International Day for the World's Indigenous People

Madam High Commissioner
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear Friends:

It is a pleasure to welcome you all here today for our annual celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. I am happy to see so many familiar faces and to welcome new ones – including our new High Commissioner for Human Rights, who will be sharing this day with us for the first time.

Over 80 years ago, indigenous peoples of the High Commissioner’s native Canada travelled here to Geneva to tell the League of Nations – which was then based at Palais Wilson – about the rights of their people to live on their land. They were refused the right to speak. But since then, Geneva has become a focal point for international collaboration on indigenous issues. The annual session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations attracts more than 1,000 representatives of indigenous peoples and communities from around the world that join Government delegates, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies in Geneva in the final week of July to concentrate on indigenous peoples’ rights.

This year is particularly significant in the history of international cooperation on indigenous issues. As the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People draws to a close, we are provided with an opportunity to assess achievements, identify outstanding challenges and determine priorities. Much has been accomplished over the past decade, including the creation of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. As the Secretary-General has emphasized, the creation of the Forum marked the climax of a dramatic shift in attitudes.

Yet, while attitudes have undergone significant change, challenges remain in overcoming poverty, disease, barriers to education, environmental degradation and sometimes displacement that continue to affect indigenous populations disproportionately. In this context, it is worth noting that the United Nations Development Group has included – as a priority for 2004 – the objective of bringing indigenous issues to the operational level. The Secretary-General endorses this closer integration of indigenous issues in the wider development efforts of the Organization.

Dear Friends:

This year, the Working Group will focus on the theme of “Indigenous Populations and Conflict Resolution and Prevention”. These discussions are very timely. In June, the Security Council held an open debate on the role of civil society in post-conflict peace building and in conflict prevention. On that occasion, the Secretary-General noted that the growth of partnerships between the United Nations and civil society reflected the need for the latter to contribute to peace building efforts. If such efforts are to be effective, civil society groups should be part of a clear political strategy, which helps ordinary people to voice their concerns and to act on them in peaceful ways. Here, the Secretary-General pointed out that the Council should view inputs by civil society members as a way to add quality and value to its decisions.

The current exchanges of the Working Group tie in with these debates. Those affected by policies and practices need to be included in a constructive way in the decision-making processes. This is an important contribution to preventing conflicts and resolving those may already have started. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is the very foundation of such an empowerment that enables individuals or groups to act and to contribute to processes that impact on their livelihoods and lifestyles.

Governments, international organizations, civil society, private enterprise – and above all indigenous peoples themselves – need to form inclusive partnerships that can promote development, respect for human rights and peace. The motto of the International Decade has indeed been “partnership in action”.

Let us seize this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to fundamental freedoms and human rights and to continuing building partnerships for peace and prosperity for all the world’s peoples.

Thank you very much.