And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Subject: UN Press Release: "OTHER TOPICS" = INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:19:18 -1000 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] recommended that the Coordinator for the Decade consider holding a special fund-raising meeting with interested permanent missions and the members of the Advisory Group to encourage financial contributions to the Voluntary Fund for the Decade and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, as well as the appointment of qualified staff, including indigenous persons, from within the regular budget of the United Nations to assist with the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights relating to the indigenous programs; urged Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals to contribute to the Voluntary Fund for the Decade established by the Secretary-General, and invited indigenous organizations to do likewise; recommended that attention continue to be given to improving the extent of the participation of indigenous peoples in planning and implementing the activities of the Decade; strongly recommended that in accordance with General Assembly resolution 50/157 of 21 December 1995, the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples be adopted as early as possible, and not later than the end of the International Decade in 2004 and, to this end, appealed to the members of the inter-sessional working group of the Commission on Human Rights and to all others concerned to consider ways and means to accelerate the preparation of the draft declaration; recommended that a permanent forum for indigenous people within the United Nations system be established as soon as possible in the course of the Decade with functions that did not duplicate those already conferred on the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, financed through the regular budget of the United Nations and securing full participation of all interested indigenous peoples; endorsed the view expressed by many indigenous participants during the seventeenth session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations that the establishment of the permanent forum should not be understood as a justification for the abolition of the Working Group, which should continue to carry out the ample, flexible mandate conferred upon it by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 1982/34 of 7 May 1982; encouraged the High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider organizing a follow-up workshop to put into practice the recommendations arising from the Workshop; invited the High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider, as soon as possible, ways and means by which she might support the World Indigenous Nations (WIN) Games; recommended that the High Commissioner, in consultation with interested Governments, organize meetings and other activities within the framework of the International Decade in Africa and Asia in order, inter alia, to raise public awareness about indigenous issues in those regions; also recommended that the High Commissioner organize a workshop, in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, relevant organizations, on indigenous peoples, private sector natural resource, energy and mining companies and human rights in order to contribute to the ongoing work of the Working methods and activities of transnational corporations; invited the Commission on Human Rights to consider organizing a world conference on indigenous issues during the last year of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (2004) with a view to evaluating the Decade and considering future international policies and programmes which will contribute to the reconciliation of Governments with indigenous peoples. JOSE BENGOA, Subcommission Expert, said there were concerns, and corrections could be made to improve the text in certain ways. Nevertheless, he would join consensus. It would be a grave error to set up the permanent forum without adopting the declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. If the General Assembly did not adopt the declaration, the permanent forum would not be able to distinguish itself from the Working Group, since it would not have a legal framework in which to function. This was a topic that could be discussed in much greater detail, and should be. The other topics dealt with in the document were entirely correct. In a resolution (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/L.31) on the human rights of indigenous peoples, adopted by consensus, the Subcommission requested that the Secretary-General transmit the report of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations on its seventeenth session to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, indigenous organizations, Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned, as well to all thematic rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts and working groups; requested that the report on the Working Group be made available to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session; recommended that the Working Group cooperate as a body of experts in any conceptual clarifications or analysis which might assist the open-ended inter-sessional working group established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1995/32 of 3 March 1995 to elaborate further the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; recommended that the Working Group at its eighteenth session adopt as the principal theme 'Indigenous children and youth' and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights invite the United Nations Children's Fund and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to provide relevant information and, if possible, participate in the meetings of the Working Group, and that the Working Group continue to address, on a yearly basis, the issue of indigenous peoples' right to their lands and their resources; requested that the Commission on Human Rights to invite Governments, intergovernmental organizations and indigenous and non-governmental organizations to provide information and data, in particular on the principal theme, to the Working Group at its eighteenth session; requested that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with interested Governments, make efforts to organize meetings on Asia and Latin America, to provide a greater opportunity for participation of peoples from these regions and to raise public awareness about indigenous peoples; requested the High commissioner to encourage studies with respect to the right to food and adequate nutrition of indigenous peoples and indigenous peoples and poverty, stress the linkage between their present general situation and their land rights, and to develop further cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme on indigenous issues; recommended that a working paper be prepared by the Chairperson-Rapporteur on indigenous peoples and racism and racial discrimination for consideration at the preparatory