-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [DEBATE] : UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
ADOPTED
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:29:29 +0200
From: Riaz K. Tayob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Message From: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ADOPTED
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I am very happy to inform you all that the UN Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples was finally adopted through a vote at around 11:30
this morning New York time.
144 voted for the Declaration (originally it was 143, but Montenegro
spoke in the afternoon to say that their yes vote was not included) ;
4 votes against (USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand), and 11
abstentions.
There were explanation of votes after the vote and there were around
26 countries who took the floor. The Philippines voted yes. There was a
total of 28 votes from Asian countries and this includes all the major
countries like China, India, Japan, Korea, DPRK, Pakistan, Bhutan,
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri
Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, UA Emirates, Vietnam.
Bangladesh was the only Asian country which abstained.
I am enclosing my speech before the General Assembly. They allowed
myself, as the Chair of the Forum and Les Malezer as the Chair of the
Global Caucus to speak after all the governments have spoken.
We celebrate 13 Sept. 2007 as the day the UN General Assembly finally
adopted the Declaration.
warm regards,
Vicky
Victoria Tauli Corpuz Chairperson, United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues Executive Director, Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples'
International Centre for Policy Research and Education) Convenor, Asian
Indigenous Women's Network (AIWN)
1 Roman Ayson Road, Baguio City, Philippines, 2600 telephone no :
63-74-4447703 fax no. : 63-74-4439459 cellphone no :
63-9175317811 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] website:
www.tebtebba.org website: www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii
61st Session of the UN General Assembly
13 September 2007
New York
STATEMENT OF VICTORIA TAULI-CORPUZ , CHAIR OF THE UN PERMANENT FORUM ON
INDIGENOUS ISSUES ON THE OCCASION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE UN DECLARATION
ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.
Madame President of the General Assembly, H.E. Ambassador Haya Rashed
Al Khalifa, Excellencies, Indigenous Chiefs, Elders, Sisters and
Brothers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I open my statement by acknowledging the First Peoples of this territory
of which some of the Chiefs are here with us today. Gawis ay agew ken
datako am-in. Palalo ng gasing ko ay mang-ila ken dakayo.
I am Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey Igorot from the Cordillera
Region in the Philippines. I speak as the Chair of the Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues. Three of my co-members Aqaluuk Lynge, Willy
Littlechild and Merike Kokajev are also here with us. I also speak as an
indigenous person who has been actively engaged in the work around this
Declaration.
It is a great honor and privilege to address you all in this historic
day. Through the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the United Nations marks a historical milestone in its long
history of developing and establishing international human rights
standards.
It marks a major victory for Indigenous Peoples who actively took part
in crafting this Declaration. This day will be forever be etched in our
history and memories as a significant gain in our long struggle for our
rights as distinct peoples and cultures.
The 13th of September 2007 will be remembered as a day when the United
Nations and its Member States, together with Indigenous Peoples,
reconciled with past painful histories and decided to march into the
future on the path of human rights. I thank very warmly all the States
who voted for the adoption of the Declaration today. All of you will be
remembered by us.
Madame President,
Let me express my warmest gratitude to you for your leadership and for
keeping your word that you will do all you can to make sure this
Declaration will be adopted before the end of your Presidency. Among
many of your achievements, the adoption of the Declaration is the one
which we, indigenous peoples and we as members of the Forum, will
remember as your most important legacy.
I hail representatives of Indigenous Peoples who patiently exerted
extraordinary efforts for more than two decades to draft and negotiate
the Declaration. Indigenous Peoples attempts to get the ears of the
international community started much earlier with the trip of Chief
Deskaheh to the League of Nations in 1923. We can now say that this
historical trip, even if he was turned away, has not been in vain.
This Declaration has the distinction of being the only Declaration in
the UN which was drafted with the rights-holders, themselves, the
Indigenous Peoples. We see this is as a strong Declaration which
embodies the most important rights we and our ancestors have long fought
for; our right of self-determination, our right to own and control our
lands, territories and resources, our right to free, prior and informed
consent, among others. Each and every article of this Declaration is a
response to the cries and complaints brought by indigenous peoples
before the UN-WGIP. This is a Declaration which makes the opening
phrase of the UN Charter, “We the Peoples…” meaningful for 370 million
indigenous persons all over the world.
Madame President,
While we respect the interpretative statements presented by States,
today, we believe that the significance and legal implications of this
Declaration should not be minimized in any way because this will amount
to discrimination against indigenous peoples For us, the correct way to
interpret the Declaration is to read it in its entirety or in a
wholistic manner and to relate it with existing international law.
Article 46 paragraph 1, for instance cannot be interpreted in a way
which discriminates indigenous peoples. The first preambular paragraph,
a new addition, which says “Guided by the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations…” immediately establishes that indigenous
peoples’ rights in the Declaration are within the context of
international law.
