
24 April 2008
MEDIA PERSPECTIVES
6th & 7th Meetings
SEVENTH SESSION
UN PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
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7TH SESSION OF THE UN PERMANENT FORUM
24 April 2008
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UN NEWS SERVICE - INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
UN PRESS RELEASES AND MEDIA COVERAGE
Economic and Social Council
HR/4948
24 April 2008 r>
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Seventh Session 6th & 7th Meetings (AM & PM)
PERMANENT FORUM SPEAKERS SAY VIOLATION OF
LANGUAGE RIGHTS
'CULTURAL GENOCIDE', CALL FOR CONCRETE PUBLIC POLICY TO
PROTECT INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
Language rights should be implemented as a
collective and individual right since they were integral to
self-determination, a member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues said today during a half-day debate devoted to indigenous
languages.
Implementation of language rights must be viewed from a holistic
perspective,
Lars Anders Baer, the Forum member from Sweden,
continued, saying it could not be enjoyed in the absence of other
human rights. Some States were promoting the use of indigenous
languages, but programmes were under-funded. He called for the
drafting of a convention to protect indigenous languages, identities
and cultural rights and for the creation of an authoritative body on
the matter. A special rapporteur on language rights and a
commissioner on "language discrimination" should be named. He added
that violation of language rights was a form of cultural genocide
and the Forum should consider appropriate action. (complete
Press Release available here)
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
continued its seventh annual session today, with a focus on: climate
change; implementation of recommendations on the six mandated areas
of the Permanent Forum and on the Millennium Development Goals
(economic and social development, environment, health, education,
culture and human rights); and indigenous languages.
Presentations from four panelists: Lars Anders Baer, member of the
Permanent Forum from Sweden; Lourdes Tiban, Secretaria Ejecutiva
Nacional (Executive Secretary), Consejo de Desarrollo de las
Nacionalidades y Peublos del Ecuador; Rochelle Roca-Hachem,
Programme Specialist for Culture, United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Anna Lucia D'emilio,
Senior Adviser, Education and Excluded Population, United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) Latin America and the Caribbean Regional
Office; and Richard Grounds, Director, Euchee Language Project.
PANELISTS

Lars Anders Baer
Member of the Permanent Forum from Sweden
Mr. BAER said Governments tended
to be highly unaware of the effects had by the loss of language --
indigenous languages were a vessel of traditional knowledge on
biological diversity, for example. Many did little to reverse the
trend. He noted that 2008 was the International Year of Languages,
and that the Permanent Forum had recommended that the Economic and
Social Council convene an expert meeting on indigenous languages in
preparation for it. That meeting took place from 21 April to 2 May
2007. On 10 January, it adopted conclusions and recommendations (document
E/C.19/2008/3
), in which it suggested that language
rights be implemented as a collective and individual right, since
they were integral to self-determination.
Lourdes Tiban
Secretaria Ejecutiva Nacional (Executive Secretary)
Consejo de Desarrollo de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos del Ecuador
Ms. TIBAN
said measures were
being taken in her country to ensure that education in indigenous
languages was made available. Many criticized the dual language
system, but language accounted for the richness of culture. The
right to use one's indigenous language had been incorporated into
the 1994 Constitution of Ecuador, yet very few had exercised their
right to avail themselves of the resources to do so. There were few
indigenously speaking attorneys capable of representing indigenous
peoples as a result. The thinking about indigenous practices,
lifestyles and language needed to change. For example, Quechua was
considered a backward language, but in actuality it took a very
intelligent person to speak it
.
Rochelle Roca-Hachem
Programme Specialist for Culture
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Ms. ROCA-HACHEM said she was pleased that the discussion on language was
taking place during the 2008 Year of Languages, because languages
had been gaining in importance throughout the world in the past few
years and concern for linguistic diversity and multilingualism was
growing. "Languages are a vehicle of knowledge, a tool for
communication and inclusion, and an expression of identity and
diversity", she said. Important statements and standard-setting
instruments had testified to a growing awareness of the importance
of language at the international level.
Richard Grounds
Director
Euchee Language Project
Mr. GROUNDS
took the floor to
deliver a greeting in the Euchee language, which he later translated
to mean "Languages were gifts from the Creator. The Euchee would
exist so long as the language was alive". He then explained that the
Euchee language was now only spoken by five people in the world, as
was the case with many other Native American languages. The New York
Times and US News and World Report showed that Oklahoma, where the
Euchee people lived, was one of the places on the planet where
languages were disappearing at a fast rate.
Anna Lucia D'emilio
Senior Adviser, Education and Excluded Population
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Latin America and the
Caribbean Regional Office
Ms. D'EMILIO
noted that, before ILO
Convention 169 and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples came into being, there existed the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, which had been ratified by almost all countries. That
Convention contained a provision saying that no indigenous child
could be denied the right to his or her language and culture. By
that provision, no one could prevent the right of children to use
English in the United States, say, or Italian in Italy. However,
from UNICEF's standpoint, the exercise of that right could not be
conditioned by the number of speakers of a given language.
Therefore, it was working with small communities whose language was
in danger of becoming extinct
UN RADIO
(duration: 14'00")
Indigenous people say the impact of climate change on their
lives,
territories and resources need to be considered now.
An unprecedented 3,300 indigenous people have
gathered this week at UN headquarters in New York to participate in
a two week meeting of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
This is the only UN body with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues
related to economic and social development, culture, the
environment, education, health and human rights.
This year the theme being discussed is "climate change bio-cultural
diversity and livelihoods." Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an indigenous
Igorot from the Philippines, is the chairperson of this forum and
she says there are several issues that indigenous people consider
most critical. The first: the effects of the demand for alternative
sources of fuel such as biofuels, on their human rights.
At the trade and development meeting in Ghana, the Bangladesh
Foreign Minister warns that the problem of rising food prices needs
to be recognised as a crisis and collectively addressed by the
international community.
One of the many issues that has been a talking point at the 12th
session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD]
taking place in Accra, Ghana, is the challenge that rising food
prices is posing to countries around the world. Of particular
concern is what this will mean to the group of states known as the
Least Developed Countries. The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh,
Iftekhar Chowdhury, addressing this issue at the meeting this week
said the situation was absolutely urgent.
And the latest buzz on fighting malaria.
Malaria kills up to one million people a year. Friday April 25th is
the first-ever World Malaria Day. Two new campaigns have been
launched in the fight against the disease. One involves professional
basketball players; the other, two talking mosquitoes. Dianne Penn
has the latest buzz on malaria prevention.
Producer: Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte