Permanent Forum. Thisrequest was accepted by ECOSOCand, on behalf of the indigenous cau-cus, two indigenous representativesspoke to the plenary session. Theyonce more highlighted how importantit was that the nomination process forthe indigenous experts should takeinto account the recommendations ofthe indigenous regional consulta-tions and that the Permanent Forumshould have its own secretariat andthe necessary financial resources tofulfil its mandate. They also spoke fora continuation of the Working Groupon Indigenous Populations.
F inally, at the end of December 2001, thePresident of ECOSOC made known the
names of the members of the Permanent Forum,
eight of them nominated by the member gov-ernments of ECOSOC and eight indigenousexperts nominated by the President himself.
The experts nominatedby the Governments
• Ms. Qin Xiaomei from China1
• Mr. Marcos Matias Alonso from Mexico• Ms. Otilia Lux Garcia de Coti
from Guatemala • Mr. Wayne Lord from Canada • Ms. Ida Nicolaisen from Denmark
• Mr. Yuri A. Boitchenkofrom the Russian Federation
• Ms. Njuma Ekundanayofrom the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Mr. Yuji Iwasawa from Japan
65
THE FIRST SESSION OF THE PERMANENT FORUM
The indigenous experts nominated by thePresident of ECOSOC
• Mr. Antonio Jacanamijoy from Colombia• Mr. Ayitegau Kouevi from Togo• Mr. Willie Littlechild from Canada• Mr. Ole Henrik Magga from Norway • Ms. Zinaida Strogalschikova
from the Russian Federation• Mr. Parshuram Tamang from Nepal• Ms. Mililani Trask
from Hawaii (United States of America)• Mr. Fortunato Turpo Choquehuanca
from Peru
The President of ECOSOC did not appointall the candidates nominated by the indig-enous regional consultations but, of theeight indigenous experts appointed, it is sig-nificant that six were nominations made bythe regional consultations. This is, in fact,significant recognition on the part ofECOSOC of indigenous peoples’ internalprocesses, and a great achievement in theprocess of recognising the indigenous peo-ples’ right to identify the indigenous expertmembers of the Permanent Forum throughtheir own consultation processes.
The first session of the Permanent Forumon Indigenous Issues took place at the
UN headquarters in New York from 13 to 24May 2002.
More than 600 people participated in thishistoric event, including more than 300 in-digenous representatives, State delegations,UN bodies and agencies.
At its first session, the expert members of thePermanent Forum chose Ole Henrik Magga(a Saami from Norway) to be President forthe first year. Four Vice-Presidents were also
elected: Antonio Jacanamijoy (Colombia),Njuma Ekundanayo (Democratic Republicof Congo), Parshuram Tamang (Nepal) andMililani Trask (USA). Willie Littlechild(Canada) was elected as the Permanent Fo-rum’s rapporteur.
There were two main issues on the agendaof this first session:
• The general declarations of observers• A review of the activities of the UN sys-
tem,
66
Mr. Ole Henrik Magga, president of the Permanent Forum- May 2002
Under the agenda point “General Declara-tions”, the Permanent Forum heard State andindigenous delegates speak on a wide vari-ety of issues. Some of the declarations fromindigenous representatives were of a gen-eral nature, presenting a wide range of is-sues relating to the difficulties and discrimi-nation faced by indigenous communitiesand peoples, whilst others made specificrecommendations to the members of the Per-manent Forum.
The discussions on a review of the activitiesof the UN system focused on the followingissues: economic and social development,environment, health, education and culture,and human rights.
A large number of UN specialised agenciesand other bodies were invited by the Presi-dent of the Permanent Forum to present theirwork and programmes in relation to indig-enous peoples. There were interventions,among others, from the World Bank, UNDP,ILO, UN-Habitat, UNEP and the Secretariatof the Convention on Biological Diversity,the UN Population Fund, UNICEF, WHO,UNESCO and OHCHR. These interventionswere followed by a brief “dialogue” of ques-tions and answers between the members ofthe Permanent Forum and the representa-tives of the UN agencies and bodies, whichgave rise to a constructive dialogue on howto strengthen the UN agencies’ programmesin relation to indigenous peoples.
One of the issues that was repeatedly raisedby indigenous representatives and membersof the Permanent Forum was the need forthe Forum to have its own Secretariat, ad-equately financed out of the regular budgetof the United Nations. This secretariat, ac-cording to the interventions made, shouldbe directly linked to the ECOSOC Secretariatand not to the Office of the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights. The main argu-
ment given for this was that the PermanentForum has a mandate to deal with issuesnot only related to human rights but alsoeconomic and social development, the envi-ronment, health, education and culture. Themajority of indigenous interventions indi-cated a desire to see a Secretariat made up ofa team of indigenous professionals.
The lack of financial resources for the Fo-rum, both for activities and for the runningof its own secretariat, made it quite difficultfor this first session to draw up a real plan ofwork. Until then, the only budget granted bythe UN to the Forum was that which wasstrictly necessary for holding the first andsecond sessions.
Priority issues identified by the PermanentForum at its first session
The following are some of the priority issuesthat can be found in the meeting’s report:
• The need for an adequately constitutedand financed Secretariat, linked directlyto the ECOSOC Secretariat.
• The need to gather information withinthe UN system in order to promote coor-dination of its work on issues directly af-fecting indigenous peoples.
67
THE AFTERMATH
• The need for strengthened communica-tion with other UN bodies.
• The gathering of information on indig-enous organisations. In this regard, thereports of the Permanent Forum recom-mend that a UN publication be producedevery three years on the status of theworld’s indigenous peoples.
• The need for indigenous children’s andyoung people’s issues to be a central issue,separate and permanent, in the agenda andwork plan of the Permanent Forum.
Indigenous rights in the areas of, among oth-ers, health, intellectual property, humanrights and genetic resources also receivedspecial consideration from the PermanentForum. Access to education systems and lan-guage learning were also the object of spe-cial consideration, along with conservationof the environments upon which indigenouspeoples’ lives depend.
The Forum also urged the countries to ratifya number of international instruments such
as International Labour Organisation (ILO)Convention 169 and encouraged the statesto adopt the UN Draft Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples before the endof the Decade.
With regard to the location and date of itsnext session, the Forum recommended thatECOSOC decide to hold it once more at theUN headquarters in New York during theperiod April-May 2003.
After two weeks of deliberations, the first ses-sion of the Permanent Forum came to an endwith a declaration from the UN Secretary-Gen-eral. In his speech, Mr. Annan began by wel-coming the indigenous peoples into “the fam-ily of the United Nations” and said to all in-digenous peoples of the world, “You have ahome in the United Nations”. The indigenouspeoples, he said, have hopes, rights and aspi-rations that could and must be addressed bythe Organisation, as well as knowledge andskills that could help the international com-munity in its goals of development and peace.
The efforts of the indigenous peoples, andparticularly the members of the Perma-
nent Forum, to ensure that this new body will,like other UN bodies, have its own secretariatwith which to implement its mandate ad-equately, have borne fruit. In December 2002,the General Assembly took a decision to re-quest that the Secretary-General establish asecretariat within the Department of Eco-nomic and Social Affairs (DESA) to assist thePermanent Forum in fulfilling its mandateand financing the implementation of recom-mendations made by the Forum through theEconomic and Social Council.
With this decision, the United Nations sys-tem has taken another decisive step towardsenabling the Forum to fulfil the role it hasbeen given, enabling it to develop its work-ing procedures and thus begin to implementits wide mandate.
Note
1 As of December 2001, there was one remainingexpert to be nominated, from the Asia regionalgroup. In October 2002, ECOSOC confirmedthe nomination of Qin Xiaomei from China asmember of the Permanent Forum.
68
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THE PERMANENTFORUM
O n 28 July 2000, the Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC) of the United Nations took an historic deci-
sion when it adopted a resolution to establish a “PermanentForum on Indigenous Issues”.
This decision marked a fundamental milestone in the indig-enous struggle of the past decades to gain a position withinthe international community. The new body is unique in sev-eral ways, perhaps most importantly in its parity composi-tion. For the first time in the history of indigenous peoples,they will be on an equal footing with members nominated bythe States in a permanent UN body.
CHAPTER VII
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THE NAME
The name Forum came into use as a ge-neric name to identify a possible new
body within the United Nations system thatcould consider all issues related to indig-enous peoples.
Over the course of the seven years of discus-sions, the name “Forum” has come to be con-sidered the most appropriate, given its mean-ing of an assembly in which all participantscan meet to discuss issues of mutual interest.This term also encapsulates the indigenousrequest that this possible new body shouldbe of an open nature, one in which all indig-enous organisations, communities or nationswho wished to do so could participate.
Another reason for using this generic namewas because it left the issue of its positionwithin the United Nations system and itsrole open. It is important to bear in mind thatthe usual names of United Nations bodies,such as committees, commissions, workinggroups etc., are often defined in relation totheir position and mandate.
Over the course of the seven years of discus-sions on establishment of the PermanentForum, the term “Forum” gradually gainedstrength and was finally accepted by all asan appropriate name, in line with the uniquenature of this new body.
