16 May 2007
Press Release
Department of Public Information
News and Media Division
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
HR/4919
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Sixth Session
5th Meeting (PM)
SPEAKERS CALL FOR INCREASED INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, IMPROVED PARTICIPATION IN OWN DEVELOPMENT,
AS FORUM DEBATE CONTINUES
Native American Tribal Leader Says Lands Being Plundered,
People Now in Life and Death Struggle to Protect Birthright
Representatives of national indigenous movements fighting to protect their
dwindling territories and the right to manage the natural resources found there
today urged the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to help them
find ways to increase international recognition of indigenous rights and improve
the participation of native peoples in their own development.
Recognizing that most of the world’s remaining natural resources -- minerals,
freshwater, potential energy sources and more -- are found within indigenous
peoples’ territories, the sixth annual session of the Permanent Forum has
brought indigenous groups together with representatives of Governments,
intergovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies to state their
views, voice concerns and suggest solutions regarding their lands, territories
and natural resources.
Speakers representing indigenous collectives from all regions of the world --
from South-East Asia to East Africa to North America -- called for broad
adherence to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which included an article
guaranteeing the participation of indigenous peoples in their own development
and urged the protection and promotion of their traditional knowledge. They
stressed that native communities lived in harmony with, and close dependence on,
biological resources, and States should, therefore, make use of their
traditional knowledge, especially concerning the conservation and sustainable
use of those resources.
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