IWGIA Annual Report 2023

2023 marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which has been essential for Indigenous Peoples’ rights worldwide as it offers a universal legal framework that underscores the fundamental values of equality, non-discrimination and justice.

In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which was Indigenous Peoples’ own milestone in the development of the human rights framework. Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights are recognised in the UNDRIP, including the rights to self-determination and to lands, territories and resources.

The right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), as spelled out in UNDRIP Article 32, is one of the most fundamental rights of Indigenous Peoples, who have the right to give or withhold consent for any project affecting their lands, territories and resources. And their decision must be respected. Despite this core right, powerful actors continue to encroach onto Indigenous Peoples’ territories in all regions of the world without genuine FPIC.

Indigenous Peoples live in their ancestral territories; maintain, to a large extent, their unique cultures, traditions, knowledge, and languages; and continue to protect much of the world’s remaining cultural and biological diversity. Since the 1948 UDHR adoption, they have come a long way organizing themselves in a global movement supported by many allies; secured their rights in national and international law; won important legal cases; and play active roles in major international processes affecting their rights and livelihoods.

We continue to stand by Indigenous Peoples as an important ally in their struggle.

Supporting the Indigenous movement in 2023

In 2023, IWGIA, alongside 55 partners, achieved important results under its four programmes in 32 countries aimed at promoting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. These achievements include:

• engaging with climate change and biodiversity policies in 7 countries in Asia and Africa, as well as at the international level with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and at the EU (read more in our Climate Change section on page 10);
• reporting on, monitoring and protesting against Indigenous Peoples’ human rights violations in 32 countries of the Arctic, Africa, Asia and Latin America (read more in our Land Defence and Territorial Governance section on page 16);
• advancing toward the full recognition of Indigenous autonomies in 6 countries and supporting the development and implementation of strategies for the recognition and management of 16 Indigenous territories in Latin America, Africa and Asia (read more in our Land Defence and Territorial Governance section on page 16);
• supporting 9 Indigenous women’s organisations and networks in 6 countries and at the regional level in Asia (read more in our Indigenous Women section on page 30); and
• engaging with partners in 18 international and regional human rights mechanisms by organizing sessions, dialogues and side events, as well as submitting communications and inputs to reports (read more in our Global Governance section on page 24).

We documented Indigenous Peoples’ rights through 58 publications, podcasts and videos/streams, including the publication of The Indigenous World 2023, focusing on conservation measures that cause human rights violations of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, as well as the best practices of Indigenous Peoples for biodiversity conservation.

We also documented Indigenous Peoples’ rights and struggles and IWGIA activities in 143 articles, statements, and appeals, including through our monthly magazine Debates Indígenas (Indigenous Debates), and continued our work with the academic world by engaging with 7 universities.

We continued our outreach with key media outlets in English, Spanish and Danish, and were featured in the press more than 80 times with key topics being the negative effects conservation and green energy projects have on Indigenous Peoples, as well as the dangers Indigenous individuals and organizations face for speaking up about their human rights.

Solidifying funding, implementing strategies and adapting

In 2023, IWGIA collaborated with 18 different donors (governments, foundations, and multilateral agencies) through 21 grants. We also secured another four-year grant (2024-2027) from our long-standing partner, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

We were excited to start the year with the launch of IWGIA’s volunteer group, who named themselves “Verdens rødder” (Roots of the World). The volunteers decided to join IWGIA to learn and engage on Indigenous Peoples‘ rights. The group carried out several activities, including film screenings, workshops and foraging tours in Denmark. There are now 20 active volunteers in the group.

In 2023, as part of the implementation of our Gender Strategy 2021-2025, we carried out a gender audit with the aim of identifying gaps and strengths in our gender work. The audit recommended that IWGIA continues integrating Indigenous women in all our thematic programmes and develops a specific programme on Indigenous women to support Indigenous women’s own organizations and our partner’s actions to counter Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).

2023 also marked the third year of our Institutional Strategy 2021 – 2025. This has encouraged us to carry out an internal mid-term review to see if we are on track and to start reflecting on the needs towards a new Institutional Strategy from 2026. While the world is changing fast and these changes are influencing our strategic thinking, we believe that our core focus on the rights to lands, territories and resources is still relevant. We, however, need to strengthen our work on gender and data, and will take it forward in our current work and in the development of the next strategy.

Board and staff changes

During the second half of 2023 we were happy to welcome two new staff members, one as Advisor on Conservation and Heritage, and the other as Senior Policy Advisor providing guidance in our discussions on the synergies between human rights, climate change, biodiversity and conservation.

At the end of 2023, we said goodbye to Sara Olsvig and Maria Bierbaum Oehlenschläger as their Board terms came to an end. It has been a great pleasure and a privilege to work with them – Sara with her deep knowledge and experience with regards to UN processes, Greenland and the Artic, and Maria with her expertise in communications and related strategic processes.

In the autumn of 2023, the Board welcomed two newly appointed Board members for a three-year period: Peter Dawson, Aboriginal lawyer from Australia, currently working as a Senior Advisor at the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, and Nauja Bianco, native Greenlander, who has worked in government and diplomacy and is now an independent consultant.

We are very honored that Peter and Nauja accepted the appointment, and we look forward to working with them over the coming three years. With Nauja and Peter on the Board, IWGIA has consolidated a strong Indigenous voice in its governance body and a majority of IWGIA’s Board are now Indigenous.

We are looking forward to another year of engaging closely with Indigenous Peoples all over the world, working in solidarity towards our goal of getting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources, and to self-determined development, promoted, respected and protected.

IWGIA is proud to stand by and with Indigenous Peoples. We thank all those who support us to do so.