meetings for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; requested that Miguel Alfonso-Martinez submit to the Working Group at its eighteenth session a working paper on possible principles and guidelines for private sector energy and mining concerns that may affect indigenous lands, as referred to in the Sub-Commission resolution 1998/23; recommended that the Chairperson-Rapporteur or any other member of the working group should be invited to take part in the preparatory meetings for the World Conference and in the World Conference itself; requested that the Chairperson-Rapporteur or other member of the Working Group inform the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations that the Working Group at its eighteenth session will highlight the principal theme 'Indigenous children and youth' so that the Board can bear this in mind when it meets for its thirteenth session; recommended the appointment by the Commission on Human Rights of a Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues to request and receive information from Governments, indigenous peoples, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations relating to the recognition, promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples; appealed to all Governments, organizations, including non-governmental organizations and indigenous groups, and individuals in a position to do so, to consider contributing to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations in order to assist representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to participate in the deliberations of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, the open-ended inter-sessional working group on the draft United Nations declaration of the rights of indigenous people and the open-ended inter-sessional ad hoc working group on a permanent forum; requested the Secretary-General to prepare an annotated agenda for the 18th session of the Working Group; requested the Commission on Human Rights to request the Economic and Social Council to authorize the Working Group to meet for eight working days prior to the 52nd session of the Subcommission; and recommended to the Commission on Human Rights a draft decision to this effect. In a resolution (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/L.32)on, a working paper on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land, adopted without a vote, the Subcommission expressed its deep appreciation and thanks to the Special Rapporteur for her substantive and important introductive statement and constructive second progress report on the working paper on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land; requested the Secretary-General to transmit as soon as possible the second progress report on the working paper on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land to Governments, indigenous peoples and intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations for their comments, data and suggestions; requested the Special Rapporteur to submit her final working paper on the basis of the comments and information received from Governments, indigenous peoples and others and to submit it to the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at its eighteenth session and to the Subcommission for consideration at its fifty-second session; requested the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with all the assistance necessary for her to complete her task; recommended the following draft decision to the Commission on Human Rights for ratification, in which it approved the Subcommission's request to the Secretary-General to transmit as soon as possible the second progress report on the working paper on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/18) to Governments, indigenous peoples and inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations for their comments, data and suggestions, and to provide the Special Rapporteur with all the assistance necessary to enable her to submit her final working paper to the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at its eighteenth session and to the Commission at its fifty-second session. In a consensus resolution (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/L.33) on the final report of the study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations, adopted without a vote, the Subcommission endorsed the conclusions and recommendations contained in chapter IV of the final report; took note of the critical remarks and observations advanced by a number of organizations and individuals participating in those debates on the Special Rapporteur's considerations, contained in paragraphs 67 to 2 of the final report, on the relevance of the concept of indigenousness, in the particular context of present-day African, Asian and Pacific States; extended its recognition to the Special Rapporteur for having thoroughly fulfilled his mandate after 10 years of intense work under conditions which were not always the most propitious for accomplishing the task entrusted to him; requested the Special Rapporteur to submit to the Secretariat, not later than 15 November 1999, the corrections and additions he considered it necessary to make to the English, Spanish and French versions of his final report, including the addenda referred to in paragraph 130 of the report of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations on its 17th session; also requested the Special Rapporteur to present formally, in person, to the Commission on Human Rights, at its 56th session, the revised version of his final report; requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize, not later than June 2000, a seminar on treaties, agreements and other legal instruments between indigenous peoples and States to discuss possible follow-up to the study just completed by Mr. Alfonso Martinez and explore ways and means to implement the recommendations included in his final report; requested the Secretary-General to transmit, as soon as possible, the final report to Governments, indigenous peoples and organizations, as well as to intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in order to ensure its widest possible dissemination; requested the Working Group on Indigenous Populations to remain seized of the important issue of indigenous treaties and agreements and the rights deriving therefrom during its annual sessions during the rest of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. </bigger></fontfamily> Hawaii International Resource Site Treaties, Conventions & Agreements "Study Series on the Question of Hawaii http://www.hookele.com/hawaii/links.html The Power of Peace ____________________________________________________ Survive & Resist Genocide - We Want Peace GLOBAL INDIGENOUS MEDIA IN ACTION >>>>>>>>> NetWarriors <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< http://www.hookele.com/netwarriors Peace without Truth is Genocide Una Paz sin la Verdad es Genocidio La paix sans la verite est Genocide >>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<< k99
