Speech by Ms. Mililani Trask, President of Na Koa Ikaika o Ka Lahui Hawaii and Member of the UN Permanent Forum on Ingenous Peoples

Geneva, 15 July 2002—World Civil Society Forum

Audio

Aloha and good morning,

I want to recognise Honoured Guests and the Excellencies who are here, Indigenous leaders who have come to participate, representatives of NGOs and Churches, and dear friends. We come to Geneva gathering to mark a very historic event I believe, the holding of the first World Civil Society Forum (WCSF). What a great way to celebrate the coming of the new millennium!

I’d like to begin with expressing gratitude to Sébastien and those who have worked very hard for hosting this event. I wanted to thank you for including indigenous peoples, for inviting representatives from all the different regions, and from all of the different diverse indigenous cultures, to come to participate. This is the spirit that engenders inclusiveness.

Indigenous Peoples represent over 400 million of the world’s peoples. We are a segment of civil society who are increasingly drawn into the global geopolitical arena and who are significantly impacted by globalisation. Two important reports verify that indigenous peoples continue to be victims of human rights abuses. Social indicators demonstrate that the majority of the world’s Indigenous Peoples live in poverty, suffer from malnutrition and acute health needs, and are overrepresented in the juvenile and adult penal facilities of States.

States and the broader family of civil society come together in cooperation and in true partnership to fashion an affordable and workable solution for the world’s problems.

Indigenous cultures have much to offer civil society and States. Included in the cultural teachings of Indigenous Peoples are practices which the world needs to understand and accept- practices that relate to maintaining bio-diversity, living in harmony with the land, the earth and all of the life forms of the earth. Indigenous Peoples know the earth. Indigenous peoples have maintained for generations the knowledge relating to harvesting and planting earth life forms. This knowledge today must become the basis for sustainable development of the earths’ shrinking resources. Our healing and medical practices have much significant value today. Indigenous processes for conflict resolution should be accessed and applied, so that we can work together to achieve workable solutions to our common social problems. UN data informs us that indigenous cultures have much to give to the world. Indigenous peoples are only 5 % of the world’s population, but 80% of the world’s cultural diversity. Indigenous peoples occupy only 20 % of earth’s land, but cultivate 65 % of the crop varieties consumed by the peoples and societies of the world today. What does it really mean when we say that we’re trying to establish a partnership with indigenous peoples, the UN system, States and broader civil society?

Cooperation between people must be based on a mutual respect for and protection of the fundamental principles of human rights. Because of colonisation and racism, indigenous peoples have historically been marginalized and exploited. The legacy of the colonial past is evident in the current status and as the impoverished conditions of Indigenous Peoples globally. Overcoming the obstacles of the past requires that the human rights of Indigenous Peoples must be acknowledged and protected. It is for this reason that indigenous peoples have set as their highest priority the passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Self determination’s the most critical of all human rights, because it will provide for Indigenous Peoples the right to determine their political status; and by virtue of that right, their right to determine their economic, social and cultural development and survival.

The theme of the UN decade on indigenous peoples was the establishment of working partnerships with Indigenous Peoples. But the mid-decade review conducted by indigenous leaders in Panama City last year found that the decade plan of action, had substantially not met its goals. This failure was due to a lack of financing, the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples and leaders from decision-making process, and the denial of indigenous land rights and their socio- economic and political rights.

In short, we have failed because we all have not been able to form working partnership: Indigenous Peoples, civil society, representatives of the UN and States as well. The goals of the UN decade for indigenous peoples are the working agenda that we all are responsible to achieve. And in this failing we cannot point the finger one to the other but we must all have the integrity to come forward and admit that we do redouble our efforts that we can succeed. The UN summits on sustainable development provides us with opportunities to address these issues and to renew our efforts to cooperate one with each other and generally with Indigenous Peoples. The dialogue paper of indigenous peoples that was submitted at the second prepcom in New York in February 2002 outlines the primary issues and problems as defined by Indigenous Peoples in the areas of the environment and sustainable development. These are the following:

The right of Indigenous Peoples to participate in all phases of development planning and to give their free prior informed consent to development

The right of Indigenous Peoples to ownership control in management of their traditional territories and resources

The ability of indigenous governments and bodies to exercise customary law

The right to represent themselves in all institutions

The right to control and sharing the benefits and the use of all traditional knowledge

There are many things that we can do to strengthen international cooperation with indigenous peoples. I want to invite Churches, NGOs and all of civil societies, individual human right activists to join us and support us in our efforts to achieve the passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the form in which it was passed by the Sub-Commission of Human Rights in 1994. The UN Decade for Indigenous Peoples will close in a year and a half. What a tragic legacy it will be if this decade closes and we have failed to pass an International Standard for the Protection of the world’s 300 million plus Indigenous Peoples. This cannot be the tragic legacy that we leave the future generations. We have the ability to achieve this goal and we have the time to do it.

I want to challenge civil society organizations to establish some working relationships with Indigenous Peoples and cultures in the fields in which you work. It doesn’t matter if it’s health or education, food security, gender study or sustainable development. The inclusion of indigenous peoples in decision-making means that civil society must reach and make place at the table for indigenous peoples.

And I want to challenge indigenous leaders who are attending to invite representatives of civil society, the UN system, States, Churches and others to be involved in a meaningful way in the work that you do. We cannot engender corporations unless we ourselves create the opportunity for this dialogue. Finally, indigenous projects and indigenous initiatives for peace need funding and sponsorship. Because of the tragic poverty which currently confronts indigenous peoples, there is not the financial capacity to build working relationships in some areas.

In closing, I wanted to thank and congratulate Sébastien Ziegler and his staff and all who are volunteers for supporting and working so hard for this event. By your efforts do you demonstrate and show us all the way to work collectively. I look forward to the deliberations that we’re going to be undertaking this week. Many of the critical issues facing Indigenous Peoples are on the agenda. The issue of self- determination, how we can use it for conflict resolution, and the issue of developing and supporting indigenous women’s and leadership.

We all have a role to play. Let it begin here. It is my great hope and my desire that this would not be the first and last World Civil Society Forum. If there is one thing we need to accomplish before we leave at the end of the week, it is the planning of the second World Civil Society Forum.

Mahalo.