The name Permanent signifies that it is not atemporary body, set up to fulfil its mandatewithin an established period of time. Somebodies and mechanisms of the United Na-tions are established to play a particular rolewithin a certain, limited, period of time andthey depend upon their superior body to re-new their mandate (or not) once the periodfor which they were established has come toan end.
The debate on whether to include the term“indigenous peoples” in the name of thenew body was one of the most heated, tak-ing place during the final discussions heldon establishment of the Permanent Forum.
Over the course of the last three decades, in-digenous peoples have defended their rightto be recognised as “peoples” at all interna-tional fora, and have repeatedly arguedagainst the use of such expressions as“populations” or “people”. These expres-sions limit their rights as a distinct groupand, as such, their legitimate right to self-determination as recognised in the UnitedNations Charter and the International Hu-man Rights covenants. For this reason, in-digenous peoples were unanimous in de-fending the inclusion of the expression “in-digenous peoples” in the name of this newbody, whatever its final name was to be.
For their part, the governments decided onan ambiguous name without any connota-tions of a legal nature, the “Permanent Fo-rum on Indigenous Issues”, a term which isalso used by the Commission on HumanRights for the agenda point in which it con-siders issues related to indigenous peoples.The governments thus avoided entering intoa discussion on the interpretation of the con-cept of “peoples” and their consequent rightto self-determination.
For the representatives of the indigenousorganisations, the failure to include the ex-pression “indigenous peoples” was one ofthe battles lost during the process to estab-lish the Forum.
Some of the governments who resolutelysupported the establishment of the Perma-nent Forum argued that the inclusion of the
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THE PERMANENT FORUM WITHIN THE UNITED NATIONS
MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS
word “peoples” in the name would havebeen opposed by a large majority of govern-ment delegations, thus impeding the estab-lishment of the Forum on the part of the Com-mission on Human Rights and ECOSOC.In any case, it is important to remember thatfailure to include this term in the PermanentForum’s name will not prevent the indig-
enous representatives from continuing theirstruggle for recognition of the term “peoples”as a symbol of their rights. Governments alsoargued that since the Permanent Forumshould not only focus upon indigenous peo-ples as such but deal with the relationshipsbetween indigenous peoples and govern-ments “issues” was a convenient term.
The Permanent Forum is a subsidiary or-gan of the Economic and Social Coun-
cil . As was explained in the first chapter ofthis handbook, the Economic and SocialCouncil is the main United Nations organsupervising and coordinating the UN’s eco-nomic and social activities. It deals with pro-moting standards of living, full employmentand economic and social progress; identify-ing solutions to health, economic and socialproblems at an international level; facilitat-ing cooperation on a cultural and educa-tional level; and encouraging universal re-spect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms.
It coordinates the work of the 9 functionalcommissions and 5 regional commissionsof the United Nations, plus its 14 special-
ized agencies and 11 Funds and Programmes.In addition, it issues policy recommenda-tions for the United Nations and memberStates. The scope of the Economic and So-cial Council covers more than 70% of thehuman and financial resources of the wholeUnited Nations system.
The problems with which indigenous peo-ples are currently confronted relate to all as-pects of the work of the United Nations, andso the Permanent Forum, as a subsidiary or-gan of ECOSOC, is placed at a sufficientlyhigh level within the United Nations organi-sational chart to give it the possibility of hav-ing a maximum impact on all work under-taken by the organisation and its associatedbodies, and of being able to fulfil its broadmandate.
The mandate of the Permanent Forum isto examine indigenous issues within the
context of ECOSOC’s mandate in terms ofeconomic and social development, culture,the environment, education, health and hu-man rights.
This mandate offers the Permanent Foruman opportunity to undertake concrete ac-tions, ensuring that the work of the UnitedNations system as a whole benefits theworld’s indigenous peoples.
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Both through its placement within the sys-tem and its broad mandate, this new bodyhas the possibility of being a visible and po-litically influential platform that will giveindigenous peoples the possibility of estab-lishing direct dialogue with the memberStates and organisations of the United Na-tions system, and of sharing specialistknowledge and issues of interest in order toimprove the standard of living of the world’sindigenous peoples.
The three main functions ECOSOC has en-trusted to it are the following:
• To provide specialist advice and to makerecommendations on indigenous issuesto the Council, and to the programmes,funds and bodies of the United Nations,through ECOSOC.
• To publicise activities related to indig-enous issues and promote their integra-tion and coordination within the UnitedNations system.
• To prepare and disseminate informationon indigenous issues. The Forum mustinform indigenous peoples of its activi-ties and facilitate information, experienceand other resources of the United Na-tions system to indigenous peoples.
The main objective of the Permanent Forumis thus to influence and watch over the in-terests of indigenous peoples throughoutthe whole United Nations system. For thisreason, the Permanent Forum will need topromote the practical implementation of in-digenous rights and encourage the organi-sation’s programmes to improve the qual-ity of support they provide to the benefit of
indigenous peoples. In addition, it will needto ensure that indigenous peoples receivethe necessary information enabling them tohave a more direct impact on the UnitedNations programmes and to participate inthe design and benefits of those projectsbeing implemented by the UN that affectthem directly.
For this reason, it is extremely important tobear in mind that the Forum’s mandate is ofan operational nature. Its creation respondsto the need to move from a framework of dis-cussion on the content and interpretation ofindigenous rights to a context of more practi-cal operation, such as the use of the UnitedNations resources in improving the livingconditions of the world’s indigenous peoples.
The Forum’s operational nature is particu-larly important if you consider that a largeproportion of the funding for the United Na-tions’ operational programmes is directedat regions in which indigenous peoples live.A great number of these projects and pro-grammes directly affect indigenous peoplesand, in many cases, have unfortunately had,and continue to have, a negative impact onindigenous peoples’ lives. In the words ofTed Moses (Grand Chief of the Grand Coun-cil of the Crees), the Permanent Forum hasthe task of making the United Nations“work” for the world’s indigenous peoples.
The Forum will also need to raise the aware-ness of the United Nations system aroundthe specific issues and problems of indig-enous peoples, and act as a focal pointwithin the UN system to promote andstrengthen indigenous peoples’ participa-tion in those international issues that affectthem directly.
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COMPOSITION OF THE PERMANENT FORUM
As part of its wide mandate, the Forum mustinform indigenous peoples around theworld of its activities and facilitate informa-tion on resources the UN system could offerindigenous peoples to improve their qualityof life.
Of the many activities already included inthe Permanent Forum’s work programmeduring its first session are:
• To improve coordination between the UNbodies and specialized agencies and in-digenous peoples.
• To improve the participation of indig-enous peoples in the processes of plan-ning and implementation of program-mes, along with the implementation ofprojects affecting indigenous peoples onthe part of UN bodies.
• To strengthen the system for evaluatingprojects implemented by the UN systemin order to ensure that indigenous peo-ples are respected and benefited in theseprojects.
• To develop plans, policies and pro-grammes to ensure indigenous partici-pation.
• To invite the UN specialized agenciesand programmes to present reports ontheir activities in relation to indigenouspeoples.
• To invite indigenous peoples, govern-ments and experts in the field to give theirpoints of view and possible recommen-dations in terms of contributing to respectfor indigenous rights and promoting thedevelopment and improvement of indig-enous peoples’ living conditions.
One of the greatest differences between thePermanent Forum’s mandate and that of theHuman Rights bodies is that it is able to havea direct impact on international organisa-tions working on social and economic is-sues, which are largely the ones that have adirect impact on the life and well-being ofthe world’s indigenous peoples.
For this reason, it is particularly importantto note that the debate on and considerationof the human rights of indigenous peoples,along with information and complaints ofany violations of their fundamental rights,must continue to be considered by the Com-mission on Human Rights and its subsidi-ary organs: indigenous organisations willtherefore need to continue using the humanrights mechanisms to promote the recogni-tion and protection of their fundamentalrights.
The Permanent Forum is made up of 16experts acting in an individual capac-
ity as independent experts on indigenousissues.
The fact that the Permanent Forum is com-posed of experts and not representatives is acircunstance that has given rise to great con-troversy.
The reason for the Forum’s composition be-comes clear once you realise that there areonly two criteria that exist for membershipof a United Nations body.
1. That of being a member representing amember State.
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2. That of being a member as an individualexpert acting on the basis of their profes-sional qualifications.
The first criterion for membership – a mem-ber representing a member State – is thatused in the governmental bodies, such as,for example, ECOSOC and its FunctionalCommissions (the Commission on HumanRights, Commission on Sustainable Devel-opment, etc) .
The individuals representing States in gov-ernmental bodies are not formally partici-pating as themselves, only on behalf of theState to which they belong. State representa-tives act in their status as diplomats, andrepresent and defend the interests of theState. In this they receive instructions fromthe State they represent and these guide theiractions as members of the relevant body.
The second criterion is that which is used inthe expert bodies, such as the Human RightsCommittee1 , the Committee on the Elimina-tion of Racial Discrimination, etc.
