21 April 2008
MEDIA PERSPECTIVES: OPENING SESSION
1st and 2nd Meetings
SEVENTH SESSION
UN PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
OFFICIAL WEB SITE
The seventh session was opened with an invocation
from Tracy L. Shenandoah, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan.
He said the creator had planted medicines, including berries,
for people to use. He also gave thanks to the birds
and to the "three sisters" of all foods:
corn, beans and squash.
"Everything is one in our minds"
Tracy L. Shenandoah
Chief of the Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan
UN NEWS SERVICE - INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Thousands gather as annual indigenous forum kicks off at UN
Headquarters
Participants at the seventh session
of Forum on Indigenous Issues
UN NEWS SERVICE
LISTEN TO DAILY AUDIO BROADCASTS OF THE
7TH SESSION OF THE UN PERMANENT FORUM
We are pleased to provide the following audio coverage of the UN
Permanent Forum in mp3 format
21 April 2008
The dbn.tv team in Canada and Spain wishes to thank the UN Audio
Library
and the Recording Room for their collaboration
in making these sessions available around the world
UN PRESS RELEASES AND MEDIA COVERAGE
HR/4944
21 April 2008
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Seventh Session
1st & 2nd Meetings (AM & PM)
BOLIVIA'S PRESIDENT URGES DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC SYSTEM BASED ON
'HOW TO LIVE WELL', AS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES OPENS
TWO-WEEK HEADQUARTERS SESSION
Offers '10 Commandments' to Counter World's 'Unbridled' Development
Model; Secretary-General: Indigenous Have First-Hand Knowledge about
Climate Change Impact
M/11524-HR/4945
21 April 2008
SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN VIDEO MESSAGE, SAYS INDIGENOUS PERMANENT FORUM
ASSUMES NEW ROLE IN TRANSLATING DECLARATION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES'
RIGHTS INTO 'LIVING' TEXT
PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA, EVO MORALES AYMA
Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma this afternoon dismissed calls
by an emerging separatist movement in the eastern lowland Bolivian
state of Santa Cruz to hold a so-called autonomy referendum on 4 May
as an "illegal" and "not very important" move by a select group of
Santa Cruz wealthy families to divide the country.
"No real Bolivian agrees with division, but there will always be
this kind of initiative started by families that want to create
obstacles," Mr. Morales said during a Headquarters press conference
on Bolivia's current situation, as well as today's opening at
Headquarters of the seventh session of the Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues. "Our obligation is to maintain the unity of the
country and bring about transformation based on legality and
constitutionality over and above any sectarian interests or claims,"
he said, stressing that "the unity of the country comes first". (more)
PRESS CONFERENCE ON SEVENTH SESSION OF PERMANENT FORUM
ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
There were an unprecedented 3,300 participants in the seventh
session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Victoria
Tauli-Corpuz, the Chairperson of the Forum, meeting through 4 May,
told correspondents today.
At a Headquarters press conference being held in the margins of the
opening of the Permanent Forum's seventh session, convened under the
theme "Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the
stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges", Ms.
Tauli-Corpuz was joined by Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary,
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and Fiu Elisara,
Executive Director, Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (Samoa). (more)
UN
WEBCAST ARCHIVES
21 April 08:
Press Conference: President Evo Morales of Bolivia
to brief on the opening of the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, as well as on the current situation in
Bolivia.
[
Webcast:
Archived Video - 31 minutes]
21 April 08
Press Conference: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz,
Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;
Myrna Cunningham, Director of the Center for Indigenous
Peoples' Autonomy and Development (Nicaragua); Ahmed
Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity; and Fiu Elisara, Executive Director of
O le Siosiomaga Society Inc. (Samoa), to brief on the
opening of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
[
Webcast:
Archived Video - 38 minutes]
UN RADIO
Bolivia's president addresses UN
Indigenous Forum
21/04/08
President Evo Morales of Bolivia became the first indigenous head of
state to address the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, which
opened on Monday in New York.
The theme of the Forum's current session is the role of indigenous
people in fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity and
livelihoods. The Bolivian president told the Forum that even though
the indigenous populations are often the "most attacked, humiliated
and condemned to extinction", they are in a better position to deal
with the issues of climate change.
"We feel that we have the ethical and moral right to talk about
these things as indigenous peoples because we have historically
lived in harmony with Mother Earth. It is indigenous peoples who
have defended this Mother Earth, Planet Earth."
President Morales called for an end to "unbridled industrial
development, extraction of natural resources, excessive consumption
of goods and accumulation of waste". He also demanded that trillions
of dollars spent on wars be directed to repair damage done to the
earth.
Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Elena Vapnitchnaia.
MP3 [Audio:
duration: 1'12"]
Indigenous forum focuses on climate
change and language
21/04/2008
The latest session of the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues opened today with a special focus on climate
change and indigenous languages. Dianne Penn interviewed
Hawaiian-born Malia Nobrega of the International
Indigenous ICT Task Force. She talks about what global warming is
doing to her homeland and how the internet and communications
technology can connect indigenous people worldwide.
Producer: Dianne Penn
MP3 [Audio:
duration: 4'01]
