Reminder: Call for submissions on indigenous peoples' languages and culture

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Call for submissions on indigenous peoples' languages and culture

The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) is calling for submissions on the role of languages and culture in the protection and promotion of the rights and identity of indigenous peoples, its current mandated study in accordance with Human Rights Council Resolution 18/8 (September 2011), from:

• indigenous individuals and peoples and/or their representatives
• non-state actors including non-governmental organisations
• national human rights institutions
• any other relevant stakeholders

Submissions will need to be submitted by 17 February 2012 to be taken into account in the Expert Mechanism's study, a draft of which will be finalised in early April 2012 in preparation for the EMRIP's fifth session in July 2012. Please email submissions to Claire Charters at the following email address: ccharters@ohchr.org.

For more information, please see the website of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/Pages/EMRIPIndex.aspx

Joint Oral Intervention on behalf of the participants in the “Project Access Global Capacity Training”

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Eighth Session

New York, 18 – 29 May 2009

Item 6: Comprehensive Dialogue with six United Nations agencies and Funds Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development Programme, United Nations Development Funds.

Joint Oral Intervention on behalf of the participants in the “Project Access Global Capacity Training” meeting in New York from 13 to 15 May 2009, representing Indigenous organizations from the following regions:

· Tamaynut Organization, Morocco (represented by Sanaa Bouzit)

· Ogiek Cultural Initiatives Programmes, Kenya (represented by Simon Nadungwenkop)

· Parakuyo Women Development Fund, Pastoralists IIndigenous Community Developmeny Organization, Tanzania (represented by Rehema Mkalata)

· Foundation for Research and Support of Indigenous Peoples of Crimea, Ukraine (represented by Gulnara Abbasova)

· United Confederation of Taino People, Boriken/Puerto Rico (represented by Mildred Karaira Gandia)

· Association de Mujeres Waorani de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, Ecuador (represented by Manuela Omari Ima Omene)

· Rapa Nui Parliament from Rapa Nui/easter Island (represented by Erity Teave)

· Federacion Unica de Trabajadores Pueblos Originarios de Chuquisaca (FUTPOCH), Bolivia (represented by Estaban Urquizu Cuellar)

· Tuvalu Climate Action Network, Tuvalu (represented by Tafua Lusama)

· Bangsa Adat Alifur, Maluku (represented by Pelpina Sahureka, Edwin Matahelumual, Dana Pessy,Ghazali Ohorella)

· Eagle Clan Arawaks, Barbados & Guyana (represented by Damon Gerard Corrie)

· International Indian Treaty Council

Presenter: Edwin Matahelumual- Bangsa Adat Alifuru from Maluku


Madam Chair

Indigenous Peoples from the regions of Central and South America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia, participating in the “Project Access Global Capacity Building for Indigenous Peoples 2009,” meeting in New York from May 13 – 15 2009, have shared our experiences and concerns over the dramatic challenges we are facing in relation to food security, which is the basis of our very survival.


Our Food Security and Right to Food has been greatly challenged and violated in every area. If nothing is done, we the Indigenous Peoples will be the most affected and poverty will prevail, along with increasing dependency.

Under the Impacts of Climate Change, rivers and lakes which are our fishing grounds are drying out, and corals in the ocean are bleaching and dying out thus diminishing our fish stocks. Desertification of the lands is becoming more serious. Bush and forest fires are becoming more frequent due to long droughts, making it very hard to grow and gather traditional food crops.

Globalization has influenced the lifestyle of our peoples and is seen as a modern form of colonialism, suppressing our cultural values, language, local subsistence economies and the importance of and access to our traditional diets.

Traditional Lands which are the source of our food supply have been forcibly taken by governments and Multi-national corporations.

Illegal Logging, deforestation, mining and other extractive industries are destroying and contaminating the natural environment, making it very difficult to hunt and gather for the sustenance of our daily lives. For example for the Ogiek People in Kenya, deforestation makes it impossible for communities to collect wild honey, medicinal plants and fish needed for their survival.

Damming of Indigenous Peoples’ water ways has flooded traditional home lands and blocked the flow of water to other areas, further undermining Indigenous Peoples Right to Food.

In these and other ways our very right to food continues to be violated by outside forces such as governments and multinational corporations. We find ourselves facing extreme crisis as a result. Therefore we urgently propose the following to the 8Th Session of the Permanent Forum and to the United Nations Agencies present in this dialogue:

1. We recognize the presence of FAO and all the United Nations agencies who are engaged in this dialogue and we strongly urge and encourage them to continue this critically important dialogue in future sessions.

2. We request the UNPFII to address Indigenous Peoples Food security and Right to Food and Food sovereign as a special theme and focus of discussion at one of its upcoming sessions, to ensure survival of Indigenous Peoples around the world.

In conclusion, Madame Chair, we request the Permanent Forum to inform United Nations bodies and agencies, including the Security Council, of the immediate critical threat to human rights and the lives of our Indigenous Peoples and all the peoples of the world.

Thank you Madame Chair.

PFII: Agenda Item 8(b) The Second International Decade of the World's indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean

Kalinago Carib Nation (Dominica); Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos (Puerto Rico); Fundacion Social Luz Cosmica Fraternalista Taina (Dominican Republic); Eagle Clan Arawaks (Barbados and Guyana); United Confederation of Taino People (Regional)

Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
United Nations Headquarters, NY
Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Presented by Mildred Karaira Gandia (UCTP rep.)