These bodies are made up of individuals act-ing in their own personal capacity as ex-perts. The member experts of the UN bodiesmust have proven experience in dealing withthe issues considered by the body in ques-tion. They act in an individual capacity anddo not receive instructions from States. Theirprofessional qualifications are their onlyguide in their actions as members of thesebodies, which means that their action is in-dependent.
In this respect, it is important to recall thatthe United Nations is an association of sov-ereign States and the indigenous peoples/organisations/nations that live within thoseStates are not members of the United Na-tions. To acknowledge that indigenous mem-bers should have the status of representa-
tive of a body of a governmental naturewithin the United Nations at the same levelas representatives of the member Stateswould imply UN recognition of the Statesovereignty of indigenous peoples’ organi-sations.
For this reason, the only possible optionwithin the UN structure that could be usedfor the composition of the Permanent Forumwas its establishment as an expert body, inwhich all its members, regardless of whetherthey were appointed by governments orthrough indigenous consultations, wouldhold their position on the basis of their pro-fessional experience and qualifications inthis area. For this reason, and as independ-ent experts, none of the members of the Per-manent Forum receive instructions as to howto act, either from the States or from a par-ticular indigenous organisation/People/Nation.2
All members of the Permanent Forum areexperts with proven experience of indig-enous issues and they must serve the inter-national community according to their per-sonal professional qualities. Each and everymember has an obligation to defend and pro-mote the world’s indigenous peoples as awhole within the UN system.
The issue of representativity or independ-ence of the Forum’s members, and particu-larly those eight members nominated throughconsultations with indigenous organisations,was the object of long and controversial dis-cussions throughout the negotiation processto establish the Permanent Forum. Two of theconcerns raised by the indigenous organisa-tions in relation to the Permanent Forum mem-bers’ status of individual expert were:
• The responsibility towards the indig-enous peoples and their institutions ofthose indigenous members appointed
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APPOINTMENT OF THE MEMBERS
through consultation with indigenousorganisations.
• The authority and significance of a UNbody whose members are chosen accord-ing to their individual abilities.
With regard to the issue of responsibility, oneindigenous demand related to the repre-sentativity of the indigenous members. It haspreviously been explained why it was not pos-sible to put indigenous peoples’ repre-sentativity on a level with that of the Stateswithin the UN system. But, in addition, thereis another important aspect to bear in mind,which is the limited number of indigenousexperts – eight – that make up the PermanentForum. This limited number of members initself makes the formal representation of eachand every one of the world’s indigenous peo-ples and organisations impossible.
These difficulties of representation are alsoapplicable to the members nominated by the
States, as the eight experts nominated by thegovernments also do not represent the di-versity of interests of all the States.
In any case, and although the indigenousexperts do not formally represent all of theworld’s indigenous peoples, they have anethical and moral obligation to do their bestto represent the interests and needs of theworld’s indigenous peoples as a whole.
With regard to the authority and significanceof the Permanent Forum within the UN sys-tem, it is important to bear in mind that itsstatus as an expert body does not mean thatits effectiveness and impact will be compro-mised. There are many examples of other UNbodies, such as for example, the HumanRights Committee, the Committee on theElimination of Racial Discrimination, etc.that widely demonstrate the authority andimpact of expert bodies.
The Permanent Forum has a parity com-position. Of its sixteen experts, eight are
chosen by governments and eight are indig-enous experts appointed by the President ofECOSOC. In this, the President must enterinto broad consultations with indigenouspeoples with the aim of receiving nomina-tions for candidates.
When we talk of the nomination process forcandidates to a UN body such as the Per-manent Forum, we must remember the greatchallenge this type of process represents forindigenous organisations and communities.This is due primarily to the fact that the in-digenous organisations and communitiesdo not have the international organisational
structures, formal procedures or financial re-sources that the States in the inter-govern-mental bodies have with which to nominatetheir candidates.
For this reason, the issue of who should bechosen as the eight indigenous experts andwho should choose them was one of the great-est challenges for indigenous peoples interms of establishing the Permanent Forum.
One of the fundamental demands of indig-enous peoples was their participation on anequal footing with the governments in thePermanent Forum and thus their right tonominate the eight indigenous members. Forthis, the appointment of the eight indigenous
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experts would have to take place with thedirect participation of the indigenous or-ganisations, this participation being the onlyway of guaranteeing the legitimacy of theindigenous experts and, indeed, the paritycomposition of the Permanent Forum.
The resolution picks up on this demand ofindigenous peoples and refers specificallyto the fact that the appointments for the eightindigenous experts must be made on thebasis of broad consultations on the part ofthe President of ECOSOC with the indig-enous organisations. Unfortunately, the reso-lution specifies no kind of criteria by whichto define what is understood by “broad con-sultations” with indigenous organisations.
Since the establishment of the PermanentForum in July 2000, the representatives ofthe indigenous organisations have repeat-edly stated that the most appropriate proce-dure to ensure broad consultation, takinginto account the principles of transparency,representativity and equality of opportuni-ties for all indigenous peoples expressed inthe resolution, would be to hold broad re-gional consultations organised by the indig-enous organisations themselves.
These regional consultations would be thebest way of guaranteeing the legitimacy ofthe indigenous experts and would ensurethe true parity composition of this new body.On the other hand, if the indigenous peo-ples had no possibility of organising theirown consultation processes for proposingthe candidates they considered to be mostappropriate, there would be a risk that manygovernments and agents external to indig-enous peoples would propose or appoint theindigenous representatives. This would notonly delegitimize the composition of the Per-manent Forum itself but would also be con-trary to the spirit in which the PermanentForum was established.
Another particularly important aspect notedby the representatives of the indigenous peo-ples was that these regional processes wouldbe the only way of ensuring that the Perma-nent Forum could be closely linked to theindigenous organisations and communities.Without this link, the Forum would run therisk of becoming just another structure, iso-lated from the indigenous reality.
As described in the previous chapters, whichgive an overview of the historic process thatled to the creation of the Permanent Forum,the Forum was established through a uniqueprocess in which, for the first time, the in-digenous organisations themselves, along-side the official UN discussion process, es-tablished procedures for indigenous infor-mation and discussion at regional level.3
During 2001, the indigenous organisationsonce again established regional consultationprocesses with the aim of sharing criteriaand making proposals for candidates for thefirst appointments of the eight indigenousexperts.
In spite of the difficulty of organising theseprocesses, the majority of regions made greatefforts to be able to hold regional consulta-tions and out of these came different candi-dates whose nominations were sent to thePresident of ECOSOC for his consideration.It is important to note that six of the eightexperts appointed by the President in De-cember 2001 were nominations made dur-ing the indigenous regional consultations.This is, in fact, very important recognitionon the part of the United Nations of the in-ternal processes of indigenous peoples anda great achievement in the process of recog-nising the right of indigenous peoples toidentify the indigenous expert members ofthe Permanent Forum through their ownconsultation processes.
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS
THE 16 MEMBERS OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
The resolution establishes that the geo-graphic distribution of the world’s indig-
enous peoplesmust be taken into account, alongwith transparency, representativity and equal-ity of opportunities for all indigenous peoples.
Governments
The regional distribution of the 8 membersappointed by the governments is based onthe 5 regional groups operating within theUN system, by means of one member for eachof the following groups:
• Group of Asian countries• Group of African countries• Group of countries of the Western block:
USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealandand Europe
• Group of countries of the Eastern block:Countries in the former USSR, and East-ern European countries
• Group of countries of Latin America andthe Caribbean
In addition, a rotation process will be estab-lished between the groups for the three re-maining seats.
For the first period of the Permanent Forum,the governments decided that the additionalrotational seats should go to the regional
groups of Latin America and the Caribbean,the Western Group and Asia, which wouldeach have two members.
Indigenous peoples
According to the proposals of the indigenousorganisations themselves for indigenous ex-perts, the regional distribution of the eightindigenous experts will be based on 7 geo-cultural regions:
• Asia• Africa• The Arctic• Central and South America and the Car-
ibbean• North America• The Pacific• Former USSR and Eastern Europe
The one remaining place will rotate betweenthree large regions: Asia, Africa and Central/South America and the Caribbean. The addi-tional rotating place would, for this first pe-riod of work of the Permanent Forum, go toCentral/South America and the Caribbean.
According to the indigenous organisations,these seven regions reflect the geo-cultural dis-tribution of the world’s indigenous peoplesin the most appropriate way.
I n December 2001, the President of ECOSOCpublished the list of 16 experts appointed
as members of the Permanent Forum. The 16
members have been appointed for a period ofthree years (2002-2004) with the possibilityof re-election or re-appointment.
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The indigenous experts appointed by thePresident of ECOSOC were:
• Mr. Antonio Jacanamijoy (Colombia),• Mr. Ayitegau Kouevi (Togo),• Mr. Willie Littlechild (Canada),• Mr. Ole Henrik Magga (Norway), • Ms. Zinaida Strogalschikova
(Russian Federation)• Mr. Parshuram Tamang (Nepal),• Ms. Mililani Trask (Pacific – Hawaii)• Mr. Fortunato Turpo Choquehuanca
(Peru).
