UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

This week (and next) I have the opportunity to attend the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ( 19th -28th April). This year’s theme at the forum is “Development with Culture and Identity.”

Before, I get into my experiences, impressions and details, I will provide some background information for those of you who have no idea what the Forum is, does or why it matters!

According the UNPFII website, it is an "advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights."

Experiencing the reality of the event challenged all my preconceptions (mainly created at CSocD) about what a UN meeting was like.

Diversity is strength -- in cultures and in languages, just as it is in ecosystems...
(Ban Ki-moon SG/SM/12848 HR/5013, 2010)

This event is characterized by individuals from all over the world. Experiencing the forum for the first time left me with a surreal feeling of simultaneously being a tourist / child / adult / thinker.

I attended the opening ceremony tonight and was assimilated right into the event. It was fun to dance to drums with people from all over the world and to relax while discussing world affairs with individuals whose stories span the globe. I had never considered the impact of development on indigenous people beyond the amazon rainforest (believe it or not -- I can remember making posters about the amazon as a 6 yr old in Tanzania). But attending a side event (organised by UNDP) that focused primarily on development in Asia provided me with a whole new perspective. The indicators (monitoring) event was informative and thought provoking. Speakers provided insights on how indicators are decided upon, the effort, time, committees, experts, consultation and negotiation that is involved with the simple wording of these indicators and the limits that exist. This made me realise how much I still need to learn and challenged me to attempt to find the opportunity to do so.

In September 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly by an overwhelming majority of Member States. Despite being non-binding, the declaration is important because it "sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues"(Read more). Originally Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA voted against the Declaration. However, Australia reversed its decision last year. Yesterday, New Zealand announced that it had decided to endorse the declaration.

This years UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was opened by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon(pictured above on opening panel). According to his opening statement "Indigenous cultures, languages and ways of life are under constant threat from climate change, armed conflict, lack of educational opportunities and discrimination."

So far, this event has made me appreciate my diverse background. It has made me realise that despite all humankind being indigenous to the planet earth, that does not mean that we should not celebrate our differences. Rather than focusing on our similarities and trying to become carbon copies of each other.

As a child, I naively believed, accepted and considered unity in diversity to be a concept that was universally accepted. But that had been gradually eroded away as I become an adult in Ireland. Here, I realize that this concept has a long way to go. Today as I danced around the UN Forum (something I would never have even remotely considered doing this morning) it struck me that it is vital to embrace our diversity, to accept the challenge of retaining our differences (our bio-diversity) but to work together to achieve unity, peace and understanding.

To continue to develop without irrevocably damaging our planet, selves and futures because I believe that nothing is beyond repair...