Preambular Paragraph 16 confirms that the right of self-determination of
“all peoples” is the right referred to in the Charter of the UN, the
International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action. The right of self-determination of Indigenous Peoples contained
in Article 3 of the Declaration is the same right contained in
international law. The reference to the Vienna Declaration and Programme
of Action also affirms that the principle of territorial integrity found
in Article 46 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
only applies to the right of self-determination and not other rights.
Furthermore, the Vienna Declaration and the 1970 Declaration on
Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and
Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations say that for States to invoke territorial integrity, they must
be “conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal
rights and self-determination of peoples”.
I salute the independent experts, especially Madame Erica-Irene Daes
who, as the Chair of the UN-Working Group, worked closely with
indigenous representatives to craft the original version of this
Declaration. I hail the representatives of States and NGO who actively
contributed to reach where we are today. This magnificent endeavour
which brought you to sit together with us, Indigenous Peoples, to listen
to our cries and struggles and to hammer out words which will respond to
these is unprecedented.
The long time devoted to the drafting of the Declaration by the United
Nations stemmed from the conviction that Indigenous Peoples have rights
as distinct peoples and that a constructive dialogue among all would
eventually lead to a better understanding of diverse worldviews and
cultures, a realignment of positions and, finally, to the building of
partnerships between states and Indigenous Peoples for a more just and
sustainable world.
The Declaration and the Permanent Forum
For the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Declaration will
become the major foundation and framework in implementing its mandate to
advise members of the Economic and Social Council and the UN agencies,
programmes and funds on indigenous peoples human rights and development.
It is a key instrument and tool for raising awareness on and monitoring
progress of indigenous peoples’ situations and the protection, respect
and fulfillment of indigenous peoples’ rights. It will further enflesh
and facilitate the operationalization of the human rights-based
approach to development as it applies to Indigenous Peoples. It will be
the guide for States, the UN System, Indigenous Peoples and civil
society in making the theme of the Second Decade of the World’s
Indigenous Peoples “Partnership for Action and Dignity” a reality.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is explicitly
asked in Article 42 of the Declaration to promote respect for and full
application of the provisions of the Declaration and follow-up the
effectiveness of this Declaration. On behalf of the Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, I commit the Forum’s devotion to this duty.
This is a Declaration which sets the minimum international standards for
the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Therefore, existing and future laws, policies, and programs on
indigenous peoples will have to be redesigned and shaped to be
consistent with this standard.
Madame President,
Before I end my statement let me briefly thank the others whom I have
not mentioned yet. I thank H.E. Ambassador Luis de Alba who chaired the
Human Rights Council which adopted the Declaration in 2006. I thank Luis
Enrique Chavez, the Chair of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration
who did his best to balance the interests of Indigenous Peoples and
States in Working Group and in the text he submitted to the Human Rights
Council. Let me also thank H.E. Ambassador Hilario Davide whom you
appointed as a facilitator. He has contributed to this end result. And I
thank the delegates of Mexico, Peru and Guatemala and the African Group
of States who managed to come together and make the final version of
this Declaration.
I also thank all my co-members of the Permanent Forum who gave their
full support for the adoption of the Declaration and reiterated in our
recommendation No. 68 in our 5th Session in 2006 and No. 73 in the 6th
Session that this Declaration will be an “instrument of great value to
advance the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples”. We all feel
proud that this Declaration has been adopted within the period that we
sit as members of the Permanent Forum. I thank the Secretariat who were
always there to support us.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, has to
be thanked also for his contributions to raising the issues of
indigenous peoples before the United Nations.
I thank the NGOs especially IWGIA, NCIV, DOCIP, Quakers, Amnesty
International, IFG, Rights and Democracy and many others, who helped us
in various ways.
I also express my gratitude to Les Malezer, the chair of the Global
Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus who successfully brought the indigenous
peoples’ regional caucuses to agree on the most important decisions
which had to be made.
Finally, let me reiterate my thanks again to all indigenous leaders,
activists and experts and the NGO experts who all contributed to this
historic achievement. Some of them are with us today also. Some
indigenous elders and NGO experts have already passed away and I would
like to specifically mention, Tony Blackfeather, Ed Burnstick, among
other elders, and Andrew Gray, Howard Berman and Bob Epstein, the NGO
experts who accompanied us in this work. Let us pay tribute to them and
thank them in our hearts.
While I express my thanks to all the actors involved in the various
stages of the process, I also call on everybody to take on the
responsibility to ensure the effective implementation of this Declaration.
The challenge to ensure the respect, protection and fulfillment of
Indigenous Peoples Rights has just begun. We foresee that there will be
great difficulties in implementing this Declaration because of lack of
political will on the part of the governments, lack of resources and
because of the vested interests of rich and powerful. However, we will
be counting on the continuing good faith shown by States today who voted
for the adoption of the Declaration. We will be counting on the United
Nations System to help implement the Declaration.
Effective implementation of the Declaration will be the test of
commitment of States and the whole international community to protect,
respect and fulfill indigenous peoples collective and individual human
rights.
I call on governments, the UN system, Indigenous Peoples and civil
society at large to rise to the historic task before us and make the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a living document for
the common future of humanity.
Thank you Madame President.
_______________________________________________
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