The experts appointed by the governmentswere:
• Ms. Otilia Lux Garcia de Coti(Guatemala)
• Mr. Marcos Matias Alonso (Mexico)• Mr. Wayne Lord (Canada) • Ms. Ida Nicolaisen (Denmark) • Mr. Yuri A. Boitchenko
(Russian Federation)• Ms. Njuma Ekundanayo
(Democratic Republic of Congo)• Mr. Yuji Iwasawa (Japan)• Ms. Qin Xiaomei (China)4
At the first session of the Permanent Forum, its members elected Ole HenrikMagga (indigenous Saami expert, nominated by the Arctic indigenous peo-ples) as President for one year. The President will be the Permanent Forum’sofficial representative between annual meetings.
PARTICIPATION
O ne of the fundamental demands of in-digenous peoples in relation to estab-
lishing the Permanent Forum was the princi-ple of full participation on the part of indig-enous organisations and communities in thePermanent Forum’s debates. To ensure thisprinciple of full participation, the Forum willneed to apply the same open model of partici-pation as used in the Working Group on In-digenous Populations, thus offering maxi-mum opportunity to indigenous peoples tocontribute to the deliberations and work ofthe Permanent Forum.
The specific resolution clearly specifies thisprinciple of open participation when it statesthat, “...States, United Nations bodies and or-gans, intergovernmental organizations andnon-governmental organizations in consulta-tive status with the Council may participateas observers; organizations of indigenous
people may equally participate as observersin accordance with the procedures whichhave been applied in the Working Group onIndigenous Populations of the Subcommis-sion on the Promotion and Protection of Hu-man Rights”.
The Working Group on Indigenous Po-pulations was pioneering in institutionaliz-ing a new model of open participation, recog-nising the right of indigenous peoples’ organi-sations to participate in the debates, regard-less of whether the indigenous organisationsheld consultative status with ECOSOC ornot.5
The model of open participation establishedby the resolution is thus a great achievement,if you consider the level at which the Perma-nent Forum is placed within the UN struc-ture. There is no doubt that this achievement
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WORKING PROCEDURES
LOCATION OF MEETINGS
is the result of the struggle that indigenousrepresentatives have maintained over thelast thirty years to achieve recognition of theirright to participate as key players in the UNdebates on issues that directly affect them.6
The model of open participation thus recog-
nises the right of indigenous peoples to par-ticipate as the legitimate representatives ofthe indigenous organisations and peoplesand not only as NGOs.
The Permanent Forum determines its ownworking methods on the basis of work
regulations established for the subsidiary or-gans of the Council. The resolution indicatesthat decisions will be taken on the principleof consensus.
Over the last few years, a large number ofUN bodies have been trying, as far as pos-sible, to avoid moving to voting proceduresas they prefer to take decisions on the ba-
sis of a consensus between all their mem-bers.
Whilst indigenous peoples supported thefact that the Forum should be governed bythe principle of consensus, they felt it shouldnot exclude the right of members to voteshould this be necessary. The reason wastheir fear that, on occasions, the principle ofconsensus could be used as a power of vetoby some members.
The Permanent Forum meets once per yearfor ten working days.
The resolution notes that the Permanent Fo-rum can meet at the UN headquarters inNew York, the UN office at Geneva or anyplace that the Forum may consider appro-priate.
ECOSOC itself and some of its subsidiaryorgans alternate their meetings between theNew York and Geneva offices. The resolu-tion also notes the possibility of holding theForum’s meetings in other places that mem-bers may consider appropriate. This is largelyin response to a proposal from the indig-
enous organisations during the discussionsto establish the Permanent Forum to con-sider holding meetings in other countries inwhich indigenous peoples live, in order tobring its work closer to the reality of theworld’s indigenous peoples.
The first session of the Permanent Forumtook place in the UN headquarters in NewYork (USA) in May 2002. In the report of thissession, the Permanent Forum recommendedthat its second session should again be heldat the UN offices in New York.
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THE SECRETARIAT OF THE PERMANENT FORUM
A s we saw in the previous chapter, theestablishment of a Secretariat to pro-
vide technical and administrative servicesto the Permanent Forum so that it can imple-ment its programme of activities has beenone of the main demands of indigenous peo-ples over the last few years.
Indigenous peoples argued time and againthat, like other UN bodies, the PermanentForum should have its own Secretariat andadequate funding to be able to carry out its
work. They upheld that, as a subsidiary or-gan of ECOSOC, the Secretariat should belocated within ECOSOC’s Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs. In addition, thestaff of this Secretariat should be profession-als with proven experience in indigenousissues and, preferably, indigenous profes-sionals.
In its first report, the Permanent Forum itselfrecommended that ECOSOC should ur-gently establish a Secretariat for the Forum.
T he Economic and Social Council de-cides that the secretariat of the Per-
manent Forum on Indigenous Issuesshall be established as a matter of ur-gency and that, given the broad mandateof the Forum, the secretariat shall be lo-cated in New York and shall be attachedto the secretariat of the Council. The sec-retariat will be designated as the secre-tariat of the Permanent Forum on Indig-enous Issues, and will comprise five Pro-fessional and two administrative staff,with due consideration being given toqualified indigenous persons. The secre-tariat will assist the members of the Fo-rum in fulfilling its mandate by imple-
menting the approved programme of ac-tivities, including the organization ofmeetings; undertaking research projectsand preparing the annual report to theCouncil; raising awareness and promot-ing the integration and coordination ofactivities relating to indigenous issueswithin the United Nations system; andpreparing and disseminating informa-tion on indigenous issues. Those activi-ties are to be funded from the regularbudget.
* Report from the 1st session of the UN Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues. E/CN.19/2002/3/Rev.1
DRAFT DECISION I
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
Following the recommendations made bythe Permanent Forum to ECOSOC, in Decem-ber 2002, the General Assembly decided toask the Secretary-General to establish a Sec-retariat within the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (DESA) to assist the Per-manent Forum on Indigenous Issues andwith the aim of enabling this body to carryout its mandate.
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FINANCING THE PERMANENT FORUM
RELATIONS TO OTHER UN BODIES
The General Assembly also asked the Secre-tary-General to establish a Voluntary Fundfor the Forum with the aim of funding im-plementation of the recommendations madeby the Forum through the Economic andSocial Council.
Following the recommendations of the Gen-eral Assembly, the Vice Secretary-General ofthe United Nations for Economic and SocialAffairs finally established, in February 2003,the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum onIndigenous Issues as a dependent officewithin the Division for Social Policy and De-velopment of DESA.
It is the Secretariat’s job to provide technicaland administrative assistance to the Perma-nent Forum on Indigenous Issues in order toenable it to implement its mandate.
In addition, the Secretariat will administerthe Voluntary Fund for the Permanent Fo-rum and will coordinate the activities of thework programme of the Permanent Forum.
The Secretariat is in the process of establish-ing its offices and communication networksand already has a web site. It will be respon-sible for organising the second session of thePermanent Forum, to be held in New Yorkfrom 12 to 23 May.
With the Secretary-General’s establishmentof the Permanent Forum’s own Secretariat,the United Nations has re-affirmed its com-mitment to indigenous peoples and to thePermanent Forum and has taken a hugelyimportant step towards ensuring that thisnew body enjoys the conditions necessaryto fulfil its role within the system.
The Permanent Forum will be financedfrom resources available from the regu-
lar budget of the United Nations and its spe-cialized agencies. In December 2002, the
General Assembly established a fund forvoluntary contributions for the PermanentForum, which will be administered by theSecretariat.
In the resolution that established the Perma-nent Forum, it is noted that, five years af-
ter its creation, ECOSOC – in the light of ex-perience gained – should carry out an evalu-ation of the way the Permanent Forum isworking, including the method for selectingits members.
In addition, the resolution also notes that,after the Permanent Forum has been estab-lished and has held its first period of an-nual sessions, ECOSOC should examine all
the mechanisms, procedures and pro-grammes existing within the United Nationsin relation to indigenous issues, includingthe Working Group on Indigenous Po-pulations, with the aim of rationalising ac-tivities, avoiding duplication and juxtapo-sition, and promoting efficiency.
It is important to note that this paragraph ofthe resolution refers to one of the most con-troversial issues, and one which is still pend-ing a decision, that is, the relationship and
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coordination of activities between the Per-manent Forum and the Working Group onIndigenous Populations.
What implications does establishment of thePermanent Forum have for the future of theWorking Group on Indigenous Populations?
The mandate of the Permanent Forum clearlyreflects that its establishment does not havethe aim of replacing the Working Group onIndigenous Populations, nor any of the bod-ies that currently consider the human rightsof indigenous peoples.
The Working Group on Indigenous Po-pulations has been and continues to be theonly UN body with the specific mandate offormulating international standards on therights of indigenous peoples. Moreover, it isa particularly important institutional spacethrough which indigenous peoples can haveaccess to human rights-related bodies, andwhere indigenous peoples can inform theinternational community of violations oftheir rights, and it is the only one devotedspecifically to protecting and promotingthose rights.
The mandate of the Permanent Forum onIndigenous Issues is very different: it is toadvise the Economic and Social Council, andother UN programmes and agencies linkedto it, on aspects related to economic and so-cial development, culture, the environment,education, health and human rights. In addi-tion, the Forum will be responsible for encour-aging awareness raising and promoting theintegration and coordination of activities re-lated to indigenous issues within the UnitedNations, along with formulating and dissemi-nating information on such issues.
Both bodies are clearly different in terms ofmandate, their place within the UN system,
composition and ways of working. They willboth need to carry out their activities in acomplementary and mutually supportiveway, with the aim of promoting the interestsof indigenous peoples and strengtheningtheir participation in the achievement of theUN’s aims: to maintain peace, promote andprotect human rights and sustainable devel-opment.
In spite of this, some governments have in-sisted that the Working Group will have noreason for existing once the Permanent Fo-rum has been established. They base theirargument on a duplication of roles and theneed to rationalise the use of the UN’s fi-nancial resources. For their part, indigenousrepresentatives have defended the fact thatestablishment of the Permanent Forumshould not and does not signify a threat oralternative to any of the existing bodies deal-ing with the rights of indigenous peoples,and particularly not to the Working Groupon Indigenous Populations.
It is important to note that, in the UnitedNations system, there are many examples ofbodies that consider the same thematic issuein different ways. For example, on the issueof women, the UN has a number of differentbodies focussing specifically on this issue,such as the Commission on the Status ofWomen, the Committee on the Convention forElimination of all Forms of Discriminationagainst Women and UNIFEM (the UnitedNations Development Fund for Women).
Notes
1 The Human Rights Committee is a quasi-judi-cial body that has a mandate to supervise theStates’ fulfilment of the International Covenanton Civil and Political Rights. It is also the tribu-nal that judges demands according to the Op-tional Protocol. It is made up of members act-ing in their own personal capacity.
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2 During the negotiation process for establishmentof the Permanent Forum, some States proposedthat the Forum should be an inter-governmentalbody, made up solely of government delega-tions. These delegations would be formed of onegovernment representative and one indigenous.Delegation members would be nominated bythe State they represent. This option was cat-egorically rejected by the indigenous peoples,given that this model would impede the inde-pendence of the indigenous representatives. Boththeir nomination and their actions would de-pend largely on the instructions of the Statesthey were representing.
3 For more detailed information on the indigenousregional conferences held and the indigenous dec-larations of these conferences, please see theIWGIA document The Permanent Forum for In-digenous Peoples : The Struggle for a New Partner-ship, Copenhagen 1999. The text of this bookcan also be viewed on IWGIA’s web site:http://www.iwgia.org
4 In December, ECOSOC postponed nominationof one of the experts, from the Asia Regionalgroup. In October 2002, ECOSOC appointedQin Xiaomei from China, who had been pro-posed by the group of Asian governments, asmember of the Permanent Forum.
5 Non-governmental organisations can be ac-knowledged as maintaining a relationship withthe United Nations and carrying out a task of
common interest by obtaining consultative sta-tus granted by the Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC). This status is based on article 71 ofthe United Nations Charter and ECOSOC reso-lution 1996/31. The rights and privileges out-lined in detail in this resolution authorise suchorganisations to contribute to the work pro-grammes and objectives of the United Nations,acting in the capacity of technical experts, advi-sors and consultants to governments and theSecretariat. Non-governmental organisationswith consultative status can attend meetings,make oral interventions and written declarationson issues included on the ECOSOC agenda andin the various subsidiary bodies.For more information, please see: http://www.onu.org/sc/ong/ongecosoc.htm#7
6 Recognition on the part of the UN system of theright of indigenous peoples to participate in dis-cussions on issues directly related to their fun-damental rights is also reflected in the specialparticipation procedure established by the Com-mission on Human Rights, to ensure that indig-enous organisations without consultative sta-tus with ECOSOC could participate in the de-bates of the Inter-sessional Working Group ofthe Commission established to consider the draftDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peo-ples.
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PRA PRA PRA PRA PRACTICALCTICALCTICALCTICALCTICAL ISSUES ISSUES ISSUES ISSUES ISSUES
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This chapter attempts to answer some of the questions most fre-quently asked by indigenous organisations interested in partici-
pating in the sessions of the Permanent Forum and understanding inmore detail how the meetings of this body take place.
The information is based on the rules of procedure and organisationof work that were applied to the first meeting of the Permanent Fo-rum, held in New York from 13 to 24 May 2002.
PRACTICALISSUES
CHAPTER VIII
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T he 16 members of the Permanent Forumon Indigenous Issues officially meet once
a year for two weeks (10 working days).
The first meeting took place in the UnitedNations headquarters in New York, and thisis where it is also planned to hold the sec-ond meeting, from 12 to 23 May 2003.
WHEN AND WHERE
As a subsidiary organ of ECOSOC, the Per-manent Forum on Indigenous Issues organ-ises its work according to the Rules of Proce-dure established for Subsidiary Organs ofECOSOC.
THE ORGANISERS
MEMBERS AND OBSERVERS
T he Permanent Forum has its own Secre-tariat, established by the Secretary-Gen-
eral following recommendation from theGeneral Assembly.
This Secretariat has its offices in the UNheadquarters in New York and is situatedwithin the UN Department of Economic andSocial Affairs.
The Secretariat is responsible for providingtechnical and administrative services to thePermanent Forum and is thus in charge oforganising its sessions.
Secretariat of the Permanent Forumon Indigenous IssuesDepartment of Economic and Social Af-fairsDC2-1772United Nations HeadquartersNew York, NY 10017, USATel: + 1 917 367 5100Fax: + 1 212 963 3062Email:[email protected] site: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/pfii/
A ll those attending the sessions of thePermanent Forum participate as ob-
servers, with the exception of the 16 mem-bers.
Members: These are the 16 appointed ex-perts. They are the only ones who have aright to take the relevant decisions, by meansof a consensus or a vote.
Observers: This means all participants inthe annual meetings of the Permanent Fo-rum who are not members of the Permanent
Forum, such as representatives of govern-ments, UN agencies and bodies, indigenousorganisations or communities, non-govern-mental organisations (NGOs) and profes-sionals and representatives of specialist or-ganisations.
All observers, without distinction, canpresent oral or written interventions on allagenda points. In their interventions, observ-ers can provide information, comments, pro-posals, etc. to be considered by the Forum’smembers.
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REGISTRATION
STATEMENTS
The rules of procedure established for theparticipation of observers are the same asthose applying to the Working Group on In-digenous Populations.
Participation will be open and the follow-ing can attend Permanent Forum sessions:
• Representatives of government delega-tions;
• Representatives of UN agencies and bod-ies;
• Representatives of indigenous organisa-tions, peoples and communities;
• Representatives of non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) with or withoutconsultative status with ECOSOC;
• Representatives of specialist organisa-tions, experts or other interested people.
A ll participants have to register to be ableto attend the Forum’s meetings. Regis-
tration and accreditation of participants isthe responsibility of the Secretariat of thePermanent Forum.
The Secretariat has prepared a registrationform. All people and organisations inter-ested in participating will need to fill outthis form and send it to the Secretariat at leastone month prior to the start of the Perma-nent Forum’s session.
The registration form can be obtained fromthe Permanent Forum’s web site or by send-ing your request directly to the Secretariatby post or fax. Once you have returned yourregistration form, the Secretariat will ac-
knowledge its receipt and confirm in writ-ing that you have been registered to attendthe meeting.
This confirmation letter from the Secre-tariat is very important for all those re-quiring visas to enter the country wherethe meeting is being held. This docu-ment, together with an official identitydocument (passport) will also be neces-sary in order to register officially on ar-rival at the meeting and obtain the offi-cial pass. This official pass, includingpersonal details and a photo of the par-ticipant, is a security requirement forentry into all UN offices.
O rganisations that have consultative sta-tus with ECOSOC will also be able to
send written statements. These statements willbe available to all the meeting’s participants.
There are a number of conditions that needto be borne in mind by those interested insending in written statements.
• They must be written in one of the sixofficial languages of the United Nations(Spanish, English, Chinese, Russian,Arabic or French);
• They must be sent in sufficient time forthem to be considered and then translatedprior to their distribution. This shouldnormally be a minimum of three monthsin advance;
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MEETING PROCEDURES
• The statement must be no more than2,000 words long.
For any further information regarding par-ticipation in the meetings of the Permanent
Forum, or sending in written statements, youshould contact the Secretariat.
A ccording to normal procedure, the meet-ings are opened by an official representa-
tive from the United Nations system. Being asubsidiary organ of ECOSOC, the normal pro-cedure is that the President/Vice-President ofthat body should give an inaugural speechand announce the meeting officially open.
The official UN representative makes an in-augural speech in which she/he presentssome issues of particular relevance that areto be considered during the session. It is alsonormal procedure to invite other relevant fig-ures from within the UN system to presentan opening speech, for example, a representa-tive of the Secretary-General.
THE BUREAU
The Bureau is the governing body of themeeting. It comprises the president of
the Permanent Forum, a rapporteur and anumber of vice-presidents, to be decided bythe members of the Forum themselves.
