Registration Process - Eleventh Session of the UNPFII

Dear Friends,

Please find enclosed the Arrangements for Participation for your information.

United Nations grounds pass
A blue laminated plastic badge that has a photo of the bearer on it. By itself, it does not give access to the North Lawn Building. It must be used with a secondary access pass.

Secondary access pass
A laminated coloured cardboard non-photo pass that is only valid when it is accompanied by a valid United Nations grounds pass. During the Eleventh Session, they will be issued at the time of registration to give access to the North Lawn Building. This pass can be used for the duration of the session.

During on-site registration, one secondary access pass will be given to each organization to be shared amongst its delegates. These passes will be given out, as long as supplies last, at a table marked “secondary access passes” in the lobby of the General Assembly Building.

Only ONE secondary access pass will be given per organization for the duration of the session. Please take special care not to lose your secondary access pass.

Special event tag (SET)
This is for access to side events in the North Lawn Building.  A coloured cardboard ticket with the date, time and location of the room of the side event (usually held during lunchtime and the evening) will be distributed.  The SETs will be distributed each morning at the SPFII table in the Visitors' Lobby starting at approximately 9:00 AM for that day's events by the event organizers.

Registration Hours
We will be open for on-site registration on Sunday 6 May. In order to Register, you must have already pre-registered online and be approved.

Registration will take place in the Lobby at the UN Visitors' Entrance (General Assembly Building). Entrance is at First Avenue and 45th Street. Once you pass through the white security tent please proceed to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues registration desk.  There will be 3 separate lines/queues depending upon your status:

1) NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC--You will be able to use your existing UN grounds pass but will be required to obtain the secondary access pass to gain access to the conference room.
2) New IPOs and Academics--Upon registration you will sign/make corrections to your grounds pass form that you filled out online and take it to the security desk to get your grounds pass printed.
3) 2011 Participating IPOs and Academics--If you attended last year's session, your grounds pass will be waiting for you in this line when you register.

Immediately after registering your designated representative will proceed to the line/queue for to receive the SECONDARY PASS that is to be shared among all members of your organization.  This pass will be valid for the entire duration of the session and if lost or forgotten it cannot be replaced.

Registration times are as follows:
 
Sunday 6 May          12.00p.m. to 5:00p.m.
Monday 7 May          8.00 a.m. to 3:45p.m.
Tuesday 8 May          9.00a.m. to 3:45p.m.
Wednesday 9 May to 18 May        9:30a.m. to 3:45p.m.
Closed every day from 12.30 to 2:00 p.m.

The Registration Desk will be closed every day from 12:30 to 2:00p.m. for lunch-break. Accordingly, no ground-pass will be issued during the lunch-break. Exceptionally, registration may be conducted during lunch-break if a large number of people are still in line.

Make sure to bring the confirmation letter that you receive after pre-registering as well as a photo identification document to get a UN ground-pass. It should be noted that for security reasons, only official documents (passports, state-issued driver’s license and similar documents), are accepted. No other documents will be accepted.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at ngo@un.org or indigenous_un@un.org.
 
Thank you very much for your support.

Sincerely yours,

Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII)
Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD)
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session-eleventh.html

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.

3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit On Course

Damon Corrie and Roberto Borrero at the offices of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Photo)

Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Taíno News) – A planning meeting for the upcoming 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas was held February 27-28, 2008 in Ottawa, Canada. The meeting was hosted by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Native Womens Association of Canada.

Three representatives from the Caribbean Region were invited to attend as members of the planning committee – Damon Corrie (Barbados), Albert DeTerville (St. Lucia), and Roberto Borrero (Puerto Rico).

The Indigenous Leaders Summit will present a Declaration and Plan of Action to the 5th OAS Summit of the Americas that will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from April 17 – 19, 2009.

The Summit location has not yet been confirmed, but current choices location choices include Venezuela, Panama, and St. Lucia. Trinidad is also being considered but as a result of the OAS Summit, logistics could present a problem. While the cost and other factors will determine the actual meeting site, members of the local indigenous community are still hopeful that the Indigenous Summit will come to Trinidad.

