The Indigenous World 2004: Editorial

Written on 29 April 2004. Posted in The Indigenous World Editorial

The impression one has on reading this year's contributions to The Indigenous World is that, despite notable advances, the situation of indigenous peoples still remains extremely precarious and even, in many cases, alarming. As the article on the Amazigh people of Algeria notes, it is clear that "achievements are still the result of bitter struggles and are never irreversible".

Political developments in 2003 have negatiyely affected many indigenous peoples. The serious crisis in Bolivia, the military repression in Burma, the conflict in the Great Lakes region of Africa, to name but a few examples, have cost the lives of many indigenous people, undennined the livelihoods of entire communities and endangered their survival. In other countries, where the political situation has been unstable (Venezuela) or where elections are imminent (the Philippines), indigenous organisations live in constant fear of finding recently acquired rights abolished overnight. On a more positive note, the peace process in Angola made it possible for a team of consultants to visit San communities for the first time in more than 20 years in order to assess their situation with a view to providing future development support.

2003 witnessed two interesting political experiments. For the first time in the country's modern history, Ecuador's indigenous people participated in government. The alliance between the political arm of CONAIE -the Pachakutik party -and President Gutierrez was shortlived, however, once CONAIE realized that Gutierrez's political project was totally alien to their own ideals. The costs were high and both CONAIE and the other indigenous organisations have been weakened. In Chiapas, Mexico, the Zapatistas launched a new political strategy to make the autonomous municipalities less dependent on the Liberation Army (EZLN), strengthen civil society and ensure good governance principles. Welcomed by indigenous communities throughout the country, it constitutes an exemplary response to the Mexican government's blatant failure to solve the Chiapas conflict.

For indigenous peoples worldwide, land rights continued to be the major issue. Some real progress was made: in Nicaragua, with the adoption of Law No. 445 recognizing the communal property of the : indigenous peoples and ethnic communities of the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua; in Canada, with the signing of a comprehensive land claim agreement which, after almost 20 years of negotiations, will provide the Labrador Inuit with a form of explicit self-~ovemment; m Iraq, with the fall of the former regime making it possible for the Arab marsh dwellers to rehabilitate some of their traditional wetlands and go back to live there.

But in Bolivia and in the Philippines -two of the few countries in the world to habe. officially recognized indigenous peoples' land rights -the land titling process continued to drag on: in Bolivia, less than 10% of the area originally set aside 7 years ago has so far been titled. In the Philippines, implementation is being delayed by administrative and technical discussions. Elsewhere, indigenous communities continued to see their land appropriated or encroached upon.

Among the many cases documented in this issue are the Garo of Bangladesh (national parks), the Ogiek of Kenya and the "uncontacted" Nahua in Peru (logging interests), the Barbaig of Tanzania (large-scale development projects) and the Nenets in Russia (oil exploration). In India, more than ten million forest-dependent indigenous people are facing eviction from their habitat; in Israel, the government is destroying the houses and crops of the Arab Bedouins in order to force them to move into government built settlements.

In a few cases, the indigenous peoples in question have reacted by taking their case to court. Such as the case, for instance, of the Anak Negeri and the Penan of Malaysia, the San and the Bakgalagadi of Botswana, and the Richtersveld Nama of South Africa. So far, only the Nama have won a court victory that recognizes their aboriginal title rights. In other cases (Argentina, Chile, Ecuador), indigenous organisations have petitioned the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for legal support.

Throughout 2003, indigenous representatives played an active role in the many activities within the UN system, at international and regional levels in general ( e.g. in the Arctic Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights), and in events such as the World Parks Congress, the World Summit on the Information Society or in relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Permanent Forum's second session was attended by increasmg numbers of UN agencies and bodies. This clearly indicates a growing interest within the UN system for the Forum's work, and for the possibility the Forum provides states, indigenous peoples and UN agenaes in terms of engaging in constructive dialogue.

Less positive was the lack of political will and commitment on the part of a small number of governments during the 9^th session of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which seriously jeopardized the future of the whole process.

However, a number of indigenous organizations with consultative status with ECOSOC have reacted constructively, recommending in their Joint Submission to ECOSOC that the UN and Member States renew the mandate of the inter-sessional Working Group and that the operations and procedures of the UN CHR Working Group be significantly improved, in a manner consistent with the unique status and essential role of indigenous peoples.

At regional level, a major breakthrough was the adoption by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights of the comprehensive "Report of the African Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities". Furthermore, recognizing not only the existence of indigenous peoples in Africa but also that they suffer from a range of human rights violations that need to be addressed, the Commission decided to establish a Working Group of Experts with the mandate to gather information on violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous populations/ communities in Africa.

While indigenous participation in all these events is of vital importance, both to their own peoples and to the international community in general, these people are increasingly confronted with excessive demands in terms of workload and specialisation. And yet the real challenge lies in creating a link between international and regional processes and the local level. Good progress is being made at international and regional level in terms of recognising indigenous peoples' rights but the situation at local level continues to be a cause for real concern. This is where racist attitudes continue to thrive. This is where land appropriations, repression and massacres continue to occur. Hence the need to (1) ensure that international progress is widely disseminated and discussed at grassroots level so that people are aware of their rights; and (2) ensure constant monitoring of the situation in il_1digenous communities. This work should be done by local and national indigenous organisations in close collaboration with international bodies such as the Permanent Forum, the African Working Group, etc. and particularly the mechanism of the Special Rapporteur, which is tremendously important in terms of taking indigenous human rights issues from local up to international level. Such collaboration would make it possible to engage in sustained dialogue with governments and local authorities and put pressure on them to ensure that lasting improvements in the lives of indigenous peoples can be achieved.

Diana Vinding

Coordinating editor

This article is part of the 18^th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2004 in full here

Tags: Global governance, Human rights, IWGIA Report