THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE THURSDAY 26 JULY, 2001 ADDRESS BY THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS MARY ROBINSON

Distinguished Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva,
Members of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations
Representatives of Governments and non-governmental organizations,
Delegates from the world's indigenous peoples,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,

Before saying some words of welcome, I would like to apologise to you in advance since I cannot stay with you for the full programme of events this morning. I have always enjoyed the cultural events but as you know all of our office is very busy with the final preparations for the Durban World Conference. I am no exception and have obligations at 10.15 which take me away from these celebrations. I hope you will understand.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, once again, to the celebration of the International Day of the World`s Indigenous People. We celebrate the International Day a few days in advance of its official date on 9 August to take advantage of the large gathering of indigenous peoples in Geneva and, of course, to coincide with the annual session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

It has come to my attention that the untiring Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group, Mrs. Erica-Irene Daes, announced publicly her decision to retire and not present herself next year. May I join all of you, indigenous peoples and members of the Working Group, in paying her tribute for all her work to advance the cause of indigenous peoples internationally. Mrs. Daes has been the key personality in indigenous affairs within the United Nations. Her name is associated with virtually every step forward that our organization has made. But I would also like to join those voices of friendly protest and encourage Mrs. Daes to reconsider her decision. I think I can say with confidence that we will continue to need her as we move forward over the next years.

Since I am paying tribute to Mrs. Daes for her many years of dedication, I should also like to acknowledge the contributions made by all members of the Working Group. Professors Alfonso Martinez and Yakota, Ms Motoc, the Chairperson of the Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, and Judge Guissé have been closely involved in the positive contribution made by the Working Group. Professor Alfonso Martinez, who chaired last year's Working Group, has been an active partner of Mrs. Daes since 1984 and has himself submitted a landmark study on treaties between indigenous peoples and States. As has been noted by the Chairperson-Rapporteur herself, the success of the Working Group has resulted from the collective efforts of the members and the participants, including Governments, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies and indigenous peoples.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This year will, I think, be remembered as a watershed in indigenous affairs at the United Nations. It has been the year of intensive preparations for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It has seen the decision by the Commission on Human Rights to establish a Special Rapporteur to address indigenous peoples concerns and in June Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen from Mexico was appointed to this position. Furthermore, the World Conference against Racism will take place in Durban in a few weeks time. We expect and hope that Conference will make significant recommendations that will contribute to the worldwide efforts to combat discrimination against indigenous peoples.

Allow me say a few words about each of these initiatives.

While the Working Group is sitting this week the ECOSOC is also in session in Geneva. It adopted a decision yesterday concerning the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and decided that the first session of the Forum will take place in New York from 6 - 17 May 2002. It also recommended that the membership of the new Forum be decided not later than 15 December 2001. It will be recalled that I wrote to indigenous organizations earlier this year to encourage the widest possible consultation to propose candidates for membership of the Forum and I am pleased to say that meetings have been held in many places to discuss the Forum and consider candidatures. The President of ECOSOC has already received some proposals from indigenous organizations and I understand that the process of consultation is still underway.

Independently of the process of consultation to fill the 8 places on the Forum set aside for indigenous peoples, the Office of the High Commissioner has been holding its own consultations with our partner organizations in the UN system to discuss how we can make our contribution to the success of the Forum. In my own meetings with the Heads of UN agencies and the international financial institutions, I have placed the Permanent Forum among the priority issues on my agenda. I have received strong support for our efforts to give the Forum a successful launch when it meets for the first time. An inter-agency contact group on the Forum has been meeting regularly to look at the practical steps that need to be taken for the preparations, including the possibilities of establishing a technical support team to carry out all the daily and necessary work of preparation.

One important element that I believe needs to be stressed is the need for the Forum to start its work with a full conference room when it first meets in New York. The Forum should become a major assembly for indigenous peoples and communities and I believe the strength of the Forum will derive both from the quality and commitment of the 16 members as well as from the diversity and expertise of the indigenous observer participants. I therefore wish to appeal to all those institutions, governments, and non-governmental organizations that give support to indigenous peoples to make preparations for assisting indigenous representatives to attend the first session of the Forum.

The newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people has been present in Geneva during this week in order to meet indigenous peoples representatives, governmental delegations and colleagues from United Nations organizations and specialized agencies. I know he is having a busy and intensive week. His mandate is wide-ranging and demanding and I hope that these few days in Geneva have given him an opportunity to develop his ideas on how he can implement the mandate entrusted to him. The impact of the Special Rapporteur will depend greatly on the degree of cooperation that he has from Governments and indigenous peoples. On our side, we will do our best to give him all our support including, as necessary, support for country visits.

Next Monday, the third and last preparatory committee session for the World Conference against Racism will begin. At the end of August the NGO Forum will meet in Durban and on the 31st of the month, the Conference itself will open. I have said on many occasions that I believe the World Conference offers an unprecedented opportunity to set in motion a global programme to combat racism. As far as indigenous peoples are concerned, I believe that the Conference must lead to a strong statement of intent from Governments on indigenous peoples' rights. Hopefully such a statement would contribute to the re-energizing of the efforts of the working group on the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and help move the group towards a more positive and conciliatory confidence-building process. It is a source of concern that we still have no agreement on universal standards for indigenous peoples as we begin this new millennium. In my view, there is a great urgency to complete the review of the draft declaration and present it to the General Assembly for its adoption.

The World Conference will attract many indigenous participants. The Office itself is organizing several parallel events especially for indigenous peoples including a round-table on indigenous issues, a panel discussion entitled "Voices of indigenous women", and promoting a dialogue on indigenous media. The Office has invited 10 indigenous media representatives to cover the World Conference and report back to indigenous media networks and their own community television channels, radios and newspapers. We hope in this way that the message and recommendations of the Conference will reach indigenous communities in their own languages.

I would like to conclude with warm words of appreciation to the 10 indigenous fellows who are working within the Office of the High Commissioner on the Indigenous Fellowship Programme. The fellows come from far and wide: Namibia, Botswana, Chile, Ecuador, Australia, Guatemala, Thailand, Honduras, Peru and Mexico. They are all actively working for their communities and have come on the programme to get practical experience about the United Nations and human rights. We hope they will return to their peoples with their new knowledge and experience and help their communities. On our side, we are involving them in our work and learning about their needs and concerns. I want to express my thanks to all of the Fellows for organizing today's events.

Perhaps by way of conclusion you will permit me to congratulate the Working Group on the principal theme that has been chosen this year: "Indigenous peoples and their right to development, including their right to participate in development affecting them." I know it has attracted a lot of interest, so much so that the speakers on this item went well beyond the one day set aside for the discussions. This underlines the importance of development issues for indigenous peoples. I therefore wanted to let my last words be those of the indigenous fellows themselves. They have prepared some of the notes for my statement today and in particular they wrote and I quote:

"Development concerns all indigenous peoples worldwide. We are not opposed to development. We have always adapted to change. What we ask for is sustainable development that brings benefits to our communities and does not destroy the environment on which we depend. Those who are promoting development must work in partnership with indigenous peoples."

Thank you for your attention.