Summary: Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, Gender and Development

Wrap-up Session

This is a session summary. The executive summary for this working group is available here.

Time:		18 July 2002, 16:00-17:30
Location:		ICCG 15
Moderator(s):		• Mr. Joshua Cooper, Hawaii Institute for Human Rights (HIHR)
Presenters/ Participants:		• Ms. Maria Peñalosa, World Women's Summit Foundation (WWSF) • Ms. Mililani Trask, Na Koa Ikaika O Ka Lahui Hawaii (NHLI) • Mr. Gunter Wippel, Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV)
Reporter:		A.M. Lancianese (ICVolunteers)
Language:		English, Spanish
Key words:		Discrimination, self-determination, human rights, recommendations, indigenous

Mr. Gunter Wippel of the Society for Threatened Peoples began by affirming the importance of self-determination-as an individual, a community, or a nation. The indigenous in the world, however, are often denied their own identity. Cultures have been imposed on them. Even the wording used to describe them imposes certain ideas: "populations" or "groups", instead of "peoples." He emphasized that civil rights should always be guaranteed to all peoples but that this basic right was denied to some.

Mr. Wippel talked about some of the obstacles to self-determination, including economic exploitation, lack of cultural recognition, and military domination. He said that governments and big business must commit to sustainable development, not development based on exploitation, and that the unique cultures of indigenous peoples must be respected.

Mr. Joshua Cooper of the Hawaiian Institute for Human Rights spoke next, saying that self-determination is the very essence of human rights and necessary to remedy other problems and to guarantee participation through dialogue. He said that colonization still exists in many regions, though it may not be called colonization by the dominant culture.
Ms. Mililani Trask, the president of Na Koa Ikaika O Ka Lahui Hawaiiwas listed the recommendations drawn up by this Working Group:

1. The Forum affirms support for the principle that human rights are essential.
2. The Forum will call upon the UN to officially recognize the rights of indigenous peoples, nominally approved in 1993.
3. The Forum will call upon all partners (governments, civil society, UN) to use the term "indigenous peoples" with an "s" in all documentation.
4. The Forum strongly endorses the UNESCO Catalonia Initiative to develop a self-determination process.
5. The Forum endorses real and active partnerships between governments, civil society organizations and the UN.

Ms. Maria Peñaloza, the next speaker, affirmed the fact that when people are marginalized, they are oppressed, and face multiple barriers to development. For example, many speakers from indigenous nations wanted to attend the Forum but did not have the funds. She stressed that indigenous peoples must have access to education in their original languages. Ms. Peñaloza touched on the problem of discrimination against the indigenous in their own countries -how some are ashamed to wear their native dress or use their native languages. Many have chosen western habits, including dress, as a way of avoiding discrimination. Finally, she talked about the importance of health care clinics -that they need to be maintained by local people with local knowledge.

Several indigenous women then took the floor, asking Forum participants how long the group was going to talk about issues without coming to real resolutions and answers. One said that they needed documents to take back with them to guarantee the right of committees and groups to meet in order to participate in decisions regarding their own land. These women called for autonomy and for self-government in their regions.

Presenters' Documents Available

18.19_penaloza_maria.doc (26 K)

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