European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights: news

At the outset, I would like to extend my warmest thanks for the invitation addressed to me to present my views concerning on timing and important subject entitled: "the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the political institutions of the United Nations system."

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The opening words of the United Nations Charter express an ideal of word democracy, which we have barely begun to achieve in practice. I quote: "We the peoples of the United Nations .....". These words speak of a United Nations Organization that is not only popular and accountable, but which genuinely reflects the full political, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity of our world. The United Nations Organization should be a great forum, embodying the whole of human values and aspirations.

In actuality, however, it is a forum of States, most of which are organized on the same bureaucratic or technocratic models, and many of which reflect in their laws, policies and practices only the dreams of a single ethnic division of their complex national populations. As a result, debates in the United Nations have always fallen short of the true richness and intelligence of the human species.

Indigenous peoples, along with various sectors of civil society in many countries of the world community, have been completely excluded from the access to the political institutions of the United Nations system.

In particular, Indigenous peoples have been deprived of the right to self-determination which includes the right never to be deprived of their own means of subsistence, to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources and to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Also, the right to control, oversee, participate in and benefit from all trade with respect to the lands and resources of Indigenous peoples is an aspect of the right to self -determination.

Indigenous peoples have been excluded from participation in decision-making regarding their human rights, environment, their traditional lands and their resources. Indigenous peoples have been further prevented from participating in the development of protective and beneficial trade regimes. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten, Indigenous peoples represent one large important segment of the world's population that has not been represented adequately by States. I say large, because Indigenous peoples number at least 350 millions, important, because Indigenous peoples embrace distinctive philosophies and values that set them apart from the other major religious, social and ideological divisions of the world; and which other societies and peoples have come to regard as valuable contributions to the solution of the global political, social and environmental challenges we all face today.

Indigenous peoples participation in international decision-making political institutions is not only a matter of social justice for Indigenous peoples, but of improving the well - being of peoples around the globe.

The right of Indigenous peoples to participate effectively, in all decision-making processes, particularly to those which affect their lands and resources, is recognized as is the invaluable contribution which Indigenous participation brings to such processes.

Indigenous peoples own chosen representatives must be fully afforded their right of meaningful participation, at the table with member states, in negotiations and discussions concerning in particular agreements with competent bodies of the United Nations system and international financial institutions in order to ensure that the rights of Indigenous peoples and the protection of this Earth are adequately and appropriately considered and protected.

As a global community, we simply cannot afford to be deaf to any human voices. If our increasingly destructive capacities as a species are to be tempered by greater wisdom and collective responsibility, we must learn to sing together like a symphony.

The United Nations, after almost six decades, can take some pride in the progress it has made to add more voices to that human symphony. Not only have the number of Member States increased several-fold since 1945, but the number of non-governmental organizations, including Indigenous non-governmental organizations in United Nations consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, has grown to more than 1700. Non-governmental organizations, including those composed by Indigenous peoples, have gained access to a wide variety of official meetings, and played an increasingly direct role in decision making, most notably in the series of international conferences beginning with the "Earth Summit" at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

I am pleased to state that Indigenous peoples have played an important part in this historic democratic transformation of the United Nations. When it met for the first time in 1982, the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations became the first United Nations body to admit grass-roots people and organizations, without regard to consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. This open-door policy enriched our work enormously. In addition to a number of Indigenous non-governmental organizations, which have since gained accreditation with Economic and Social Council, we have enjoyed the views and support of hundreds of smaller regional, national and grass-roots level Indigenous organizations and persons. Neither the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. nor the technical conferences or workshops organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have ever refused access to an Indigenous organization on the basis of Government objections. I have always maintained that access to the United Nations should be freely available to all organizations that genuinely represent Indigenous peoples in all countries. I would have liked to see other United Nations bodies to accord to Indigenous Peoples the same openness and trust.

The political momentum of this degree of popular participation helped propel our work into the forefront of United Nations work, in particular in the field of human rights, and made it possible within just few years to have an International Year launch, an International decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples to complete the work of a draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and more important to contribute to the establishment of a Permanent Forum.

Building upon the experience of the above-mentioned Working Group on Indigenous Populations, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the approval of the sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council, has been convening seminars, and technical meetings in the field of Indigenous rights, at which the representatives of Indigenous peoples and governments are accorded equal status. The first such seminar was the seminar organize at the United Nations, in Geneva, on 16-20 January 1989, on "The Effects of Racism and Racial Discrimination on the Social and Economic Relations between Indigenous Peoples and States," as a part of the Programme of Advisory Services on Human Rights. This seminar has elected a governmental chairperson and an Indigenous person as rapporteur, and adopted its report by consensus. This significant precedent was reinforce by a 1991 seminar on Indigenous self-government , held in Greenland, a 1992 technical conference on Indigenous peoples and sustainable development in Chile and many others.

