25 May 2007
Press Release
Department of Public Information
News and Media Division
New York
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
HR/4926
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Sixth Session
16th & 17th Meetings (AM & PM)
UNITED NATIONS FORUM CALLS FOR
‘FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT’
BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FOR PROJECTS
ON THEIR LANDS, AS TWO-WEEK SESSION ENDS
Urges General Assembly Adoption of
Indigenous Rights Declaration;
Approves Texts on Anti-Poverty Goals, Human Rights, Urban Migration
Expressing the strong
belief that indigenous peoples’ right to access and manage communal lands
and natural resources was central to their collective survival, the United
Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues recommended today that
Governments adopt, in relevant national legislation, the principle of
“free, prior and informed consent” of indigenous peoples regarding
potential development projects or other activities carried out on their
lands.
“It is […] clear that most local and national indigenous peoples’
movements have emerged from struggles against policies and actions that
have undermined and discriminated against their customary land tenure and
resource-management systems, expropriated their lands, extracted their
resources without their consent and led to their displacement and
dispossession from their territories,” the Forum stated in one of eight
sets of draft recommendations and three draft decisions approved by
consensus at the close of its sixth session.
The Permanent Forum, a 16-member subcommittee of the Economic and Social
Council, is mandated chiefly to provide expert advice on indigenous issues
to the Council and the United Nations system; raise awareness and promote
the integration and coordination of activities relating to indigenous
issues with the United Nations system; and prepare and disseminate
information on indigenous issues.
Permanent Forum Chairperson Victoria Tauli-Corpuz from the Philippines
acknowledged that, while the issues associated with indigenous lands and
natural resources were complex, representatives of tribal and native
peoples and their groups during the past two weeks had shown they were not
victims; they had not come to new York to complain; rather, they could
come together and had presented sound advice to Governments and
intergovernmental organizations about how to meet their needs for
survival.
In the text focusing on the session’s theme, “territories, lands and
natural resources” (document E/C.19/2007/L.2), approved as orally amended,
the Permanent Forum strongly urged the General Assembly adopt during its
sixty-first session the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
the fate of which remains unclear some six months after it was approved by
the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Talks on the Declaration have
sputtered in New York, in the wake of initial opposition from Australia,
Canada and New Zealand. A package of amendments floated earlier this week
by the Africa Group was roundly rejected by indigenous groups as
“unacceptable and inconsistent with international human rights law”.
Reiterating relevant articles of the Declaration, the Forum recognized the
fundamental importance of indigenous peoples’ security of land use and
access, and the importance of land rights for broader processes of poverty
reduction, good governance and conflict prevention and resolution,
stressing that indigenous peoples are entitled to effectively participate
in drafting policies and laws related to resources management and
development processes (article 14). Further, indigenous peoples have a
central role in decision-making and implementation of lands and
resources-related projects, [and] such projects shall not be implemented
without [their] free, prior and informed consent (article 28).
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UN Webcast
Archives
24 May 07
Press Conference
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues; and Wilton Littlechild, Member of the Permanent Forum, brief on
the outcome and recommendations of the Forum's current session.
Webcast: Archived Video - English: 32 minutes
 |
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz |
Wilton Littlechild |
PRESS CONFERENCE ON PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
With native and tribal peoples sounding the alarm from the front lines --
especially those dependent directly on natural resources threatened by
global warming –- the head of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues today announced that the 16-member expert group’s 2008
session would examine the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples.
Recognizing that lands, territories and natural resources –- the theme of
this year’s sixth session of the Permanent Forum -- were crucial issues
for indigenous peoples and were closely linked to the global warming
debate, Chairperson Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said the special theme of the
seventh session would be “Climate change and stewardship role of
indigenous peoples: bio-cultural diversity, livelihoods and new
challenges”.
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