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Virtual Permanent Forum
for Indigenous Peoples:
Communications System
Dialogue Between Nations,
is exploring the concept of a Virtual Permanent Forum for Indigenous
Peoples*: a communications system supporting dialogue in different
regions and sectors, hosting proposed online interaction between members
of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and their
external relationships, exchanges and research agendas, while extending
into a broader community with common interests.
A dialogue based infrastructure, anchors itself in the UN Charter
and the promotion of the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, with a view to encouraging greater understanding
of, and finally the adoption and implementation of this Declaration.
*The idea for a
permanent forum in the UN for indigenous peoples has existed for nearly
a decade. In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna
recommended the establishment of a permanent forum. In a 1995
resolution, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the permanent
forum as a mechanism for the protection of the rights of indigenous
peoples to be seriously considered.
IWGIA
Declaration and Programme of Action June 25, 1993
Indigenous People:
32. The World Conference on Human Rights recommends that the General
Assembly proclaim an international decade of the world's indigenous
people, to begin from January 1994, including action-orientated
programmes, to be decided upon in partnership with indigenous people. An
appropriate voluntary trust fund should be set up for this purpose. In
the framework of such a decade, the establishment of a permanent
forum for indigenous people in the United Nations system should be
considered.
Since then, the recent development and accomplishments of the officially
established Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations,
implies an important first step in the relationship between the sixteen
independent experts/members of the Permanent Forum, Mr. Rodolfo
Stavenhagen, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples; UN agencies, member
states and Indigenous communities.
DIALOGUE BETWEEN
NATIONS
PROPOSED OPEN LEARNING COMMUNITY
INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIA
United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
2002 - 2003 - 2004
Indigenous Regions
DBN PLAN OF ACTION
There are already a
significant number of telecentres in rural communities as well as
academic institutions which might serve as a network to host
interactivity between the above mentioned experts and community
leadership and their organizations.
It is suggested that a review of the technical resources available to
the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues' members at
present, in their own regions be the basis for the development of a
research agenda. This may include corporate support, educational
institutional access to computer labs, etc. or personal home/office
technology. This study should include a survey of computer skills,
familiarity with audio/videoconferencing, desktop conferencing and
interactive forums, email lists, etc. and the comfort level, or
technical support required, as well as costs. Four main obstacles need
to be considered: in the case of synchronous communication (members
wishing to build in a "live" dialogue session supported by conferencing
software, such as a 90 minute forum online): the time zone factor,
reliability of access, connectivity charges, and multiple language
interpretation.
In the development/review of the possibility of using communications
technologies to support virtual interactions as described previously, it
would be of key importance to work directly with past and present UN
Permanent Forum members, to establish guidelines on needs, and how an
independent entity, built upon or adapted from the current DBN model,
might offer services to complement the official UN Permanent Forum web
site, which would of course, require full endorsement from that body as
an essential element within the broader framework and mandate of the
Permanent Forum and ECOSOC.
Dialogue Between Nations
is about Relationships:
Internal communications between Permanent Forum
members and experts
External communications between Permanent Forum
members and experts, UN agencies/ECOSOC
External communications between Permanent Forum
members and experts, Indigenous Nations and Organizations
External communications between Permanent Forum
members and experts and communities at risk
External communications between Permanent Forum
members and experts and the non-Indigenous community,
including national governments
A communications
infrastructure intended to advance the above relationships needs to take
into consideration publication of research, collaborative writing of
documents, easy access to data bases, hosting of specialised data bases,
in addition to the core "dialogue" concept underlying this specific DBN
concept.
FEASIBILITY STUDY
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