“To not have this meeting in Trinidad would be a shame” stated Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa Carib Community. Currently, the Santa Rosa Community is the only community on the island recognized by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Close to 100 hundred indigenous leaders from throughout the hemisphere are expected to attend the meeting. Participants will be representative of 4 regions – South America; Central America & Mexico; North America (U.S.A & Canada ); and the Caribbean with about 20 participants per region.

Corrie was appointed to head the Communications Sub-Committee while DeTerville and Borrero will work with the Technical Committee. Outreach has already been circulated in the Caribbean Region for the delegate nominees.

The 3rd Indigenous Summit of the Americas will take place from April 14-15, 2009.

UCTPTN 03.05.2009

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.

Caribbean develops a regional brand to promote island tourism

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Caribbean islands, separated by diverse languages and cultures, are developing a single regional brand to promote the tourism industry that drives most of their economies.

The new campaign, whose logo presents the word "Caribbean'' in a rainbow of colors, aims to reverse a decade-long decline in the region's share of international tourism, said Allen Chastanet, chairman of the Caribbean Trade Organization.

"Whether we like it or not, we're all intrinsically tied,'' Chastanet said Saturday in an interview at the trade organization's 30th annual conference in San Juan. "If you can create more awareness of the Caribbean, then all the destinations in the region will benefit.''

The trade group plans to replace the government tourism ministers who now sit on its board with marketing professionals _ an overhaul that Chastanet said would likely win board approval at a meeting Sunday and will allow for a broader regional emphasis.

"It's very difficult for a minister not to represent his country,'' said Chastanet, who is also St. Lucia's minister of tourism and civil aviation.

Caribbean tourism, which drives most of the region's economies, grew at an average annual rate of less than 3.5 percent over the past 10 years, compared with 4.5 percent around the world, the trade group's statistics show.

Efforts to promote the region gained urgency earlier this year, after many countries reported declines in visitors from the United States, which began requiring travelers to carry passports on trips to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.

"We are in a position where we have to emphasize globally the things that make us outstanding, our environment, our cuisine, our culture,'' said Noel Lynch, tourism minister of Barbados.

The publicity campaign has already begun in New York City and Toronto, where billboards for individual Caribbean islands were recently replaced with ads for the region. At least twice before, the region has tried to market itself as a whole.

A 1991 tourism summit led to a collaboration with the Beach Boys, who modified the lyrics of their song "Kokomo'' to mention a host of Caribbean islands in a version played in radio and television spots. A decade later, the private sector financed a campaign know for the slogan: "Life needs the Caribbean.''

While previous efforts collapsed over financing disputes, Chastanet said the current push has the support of the cruise industry and the Caribbean Hotel Association. A meeting of government leaders is being planned for May or June to further discuss funding, he said.

The campaign will not require any island to sacrifice its individual identity, Chastanet said. The more than 30 countries that belong to his trade group will in fact be asked highlight their heritage, he said, describing plans to refurbish St. Lucia's main port and convert old fishing villages into tourist havens.

"We've got to embrace our cultural past,'' he said. - AP

Source:

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/10/21/business/20071021091659&sec=business

Sustainable urban farming educates Barbados students

A vegetable and rabbit-rearing farm serves as a model for sustainable urban farming and health education in Barbados.

See full article at:
http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2007/july/Barbados-farming-20070730.en?categoryID=349435&lang=en

Two-Week Session on Indigenous Issues Opens at United Nations

New York, NY (UCTP News) - As delicate ecosystems supporting millions of lives hang in the balance, indigenous representatives from around the globe began a two-week session of discussions on Monday, May 14 with top United Nations officials, Government representatives and members of civil society to highlight the struggle to defend their rights to access and use the land and natural resources in their territories...

Among the participants attending the meeting, Chief Reginaldo Fredericks of the Joboshirima Lokono Arawak Community of Venezuela noted the importance of meeting stating “it is critical for us as Indigenous Peoples to follow-up on the recommendations made and report on these activities to our peoples.”

Chief Fredericks is a member of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean, which forms annually at the UN meeting to lobby Caribbean indigenous issues...

To see the full story:
http://uctp.blogspot.com/2007/05/two-week-session-on-indigenous-issues.html