After the opening speech, and once the ses-sion has been officially inaugurated by therelevant people, the President/Vice-Presi-dent of ECOSOC (or their representative)will invite the members of the PermanentForum to give their nominations for themembers of the Bureau.
The role of the President during the meetingis to chair the debates throughout the whole
period of sessions, rule on any disagreementregarding working procedures and coordi-nate with the Secretariat with regard to allpractical details relating to the meeting’sproceedings.
The role of the Rapporteur is to assist thePresident in the control and supervision ofthe report that will be drawn up by the Sec-retariat during the meeting.
The vice-presidents and rapporteur can alsochair the meeting in the absence of the Presi-dent. The President and/or rapporteur (inhis absence) will be responsible for present-ing the report to ECOSOC.
The normal procedure is that the memberscome to an agreement on the compositionof the Bureau prior to the official openingof the meeting, in order to avoid wastingvaluable time on issues of formal proce-dure.
A representative from the Secretariat of thePermanent Forum will sit alongside thePresident as Secretary, assisting the Presi-dent on issues of procedure and documen-tation.
The members of the Bureau are elected forone year, with the possibility of re-election.The elected President will also be the Per-manent Forum’s official representative be-tween sessions.
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THE AGENDA
The composition of the Permanent Forum’scommittee has to reflect the parity composi-tion of this body (equal numbers of govern-
ment-nominated experts and indigenous ex-perts) and both groups must be representedon it.
After the official opening and the elec-tion of the Bureau, the ECOSOC repre-
sentative will invite the newly elected Presi-dent and Rapporteur to approach the po-dium and take the chair.
Normally, the president elect gives a speechin which she/he indicates some of the fun-damental issues and priorities to be consid-ered during the session.
The President’s speech is then followed byadoption of the work agenda.
The agenda is defined according to the Per-manent Forum’s mandate and the issuesproposed by the members of the Forum, alongwith urgent issues they have identified asimportant for consideration at that session.The proposed agenda, along with the docu-mentation necessary for each agenda point,is available to all participants at the start ofthe meeting.
The work agenda can include various pri-vate meetings among the Permanent Forummembers during the period of sessions. Theaim of these private meetings is to discussthe progress of the meeting and prepare de-cisions and recommendations to be includedin the report. In order, for example, to pro-mote the dialogue between the Forum andthe observers, the Forum can also declaresome of the meetings as informal withoutminutes being taken.
Following the formal procedures only mem-bers of the Permanent Forum can make pro-posals or changes to the work agenda. How-ever, during the first session of the Perma-nent Forum, some indigenous interventionsrecommended that the Permanent Forumshould allow indigenous organisations tosend informal proposals in relation to thework agenda prior to the opening session.
At its first session, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues elected a President,a Rapporteur and four Vice-Presidents
President: Mr. Ole Henrik Magga (Norway)
Rapporteur: Mr. Willie Littlechild (Canada)
Vice-Presidents:Ms. Njuma Ekundanayo ( Democratic Republic of Congo)Mr. Parshuram Tamang (Nepal)Mr. Antonio Jacanamijoy (Colombia)Ms. Mililani Trask ( Hawaii, USA)
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MEETING LANGUAGES
PRESENTATION OF INTERVENTIONS
All official sessions of the Permanent Fo-rum have simultaneous interpretation
into the six official languages of the UnitedNations, that is, English, Spanish, French,Russian, Arabic and Chinese.
All oral interventions, either from membersof the Permanent Forum or from observersparticipating in the meeting, can be made inany of the six official languages and will, inturn, be interpreted into the other five lan-guages.
For operational reasons and, in practicalterms, due to the impossibility of making allofficial work documents prepared duringthe meeting available to the participants inall six languages, the UN bodies operate pri-marily around two working languages dur-ing their sessions.
In the case of the Permanent Forum, the lan-guages during the work sessions are Eng-lish and Spanish. All official documents pre-pared during the meeting will be availablein these two languages at least 24 hours priorto their discussion. All written proposals andinformation addressed to the President dur-ing the session must be in one of these twoworking languages.
In relation to the issue of working languages,the representatives of indigenous peopleshave, on numerous occasions, insisted thatthe Secretariat should, wherever possible,consider translating some of the most im-portant documents into French and Russian,in order to facilitate the participation andcontribution of indigenous organisationsspeaking these languages as opposed toEnglish or Spanish.
D uring the Permanent Forum sessions,all members of the Permanent Forum
and observers (representatives of indigenousorganisations, government delegations, UNagencies and bodies, NGOs etc.) can makeoral interventions in order to express theirpoints of view and recommendations onagenda points.
Members of the Permanent Forum may speakat any time and as often as they wish on anyagenda point, and they have priority overobservers.
Those observers interested in presenting anintervention will need to register on a listprepared by the Secretariat for each agenda
point. The Secretariat’s representative willinform all participants of where they canregister to present interventions. The Secre-tariat will draw up a registration list for in-terventions, which will remain open untilthe start of the debate on that specific point.
Observers will be called upon by the Presi-dent to present their intervention and willdo so in the order in which the speakers wereregistered. The person responsible for the listof interventions will inform the speaker asto when she/he can expect to be called tospeak. It is important to bear in mind thatthis information is only approximate, as it isvery possible that the intervention may beearlier or later than this, depending on the
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PREPARING AN INTERVENTION
course of the debate. It is therefore very im-portant that participants registered on thelist of speakers should pay attention to theprogress of the interventions and the orderof speakers, in order to ensure that they arein the hall when called upon by the Presi-dent to present their speech.
Should they be absent when called upon tospeak and if the list of interventions for thisagenda point has already closed, they willlose the chance of making their speech.
Depending on the number of speakers regis-tered, the President will decide how manyminutes are available for each speaker topresent their intervention. This normallyvaries between a maximum of 5 to 10 min-utes. If there is not enough time, the Presi-dent may reduce the number of minutesavailable for observers’ interventions.
I t is recommended that those participantswho have requested to speak should have
their speech prepared in advance andshould ensure that it is in line with the allot-ted time. If the speaker fails to respect thenumber of minutes given and the interven-tion exceeds the permitted time, the Presi-dent can interrupt the intervention and askthe speaker to stop.
It is particularly important that indig-enous representatives presenting in-terventions during the sessions of thePermanent Forum bear in mind themandate and role of the PermanentForum.
Interventions should take into account thefact that the Permanent Forum was not es-tablished to substitute any of the other sub-sidiary organs or mechanisms of the Com-mission on Human Rights, such as the Work-ing Group on Indigenous Populations, orthe Working Group of the Commission onHuman Rights on the Draft Declaration onthe Rights of Indigenous Peoples or the Spe-cial Rapporteur.
The Permanent Forum is a subsidiary organof ECOSOC, which coordinates all the eco-nomic and social programmes of the UnitedNations system. The Forum was created todiscuss the use of United Nations resourcesin improving the living conditions of indig-enous peoples. For this reason, the partici-pants must bear in mind that debates on thecontent and legal interpretation of indig-enous rights, along with specific complaintsof human rights violations on the part ofStates, must continue to be considered by thesubsidiary organs and mechanisms estab-lished by the Commission on Human Rightswith this mandate and not by this Perma-nent Forum.
Interventions must therefore be in linewith the mandate of the PermanentForum and the specific issues on theagenda.
In their interventions, representatives of theindigenous organisations will have the op-portunity of providing information, givingtheir points of view and making recommen-dations as to how to promote and improve
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OTHER ACTIVITIES
the work of the United Nations. In this re-spect, it is particularly important that indig-enous organisations’ interventions provideconcrete information and proposals to thePermanent Forum in order to:
• Improve the coordination of the UN spe-cialized agencies and bodies in relationto indigenous peoples;
• Advise the specialized agencies and otherbodies within the UN system on formula-tion of policies and work programmes;
• Promote the participation of indigenouspeoples in the planning and implemen-tation of UN projects affecting indig-enous communities;
• Evaluate UN projects to ensure that theyrespect indigenous rights and benefit in-digenous peoples;
• Increase indigenous participation in thework of the United Nations in general.
O ver the course of the two weeks of Per-manent Forum sessions, a number of
parallel events are held such as, for exam-ple, seminars, round tables, presentationsetc. These events normally take place dur-ing the two-hour lunch break (1pm to 3pm)or following the afternoon sessions. Theseevents are normally organised by the UNagencies, indigenous organisations andNGOs in order to discuss and share points ofview, or take a deeper look at specific issuesof particular relevance to indigenous peoplesin relation to the activities of the PermanentForum. The parallel events also offer the par-ticipants and panellists an opportunity to net-work and establish contacts with other in-digenous organisations, and official or unof-ficial institutions that have an interest in thatparticular issue or area of work.
During the first session of the PermanentForum, various UN agencies and bodies,such as the Office of the High Commissionerfor Human Rights, the International LabourOrganisation, Habitat, UNDP etc., organisedround tables at which they shared informa-tion and discussed their work programmeswith indigenous organisations and inter-ested NGOs.
THE INDIGENOUS CAUCUS
As has been the norm over the last 20 yearsin other international meetings in which in-digenous peoples participate, the indig-enous organisations hold their own meet-ings during the Permanent Forum meetings,in what is known as the “indigenous cau-cus”. This indigenous caucus is a strictlyindigenous assembly, in which all repre-sentatives from indigenous organisationswho are participating in the official meetingcan take part.
The indigenous caucus normally holds apreparatory meeting, which takes place dur-ing the week-end prior to the start of the offi-cial session. Subsequently, over the twoweeks of official sessions of the PermanentForum, the indigenous caucus continues tomeet regularly.
Some of the objectives of these meetings are:
• to share information of interest to indig-enous organisations participating in thesessions of the Permanent Forum;
• to discuss and reach an agreement on in-digenous strategies;
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THE REPORT OF THE PERMANENT FORUM
THE PERMANENT FORUM AND ECOSOC
• to formulate joint declarations from theindigenous caucus on issues consideredof particular importance.
As the only forum where a significant andconcerned number of indigenous peoplesare present, the indigenous caucus has al-ways played an important role for indig-enous peoples to discuss issues, strate-
gies and to reach common understandings.Whenever unanimous decisions havebeen taken by the indigenous caucus it isbeing listened to by governments. This isin spite of the fact that the indigenouscaucus has no official status neitherwithin the UN system nor within the in-digenous world.
D uring the meetings of the Permanent Fo-rum, the Secretariat is responsible for
writing the narrative report of the Perma-nent Forum sessions, under the supervi-sion of the President and the Rapporteur.
The decisions and recommendations to beincluded in the report will be discussedand prepared by members of the Perma-nent Forum in the private meetings heldduring the period of sessions. In formu-lating their recommendations, the mem-bers take into account recommendationsmade by observers during the debates onthe different agenda points.
Only members of the Permanent Forumhave the power to decide on the contentand official adoption of the report. Inprinciple, they do not have to consultthe observers prior to its official adop-tion. However, during their first session,the members of the Permanent Forumdecided to consult the observers formallyand review the content of the report dur-ing their last working session.
This consultation procedure offers observ-ers an opportunity to make comments andsuggestions on the report prior to its formaladoption by the members of the PermanentForum and ensures a greater participationof the observers in the content of the report.
The official report of the sessions of thePermanent Forum is presented directly
to ECOSOC and contains recommendationsfor actions by ECOSOC. The recommenda-tions include internal decisions on the or-ganisation and work programme of the Fo-rum, along with requests to other UN agen-
cies and bodies, including ECOSOC, in termsof implementing administrative actions inrelation to their policies and work pro-grammes.
The United Nations has recently establishedstrict rules with regard to the length of re-
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FUNDING TO PARTICIPATE IN PERMANENT FORUM MEETINGS
UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTARY FUND FOR INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
ports. For this reason, and in order to be moreeffective, the report is a concise documentwhich, in addition to providing a narrativedescription of the course of the sessions, con-tains very specific proposals that are drawnup as provisional decisions for considera-tion by the higher level organs, such asECOSOC.
The report is distributed to the relevant or-gans, funds, programmes and bodies of theUnited Nations as a way, among other things,of encouraging dialogue on indigenous is-sues within the United Nations system.
There are a number of institutions that pro-vide financial assistance for indigenous
The Fund finances the cost of air ticket, ac-commodation and expenses during their stayin New York for representatives selected fromamong the requests received by the Fund.
organisations to attend the meetings of thePermanent Forum.
F ollowing a decision of the General As-sembly, in December 2001, the Volun-
tary Fund for Indigenous Populations nowfunds the participation of representatives
The Voluntary Fund receives voluntary con-tributions from governments, organisationsand public and private bodies.
The Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations was established by the General As-sembly in 1985 with the aim of funding the participation of indigenous representativesof indigenous communities and organisations in the deliberations of the Working Groupon Indigenous Populations. Since 1995, the Fund has also financed the participation ofindigenous representatives in the sessions of the Working Group established by theCommission to consider the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
from indigenous organisations and com-munities in meetings on the PermanentForum on Indigenous Issues.
For more information on the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations and to obtain anapplication form, please contact:
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THE HUMAN RIGHTS FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
T his Fund was established in 1985 by fiveEuropean NGOs1 with the aim of fund-
ing the participation of indigenous repre-sentatives in the Working Group on Indig-enous Populations. Over the course of thelast twenty years, the Fund has extended itsfunding to additionally cover indigenousparticipation in other UN meetings, such asthe Commission on Human Rights, theWorking Group on the draft Declaration onthe Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ses-sions of the Permanent Forum.
The Fund covers the cost of tickets, accom-modation and expenses for the chosen in-digenous representatives.
Voluntary Fund for Indigenous PopulationsMs. Eulàlia Ortadó,PW 2-041, Office of the High Commissioner for Human RightsUnited Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10, SwitzerlandTel. (41-22) 917 9145, 917 9266, 917 9164 Fax (41-22) 917 9017. Email: [email protected] page: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/9/vfindige.htm
The Human Rights Fund coordinates thesupport granted to indigenous organisa-tions with the aim of ensuring that thegreatest number of indigenous repre-sentatives participate in the meetings andalso to avoid double funding.
The Fund also contributes financiallyto the costs of interpreting for the indig-enous caucus in its parallel meetings.
For more information on the HumanRights Fund for Indigenous Peoples,please contact:
Human Rights Fund for Indigenous Peoplesc/o IWGIAClassensgade 11EDK 2100 CopenhagenDenmarkTel: (45) 35 27 05 00Fax (45) 35 27 05 07Email: [email protected]
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THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
T hrough its indigenous programme, theWorld Council of Churches also pro-
vides financial support to cover some of the
World Council of ChurchesEugenio Poma150 Route de FerneyP.O. Box 21001211 Geneva 2SwitzerlandEmail: [email protected]
For more information, please contact:
costs of indigenous participation in the meet-ings of the Permanent Forum.
Note
1 The five member organisation of the HumanRights Fund are:• Anti-Slavery International (ASI) based in the
United Kingdom,• the International Work Group for Indigenous
Affairs (IWGIA) based in Copenhagen, Den-mark,
• the Coordinating Group on Indigenous Af-fairs (KWIA) based in Belgium,
• the Dutch Centre for Indigenous Peoples(NCIV) based in Holland and
• the Society for Threatened Peoples based inGermany.
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AN
NE
XE
S
98
ANNEX I
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL RESOLUTION 2000/22
ESTABLISHMENT OF A PERMANENT FORUMON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
The Economic and Social Council
Recalling the provision contained in the final documentof the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vi-
enna in June 1993, according to which the establishment ofa permanent forum for indigenous people within the UnitedNations system should be considered, A/CONF.157/24,(Part I), chap. III, sect. II.B, para. 32.
Recalling also that consideration of the establishment of apermanent forum is recognized as one of the important ob-jectives of the programme of activities for the InternationalDecade of the World’s Indigenous People, General Assem-bly resolution 50/157, annex.
Noting the two workshops on the subject held under theauspices of the Commission on Human Rights in Copenha-gen in 1995 and in Santiago in 1997, see E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1995/7 and E/CN.4/1998/11 and Add.1-3.