Mr. Chairperson,

Another important step in the growth of Indigenous people's participation in the United Nations system's political institutions was taken in 1988-1989 during the drafting of the International Labor Organization's Convention 169/1989, concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. Procedural rules were bent so that Indigenous Non-governmental Organizations could present their views at the beginning of drafting meetings. In addition, there were a few Indigenous peoples in each of the three official voting groups - Workers, Employers and Governments. All three of the voting delegates from the United States were Indigenous, in fact. Moreover, the Workers Group met each day with Indigenous NGO's, and asked them for directions in voting. Although the ILO Convention did not, in the end, incorporate all of the proposals made by Indigenous peoples, Indigenous representatives were more directly involved in the negotiations than ever before.

I think the most eloquent symbol of Indigenous peoples' new and growing role in international deliberations was the way they participated in launching the International Year of the World's Indigenous People in December 1992. Indigenous representatives from all five regions were invited to address the United Nations General Assembly during the opening ceremony on the 10 December 1992. They spoke in the main Assembly hall at New York and from the same podium from which the leaders of the international community addressed it. This was an unprecedented recognition of the world's Indigenous peoples unique status as distinct nations and peoples. While I would have liked to see the General Assembly give more practical and concrete support to the Year, as well as the International Decade of the world's Indigenous Peoples, I will always carry in my heart the profound emotion of witnessing, for the first time, the great defenders and spiritual leaders of the Fourth World speaking from the same podium as other great nations leaders.

Indigenous peoples also organized their own distinct caucus during the preparatory meetings for the Earth Summit, demanding recognition as equal partners in global environmental management and protection. They successfully demanded a special chapter of Agenda 21 and, in close collaboration with Governments of Norway and New Zeeland, drafted most of the text of the chapter in the form it was ultimately adopted. Once again, it was helpful that several governments included Indigenous persons in their official delegations. It was also important that other NGO groups, such as environmental and women's NGOs recognized Indigenous peoples as distinct, and included Indigenous peoples' recommendations in their own. I am pleased to state that these pattern continued both at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, at Cairo for the International Conference on Population and Development, in 1994.

Indeed, if there is anything to criticize in this, it is that the opportunities for effective participation of Indigenous peoples in the United Nations system have expanded much more rapidly than the resources available to Indigenous peoples, to take advantage of these opportunities. More financial support for Indigenous participation is critically needed at this stage, as well as better communications between United Nations competent bodies and the hundreds of Indigenous organizations we have already identified in the course of the meetings of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

Mr Chairperson,

Strengthening the effectiveness of Indigenous peoples' voices at the United Nations system should be a central mission of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, and I have already proposed that the final year of the aforesaid International Decade, which will be 2004, be devoted to: "Indigenous Peoples participation in international decision-making institutions". In this respect, the following four main reforms should be implemented, as soon as possible, which I believe would also set important precedents for the effective participation of other grassroots groups:

(a) the implementation of the recommendations adopted by the members of the Permanent Forum and approved by ECOSOC, the creation of the Working Group on Free and Prior Informed Consent and Participatory Research Guidelines. This Working Group would be requested to broaden and deepen the dialogue on prior informed consent by: (i) defining what prior informed consent and Participatory Research Guidelines mean in substantive terms; (ii) recommending criteria and guidelines for consideration when Indigenous Peoples and others address issues of prior informed consent and Participatory Research Guidelines to ensure that Indigenous Peoples and their communities are fully informed , meaningfully participate in decision making and benefit sharing processes and that their interests are protected;

(b) United Nations facilitation of networks for the exchange of information and expertise among Indigenous peoples in different regions, an important idea first introduced by the "Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro;

(c) Including Indigenous persons in national-level consultations and technical reviews with the United Nations agencies, a measure that was agreed in principle at a meeting of the United Nations operational agencies and Indigenous Peoples , at New York already in 1992; and

(d) Active and systematic recruitment of Indigenous peoples into the Secretariat of the United Nations system, and as experts at international technical meetings, and conferences particularly in the fields of environment and development. This was, among others, stressed in Indigenous peoples' evaluation of the International Year. In my opinion the implementation of these humble proposals will constitute a step towards greater equality of governments and peoples.

(e) With this history in mind, and in the spirit of this important conference, may I be so bold to suggest that in order for the United Nations to fulfill, its historic mission of achieving respect and freedom for all nations and peoples, large and small, it must enlist the broadest possible constituency for its future activities. It cannot rest content with the support of a majority of governments, but must mobilize the support of a majority of people including in particular Indigenous peoples, of all regions of the globe.

A more democratic United Nations, more accountable to communities and people, is a force for more democratic nation-states, as well as a more stable and equitable international economic and social system. The United Nations at this new millennium should seek its strength in diversity, genuine democracy, build on the participation of all the peoples in decision making and on the respect of human rights and human values.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Professor Dr. Erica-Irene A. Daes

Dr. Erica Irene A. Daes is the founding Chairperson and Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. She also serves as a member of the United Nations Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Professor Daes received her masters degrees and Ph.D. from Athens University. She did her Postgraduate studies at the Cambridge (England) University, University College London Univ., Heidelberg University and the Hague Academy of International Law. She also served as the Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of Greece (1954-1980) and visiting Professor of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy (1981-1985). Professor Daes received the United Nations Human Rights prize in 1993.

Source: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

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The Participation of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations System's Political Institutions

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Further information: human rights issues page - includes news index and external links