From: "Kent Lebsock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: AILA Report on 4th Permanent Forum
From "Kent Lebsock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Report of the American Indian Law Alliance on the 4th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is now available on our website at www.ailanyc.org in .pdf format. Please check it out. Sadly it is only available in English. We are hoping to have hard copies available soon and ready for distribution in the very near future. Below, please find the brief introduction reproduced from the report as well as the table of contents. We hope the report is helpful in our mutual efforts. American Indian Law Alliance 611 Broadway, Suite 632 New York, NY 10012 USA 212-477-9100 telephone 212-477-0004 facsimile [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------- Introduction We acknowledge that this report is long and covers a lot of material. However, we are writing the report, not for those of us that attended the 4th Session of the Permanent Forum, but for our peoples who did not have the opportunity to be there. To them we acknowledge our accountability. We therefore feel that it is necessary to be comprehensive in describing, to the best of our abilities, the interventions, the activities, the discussions and, most importantly, some of the beneficial results. We encourage comments, questions and criticism. We are always available by telephone at 212-477-9100 (feel free to call collect) and via email at [EMAIL PROTECTED] We have also tried to break down this report by subject area. We hope the Table of Contents (see below) will help you navigate to issues of interest. For those wanting to view some of the positive recommendations coming out of our work (that of the American Indian Law Alliance and our allies), we have also provided a table setting up, side-by-side, quotes from the interventions and the responding recommendations from the Permanent Forum. This can be found in Chapter 8, Our Successes. This was a successful 4th Session of the Permanent Forum. The members of the Forum, both those appointed by states and those appointed by Indigenous peoples, seemed to have developed an efficient method for working together. The use of consensus seems to have matured. Rarely were one or two members of the Forum able to block the inclusion of language considered critical by the vast majority. During the last day, when the recommendations were read aloud in front of all the Indigenous delegates present, debates did occur. By in large though, compromises which favored the views of Indigenous peoples received approval. With most of the issues discussed in this report, Indigenous peoples' efforts were rewarded with recommendations from the Forum that advance our goals and positions. This includes such things as free, prior and informed consent, protection and respect for traditional knowledge, the exercise of self-determination and sovereignty over lands, territories and resources, and even directions to the Working Group on the Draft Declaration to improve the process for passing a Declaration acceptable to the standards set by Indigenous peoples. Truly, the impact of Indigenous peoples on the United Nations system is significant; we are a force to be reckoned with. "We believe that a time is coming when the ways of Indigenous peoples and the principles we stand for, that are consistent with the values of the United Nations, will be able to show the world a betterway." (Alex White Plume Intervention) TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMING UP BEFORE WE BEGIN .........................................................3 A FRIENDLY CRITIQUE OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ..................................................4 THE WORKING GROUP AND THE PERMANENT FORUM ......................................................6 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ROLE IN IMPROVING THE PROCESS .........................................................6 CHAPTER 2: HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO "DEVELOPMENT" ...........................................................8 FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT .........................................................9 CHAPTER 3: CHANGES IN THE UN SYSTEM .........................................................11 CHAPTER 4: POVERTY, EDUCATION, HUMAN RIGHTS & ENVIRONMENT ........................................13 THE SECOND DECADE ON THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES .........................................................13 THE DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES & THE SECOND DECADE .......................................13 ALL OUR RELATIONS: LANDS, TERRITORIES AND RESOURCES .........................................................17 OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................18 CHAPTER 5: THE CAUCUS MEETINGS .............................................................21 INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S CAUCUS .........................................................21 THE LAKOTA CAUCUS MEETING ...........................................................24 CHAPTER 6: SIDE EVENTS ........................................................27 CHALLENGING THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY CHRISTIANITY, THE PAPAL BULLS AND MANIFEST DESTINY ........................................27 WIPO EVENT ..........................................................29 PROTECTING SACRED SPECIES: INDICATORS OF THE PLANET ....................................................30 CHAPTER 7: WHY INTERNATIONAL WORK .....................................................32 CHAPTER 8: OUR SUCCESSES .......................................................34 CHAPTER 9: FOCUS OF INDIGENOUS FORUMS IN THE UN ......................................................37 THE WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS .......................................................37 THE OPEN-ENDED INTERSESSIONAL WORKING GROUP ON THE DRAFT DECLARATION OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS .......................................................37 SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS ........................................................38 THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES ....................................................38 OUR GRATITUDE GOES TO: ....................................................40 =========+========= FEEDBACK? http://nativenewsonline.org/Guestbook/guestbook.cgi GIVE FOOD: THE HUNGERSITE http://www.thehungersite.com/ Reprinted under Fair Use http://nativenewsonline.org/fairuse.htm =========+========= Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Native News Online a Service of Barefoot Connection Yahoo! 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