The Ottawa Citizen Saturday April 29, 2000 UN debate leads to permanent forum for indigenous peoples LISA SCHLEIN GENEVA (CP) - After a lengthy, often acrimonious debate, the 53-member UN Human Rights Commission has adopted a proposal to create a permanent forum on indigenous peoples. "This is a major turning point," said Wayne Lord, director of the aboriginal and circumpolar affairs division for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs. "This takes consideration of indigenous issues in a new direction." Lord said the decision means indigenous issues can now be discussed on an international level, "in a way which can lead to improvements of people's daily lives around the world." During a late night session Thursday, the commission approved the proposal for the permanent forum by a vote of 43-0, with nine abstentions. The forum will act as an advisory body to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It will consist of 16 members, eight to be nominated by governments and eight members representing indigenous peoples to be appointed by the president of the UN council based on "broad consultations with indigenous organizations." All members will serve as independent experts on indigenous issues for three-year terms, with a possibility of renewal for one term. Several days before the vote, Grand Chief Ted Moses of the Grand Council of Crees told the commission that creating the forum would be a "historic occassion." Moses, together with Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberto Menchu, first proposed the idea for the forum during the 1993 Human Rights Conference in Vienna. He said indigenous peoples have come along way, considering that as late as 20 years ago "we were virtually non-existent to the international community." The proposed forum has been given a broad mandate to discuss issues of relevance to the world's 300 million indigenous peoples. It will conduct studies on issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. As an advisory body, it will report directly to the UN Economic and Social Council and will be entitled to make recommendations. Willie Littlechild, a lawyer for the Four Cree Nations in Hobbema, Alta., expressed disappointment that "the mandate proposal has been greatly reduced." He said the forum would not be able to deal with issues of conflict prevention and resolution, nor with civil and political rights. In the debate leading up to the vote, several countries led by Cuba expressed concern that the permanent forum would be an excuse for disbanding the working group on indigenous peoples. Others, led by the United States and Japan, objected to the cost of the new body, calculated at about $750,000 US a year. These and other issues will be examined at a review conference five years after the forum is established. Plans are for a 10-day session to be held each year, attended by the 16 experts and open to observers from non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples' groups and other interested parties. The proposal now goes to the UN Economic and Social Council where it is expected to be approved this summer. It then faces a maze of UN bureaucratic committees before the forum becomes a reality, which is expected by 2002. "We believe the permanent forum has terrific potential," said Lord, the Foreign Affairs spokesman. "I think the only limitation . . . is the willingness of all parties to make it work." � The Canadian Press, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
