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ADB participation in the Fifth Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

The Fifth Session* of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues* (UNPFII) took place from 15 to 26 May 2006 at UN Headquarters in New York.  An ADB mission participated in the Fifth Session from 15 to 19 May 2006.

The Session began with the launching of the Programme of Action for the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People* by Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, UN Under-secretary General for the Economic and Social Council* (ECOSOC). He highlighted the Decade’s five objectives:

• Promoting non-discrimination and inclusion of indigenous peoples in the design, implementation and evaluation of international, regional and national processes regarding laws, policies, resources, programmes and projects;
• Promoting full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in decisions which directly or indirectly affect their lifestyles, traditional lands and territories, their cultural integrity as indigenous peoples with collective rights or any other aspect of their lives, considering the principle of free, prior and informed consent;
• Redefining development policies that depart from a vision of equity and that are culturally appropriate, including respect for the cultural and linguistic diversity of indigenous peoples;
• Adopting targeted policies, programmes, projects and budgets for the development of indigenous peoples, including concrete benchmarks, and particular emphasis on indigenous women, children and youth;
• Developing strong monitoring mechanisms and enhancing accountability at the international, regional and particularly the national level, regarding the implementation of legal, policy and operational frameworks for the protection of indigenous peoples and the improvement of their lives.

The UNFPII Chair, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, introduced the theme of the Fifth Session “Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples: redefining the goals.” The Session focused on Millennium Development Goals* 3 to 8, namely:

• Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
• Goal 4. Reduce child mortality.
• Goal 5. Improve maternal health.
• Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
• Goal 7. Ensure environment sustainability.
• Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Ms. Corpuz raised concern over the MDGs process which does not take into account indigenous peoples’ situations and participation and emphasized the importance of non-income indicators of poverty. She further stated that if the MDGs reinforce the “development” paradigm instead of challenging it, there is little hope that the MDGs can really bring about positive change for indigenous peoples.

During the plenary session, around 100 short statements were presented by various Governments, Agencies, and indigenous peoples organizations and representatives. In its statement*, the ADB Mission commended UNPFII for selecting “Redefining MDGs” as the theme for the Fifth Session. The Mission also mentioned that such a theme is particularly challenging in the context of the Asia-Pacific Region because the concept of “indigenous peoples” is difficult to apply and data on indigenous peoples is not easily available. The Mission highlighted some examples of ADB’s involvement in helping achieve the MDGs in the region. Finally, the Mission informed the Plenary about ADB’s ongoing Safeguard Policy Update and welcomed indigenous peoples’ critical inputs, contribution and meaningful participation the process to come.

Read More:

• Statements during the 2006 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues*

*The ADB website provides links to external websites that are not under its control. ADB is not responsible for the content of these sites.