Honorable Chair, Distinguished Delegates and Representatives of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we welcome this opportunity to address Agenda Item 8 (b) the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

We would like to begin by acknowledging the agencies and programs that have responded positively to our previous interventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and UNICEF. We look forward to continuing our work with them in the region especially in the area of capacity building.

Madame/Mr. Chair it is unfortunate that we have to report however that the majority of United Nations Specialized agencies are still not giving serious attention to the Caribbean island region and this practice is contrary to the goals of the Second Decade.

Indeed, the Second Decade’s Plan of Action contains a specific reference to Caribbean Indigenous Peoples, which can be found under Section 6 “Social and Economic Development”, item (b) Regional level, number 86.

The recommendation clearly states that “representatives of Caribbean indigenous peoples should be included in region-specific consultations and conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean, and on steering committees for planning and implementing the programme of activities for the Second International Decade. Serious consideration should also be given to organizing a special regional consultative session focusing on the unique situation of Caribbean indigenous peoples, which would take place in the Caribbean, hosted by a Member State and a local indigenous community.”

With this in mind, we recommend that:

1) The Permanent Forum organize a special regional consultative session focusing on the unique situation of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples.

2) Such a special regional consultative session be held on the island of Dominica and that its planning and implementation take place in collaboration with indigenous communities and organizations such as those represented within the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean as well as with the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples. The session should aim to strengthen cooperation, coordination, and capacity building among Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean.

3) The Permanent Forum should ensure that any special regional consultative session held in the Caribbean or on Caribbean indigenous issues provide equal funding opportunities for participation and follow-up to indigenous peoples of non-self-governing territories in the region.

For example, indigenous peoples from Puerto Rico are continuously denied funding by the UN Voluntary Fund to participate in meetings, conferences, regional specific consultations, capacity building opportunities and conferences in the region or elsewhere. This practice is discriminatory and must end.

Madame/Mr. Chair, in closing we urge the Permanent Forum to invite the Inter-Agency Support Group, as well as CARICOM, the Rio Group, the Association of Caribbean States, and Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas to work in close collaboration with Caribbean Governments to effectively finance and implement these recommendations focusing on the Second Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Bo'matum (Thank you) for your attention.

Note: The Greater Caribbean should be defined here as an area of cooperation in recognition of common ancestral heritages and common geographic spaces shared by the Indigenous Peoples of the region.

PFII: Agenda Item 7, Half Day Discussion on Indigenous Languages

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CAUCUS OF THE GREATER CARIBBEAN

Kalinago Carib Nation (Dominica); Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos (Puerto Rico); Fundacion Social Luz Cosmica Fraternalista Taina (Dominican Republic); Eagle Clan Arawaks (Barbados and Guyana); United Confederation of Taino People (Regional)

Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
24 April 2008, Item 7 Half-day discussion on indigenous languages

Presented by Mildred Karaira Gandia (UCTP)

Takahi (Greetings) Honorable Chair, Distinguished Delegates and Representatives of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we welcome this opportunity to address Agenda Item 7 Half-day discussion on indigenous languages.

The INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CAUCUS OF THE GREATER CARIBBEAN welcomes the Permanent Forum’s report of the international expert group meeting on indigenous languages. We support its recommendations to States, United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, and indigenous peoples.

We are especially supportive of the recommendation that “UNESCO strengthen its working relationship with NGOs and civil society organizations so that language policies are implemented directly at the level of indigenous communities and seek government support where possible.”

With this in mind we recommend that the Permanent Forum urge UNESCO to continue this work with regional Caribbean indigenous organizations such as the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP) and the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP) to facilitate follow-up.

Honorable Chair, our Caucus would also like to support the recommendations submitted by the United Confederation of Taino People to the international expert group meeting on indigenous languages.

With this in mind, we recommend that the Permanent Forum urge the full and effective participation of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples in the design and organization of a world conference on linguistic diversity, indigenous languages, identity and education and that this initiative be facilitated in partnership with regional Caribbean indigenous organizations such as the UCTP and COIP.

Our Caucus also recommends that the Permanent Forum bring to the attention of the Expert Group and UNESCO the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which mention Indigenous Peoples specifically.

In relation to the WSIS, and “promoting empowerment of indigenous languages”, we also call attention to indigenous led initiatives such as the International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF) and its premier project the “International Indigenous Portal”.

Our Caucus fully supports this indigenous ICT initiative and we recommend that the Permanent Forum urge the Expert Group and UNESCO to invite the IITF to be a part of its future projects and related follow-up.

The Permanent Forum has been a staunch supporter of Indigenous Peoples engaging the Information Society and we urge this body to continue its work supporting the WSIS Declaration and Programme of Action.

In closing we say Bo’matum (thank you) for this opportunity.

Climate change, and bio-cultural diversity: A Caribbean First Nations Perspective

Special Events and other Parallel Events at the Seventh Session of the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
21 April - 2 May 2008

Climate change, and bio-cultural diversity: A Caribbean First Nations Perspective
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/Session_seventh_special_events_revised.doc

Organizer: United Confederation of Taino People
Co-sponsors: Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean (Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos, Kalinago Nation of Dominica, Fundacion Social Luz Cosmica Fraternalista Taina, Eagle Clan Arawaks)

Location: DC2-13th Floor
Conference Room
2 UN Plaza, 44th Street