Recalling the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Re-view of the existing mechanisms, procedures, and pro-grammes within the United Nations concerning indigenouspeople”, A/51/493. and noting in particular the strikingabsence of a mechanism to ensure coordination and regularexchange of information among interested parties – Gov-ernments, the United Nations and indigenous people – onan ongoing basis,
Taking into account the deliberations of the Working Groupon a permanent forum for indigenous people, see E/CN.4/1999/83 and E/CN.4/2000/86. Established pursuant toCommission on Human Rights resolutions 1998/20 of 9April 1998 see Official Records of the Economic and SocialCouncil, 1998, Supplement No. 3 (E/1998/23), chap. II, sect.A. and 1999/52 of 27 April 1999 Ibid., 1999, SupplementNo. 3 (E/1999/23), chap. II, sect. A. To consider the estab-
99
lishment of a permanent forum and to sub-mit concrete proposals to that effect, as wellas the consideration given to the subject atthe fifty-sixth session of the Commission,
Wishing to finalize this project during theInternational Decade of the World’s Indig-enous People as one means of furthering theobjectives of the Decade in partnership be-tween Governments and indigenous people,
Stressing that the establishment of the per-manent forum should lead to careful con-sideration of the future of the Working Groupon Indigenous Populations of the Subcom-mission on the Promotion and Protection ofHuman Rights,
Bearing in mind the common resolve to pro-mote peace and prosperity in accordancewith the Charter of the United Nations, andrecalling the functions and powers of theCouncil in that respect as contained in theCharter,
1. Decides to establish as a subsidiary or-gan of the Council a permanent forumon indigenous issues, consisting of six-teen members, eight members to be nomi-nated by Governments and elected by theCouncil, and eight members to be ap-pointed by the President of the Councilfollowing formal consultation with theBureau and the regional groups throughtheir coordinators, on the basis of broadconsultations with indigenous organiza-tions, taking into account the diversityand geographical distribution of the in-digenous people of the world as well asthe principles of transparency, repre-sentativity and equal opportunity for allindigenous people, including internalprocesses, when appropriate, and local
indigenous consultation processes, withall members serving in their personalcapacity as independent experts on in-digenous issues for a period of three yearswith the possibility of re-election or re-appointment for one further period;States, United Nations bodies and or-gans, intergovernmental organizationsand non-governmental organizations inconsultative status with the Council mayparticipate as observers; organizations ofindigenous people may equally partici-pate as observers in accordance with theprocedures which have been applied inthe Working Group on Indigenous Popu-lations of the Subcommission on the Pro-motion and Protection of Human Rights;
2. Also decides that the Permanent Forumon Indigenous Issues shall serve as anadvisory body to the Council with a man-date to discuss indigenous issues withinthe mandate of the Council relating toeconomic and social development, cul-ture, the environment, education, healthand human rights; in so doing the Per-manent Forum shall:
a) Provide expert advice and recommen-dations on indigenous issues to theCouncil, as well as to programmes,funds and agencies of the United Na-tions, through the Council;
b) Raise awareness and promote the in-tegration and coordination of activi-ties relating to indigenous issueswithin the United Nations system;
c) Prepare and disseminate informationon indigenous issues;
3. Further decides that the Permanent Fo-rum shall apply the rules of procedureestablished for subsidiary organs of the
100
Council as applicable, unless otherwisedecided by the Council; the principle ofconsensus shall govern the work of thePermanent Forum;
4. Decides that the Permanent Forumshall hold an annual session of tenworking days at the United NationsOffice at Geneva or at United NationsHeadquarters or at such other place asthe Permanent Forum may decide inaccordance with existing financial rulesand regulations of the United Nations;
5. Also decides that the Permanent Forumshall submit an annual report to theCouncil on its activities, including anyrecommendations for approval; the re-port shall be distributed to the relevantUnited Nations organs, funds, pro-grammes and agencies as a means, in-ter alia, of furthering the dialogue onindigenous issues within the UnitedNations system;
6. Further decides that the financing of thePermanent Forum shall be provided
from within existing resources throughthe regular budget of the United Na-tions and its specialized agencies andthrough such voluntary contributionsas may be donated;
7. Decides that, five years after its estab-lishment, an evaluation of the function-ing of the Permanent Forum, includingthe method for selection of its members,shall be carried out by the Council inthe light of the experience gained;
8. Also decides, once the Permanent Fo-rum has been established and has heldits first annual session, to review, with-out prejudging any outcome, all exist-ing mechanisms, procedures and pro-grammes within the United Nationsconcerning indigenous issues, includ-ing the Working Group on IndigenousPopulations, with a view to rationaliz-ing activities, avoiding duplication andoverlap and promoting effectiveness.
45th plenary meeting28 July 2000
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ANNEX II
JOINT STATEMENT FROM INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ REPRESENTATIVESPRESENT AT THE ECOSOC SUBSTANTIVE SESSION 2000
S even years have passed since the 1993World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna recommended the establishment ofa Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples.Within this period the General Assemblytwice recommended its creation and severaldialogues took place between governmentsand Indigenous Peoples on the establish-ment of the permanent forum. On the 28th ofApril 2000 the Commission on HumanRights in its 56th Session adopted Resolu-tion E/CN.4/RES/2000/87 on the Estab-lishment of a Permanent Forum on Indig-enous Issues.
The creation of a Permanent Forum was fur-ther supported by more than 130 Govern-ments present at the recently concluded 24th
Special Session of the General Assemblyentitled “World Summit for Social Develop-ment and Beyond: Achieving Social Devel-opment for all In a Globalizing World”.
21ter. Encourage the ongoing work on a draftdeclaration on the rights of indigenous peo-ple, with the aim of achieving completionprior to the conclusion of the InternationalDecade on the World’s Indigenous Peoplein 2004 and support the establishment of a
New York, 27 July 2000
United Nations permanent forum to discussindigenous issues within the mandate of theEconomic and Social Council relating to eco-nomic and social development, culture, theenvironment, education, health and humanrights. (Paragraph 21ter of Final OutcomeDocument )
.Although the Commission Resolution doesnot fully capture the aspirations of Indig-enous Peoples, as it is a compromised docu-ment reached between States themselves, wedo feel that it does approach the promise ofa direct voice for indigenous peoples withinthe United Nations system. We believe thatthe adoption of the Resolution reflects thewillingness of States to build a new partner-ship with Indigenous Peoples.
The establishment of a Permanent Forum isa historical and urgent step which can helpbring forth peace, justice, and sustainabledevelopment amongst all peoples of theworld. We, Indigenous Peoples at thisECOSOC Session strongly urge the Membersof the ECOSOC to adopt the Commission onHuman Rights Resolution E/CN.4/RES/2000/87.
Signed: 27 July 2000, UN Headquarters, New York
• Lars Anders Baer - Saami Council• John Henriksen - Saami Council• Alberto Saldamando - International Indian Treaty Council• Carol Kalafatic - International Indian Treaty Council• Tonya Gonella Frichner - American Indian Law Alliance• Mercedes Pierre - American Indian Law Alliance
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• Marcial Arias - Asociacion Napguana• Tarcila Rivera Zea - Chirapaq (Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú)• Esther Camac - Asociación Ixacavaa de Desarrollo e Información Indígena• Lucy Mulenkei - African Indigenous Women’s Organization• Naomi Kipuri - Arid Lands Institute• Oren R. Lyons - Haudenosaunee Confederacy• Darwin Hill - Haudenosaunee Confederacy• Hjalmar Dahl - Inuit Circumpolar Conference• Rodion Sulyandziga - RAIPON
(Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North)• Ratnaker Bhengra - JOHAR• Suhas Chakma - Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Network• Victoria Tauli-Corpuz - TEBTEBBA/ Asian Indigenous Women’s Network• Aucan Huilcaman - Consejo de Todas las Tierras• Cecil Le Fleur - IPACC
(Indigenous Peoples’ of Africa Coordinating Committee)• Wilton Littlechild - Indigenous Organization for Resource Development
(IORD)
Supported by:
• Jens Dahl - International Workgroup for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)• Simonetta Baldelli - League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples
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IWGIA AND THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
T he establishment of the Permanent Forumon Indigenous Issues was of special sig-
nificance for IWGIA as we have been one ofthe very few non-indigenous NGOs that,from the very beginning of the negotiationprocess leading to the establishment of theForum, expressed their commitment to theestablishment of this new UN body.
The Permanent Forum was established dur-ing the course of a unique process that re-layed the various regional indigenous dis-cussions to the UN meetings in Geneva.Throughout this process, IWGIA supportedindigenous people both technically and fi-nancially to organise international indig-enous gatherings aimed at sharing informa-tion and preparing common proposals forconsideration in the official UN discussionson establishment of the Forum.
The result of these gatherings was a com-mon indigenous strategy on the establish-ment of a new UN organ dealing solely withindigenous issues. This indigenous strategyclearly strengthened indigenous positionsand views throughout the process and hada clear impact on the negotiation process thattook place in the UN meetings, finally lead-ing to the establishment of a Permanent Fo-rum that largely responded to the demandsof indigenous peoples.
After the official establishment of the Forumin 2000, IWGIA continued supporting indig-enous people to organise indigenous re-gional consultations aimed at nominatingthe indigenous experts to the PermanentForum on Indigenous Issues. These regionalprocesses led to recommendations beingmade for the eight indigenous expert mem-bers of the Permanent Forum. When appoint-ing the eight indigenous expert members of
the Permanent Forum, the ECOSOC Presi-dent by and large endorsed the legitimacy ofa unique tradition, thus incorporating theindigenous regional processes into the UNdecision-making system.
One of IWGIA’s main priorities with regardto the Forum has been to disseminate infor-mation about the Permanent Forum on In-digenous Issues though our publications. Inrecent years, IWGIA’s yearbook The Indig-enous World has included a report on recentdevelopments on the issue.
Furthermore, in 1998 IWGIA published thebook The Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peo-ples – the struggle for a new partnership. In thisbook IWGIA compiled the most importantdocuments produced in the process of nego-tiations on the establishment of the Perma-nent Forum. The book was widely distrib-uted among indigenous peoples and inter-ested parties, and it became one of the mostrelevant working tools in the official debatethat led to the establishment of the Forum.Demand for the book has been so great thatit is currently out of print.
Now that the Forum has been establishedand the first session has been held, IWGIAintends to continue to give special priorityto raising awareness and understandingof the new UN Permanent Forum amongindigenous peoples. With this in mind,IWGIA has now published this Handbookon the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.The aim of this publication is to providesome basic information that will provideindigenous readers with a better under-standing of the main characteristics of thenew UN Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues.
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The Permanent Forum has been IWGIA’smain focus of attention over the past fewyears and will continue to be so in the yearsahead. The UN Permanent Forum on Indig-enous Issues faces a challenging time if it isto fulfil its role successfully within the UN
system. The fragile structure of the Forum isstill under enormous pressure and it willrequire great support from all interested par-ties: governments, indigenous peoples, UNagencies and NGOs.