28-3 The International Decade of the World's Indigenous People

Wild Rice and Ethics

For the past five years, the Anishinaabeg community of Minnesota has asked the University of Minnesota to stop its genetic work on wild rice. “We object to the exploitation of our wild rice for pecuniary gain,” wrote then Minnesota Chippewa Tribal President Norman Deschampe to the University of Minnesota in an l998 letter. “The genetic variants of wild rice found naturally occurring on the waters…

U.S. Supreme Court Preserves Right to Sue for Human Rights Abuses

On the last day of its 2003-2004 term, the United States Supreme ruled in Sosa v. Álvarez-Machain that foreign nationals can sue states or individuals in U.S. federal court for violations of human rights. Hailed as a victory by human rights advocates, the Supreme Court was clear that the Alien Tort Claims Act applies only to limited situations such as genocide, slavery, extra-judicial…

U.N. Tools at Work in the Philippines

An interview with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Ellen Lutz interviewed Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, executive director of the Tebtebba Foundation in the Philippines and newly appointed member of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, during July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. What has been the most important accomplishment of the International Decade? The Decade…

The Hardships and Successes of Being Indigenous in Africa

In Africa indigenous peoples face a lot of challenges ranging from marginalization and nonrecognition by governments and other ethnic groups, to poverty, AIDS/HIV, and illiteracy. At the same time there have been remarkable achievements by indigenous people in the last 10 years, especially in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Central Africa, Nigeria, and other eastern and central Africa…

Stories From Home:<br>San Won IPR and Land Rights Victories

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them The San of southern Africa have made important steps during the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) was set up in 1996 to support, lobby for, and network among San communities in South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and…

Stories From Home:<br>Rapa Nui Gained International Attention

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them The impact of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People has been positive in the sense of using the international instruments and mechanisms of the United Nations to bring the struggle of the Rapa Nui people to the international community. However, according to the November 17, 2003, report of Special…

Stories From Home:<br>Nickel Mining Presented Greatest Challenge for Kanak

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them Ellen Lutz interviewed Pen John, of the Nele Tribe of Mare, New Caledonia, during July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Who makes up the population of New Caledonia? Most people think the era of colonies is over, but New Caledonia is still a colony of France. There are about 200,000 people…

Stories From Home:<br>Nepal Defined Adavasis, but Accomplished Little Else

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them One week before the World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993, the government of Nepal decided to form a National Committee for the Indigenous Peoples Year but did nothing beyond holding a workshop. In 1995, the Nepali Congress coalition government in power at the time appointed a task force in order to receive…

Stories From Home:<br>Mbororo Worked to Improved Education

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them The low levels of education among the Mbororo—caused primarily by their historical reliance on cattle-rearing and isolated, dispersed settlement patterns—has formed a key barrier to their inclusion within Cameroon society. This problem is particularly acute for Mbororo girls. To tackle some of the root causes, the Mbororo…

Stories From Home:<br>Indigenous Issues Ignored in India

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them Ellen Lutz interviewed Ana Pinto, of the Center for Organization Research and Education in Manipur, India, during July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. What is your view of the International Decade? As far as I am concerned, the International Decade has been a good ritual but has not produced…

Stories From Home:<br>In Taiwan, Indigenous Peoples Redefined Their Image

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them For the roughly 400,000 indigenous Austronesian minorities of Taiwan, whose population comprises two percent of the island’s population, the last decade has been one of cautious optimism. Encouraging is that the view of the aboriginals by the dominant Han society has shifted in the past decade. Ten years ago, indigenous…

Stories From Home:<br>In Australia, Positive Steps Forward Have Been Threatened by One Step Backward

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them Over the past 10 years, Australia’s Aboriginal people have continued their struggles to assert their indigenous identities and rights with varying degrees of success.While strides have been made in gaining land rights and the repatriation of both human remains and other artifacts, problems continue to exist. The federal…

Still Waiting<br> After Winning Recognition in 1988, Decade was Dismal for Brazil’s Indigenous

After decades of struggle for recognition, indigenous peoples’ in Brazil achieved in 1988 what seemed impossible—the guarantee of their rights in the country’s constitution. When the indigenous rights movement gained greater international recognition in 1994 with the declaration of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, many of Brazil's indigenous peoples hoped that the rights…

Soda Extraction Threatens Magadi Maasai

Uncertainty, despair, and frustration hang over Magadi as the giant Magadi Soda Company, which has been harvesting 300,000 tons of soda ash annually from Lake Magadi since 1924, embarks on ambitious expansion and lease-extension plans amid local community protests. Alleged company- and authority-sponsored intimidation and harassment of the local Maasai has shattered and almost entirely severed…

Seeking Justice for Canada’s 500 Missing Native Women

The trial date for Robert Pickton, who was charged in December 2003 with 15 counts of murder in what is now the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history, is scheduled to be set this December. Of the total 22 bodies found on Pickton’s pig farm, as many as half are thought to be aboriginal women. Pickton appeared in court on June 28, where the Canadian government and the defense…

Partnership In Action<br> A Critical Look at the United Nations and Indigenous Rights

The United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People comes to an end in December 2004. Although one of the primary objectives of the Decade—the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues—has been achieved, many of the Decade’s proclaimed goals remain unmet. The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which would have provided an overarching legal…

Measuring the Success of the International Decade

On December 31, the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People will come to an end. For this edition, Cultural Survival Quarterly asked indigenous people from around the globe to take stock of what was achieved and what remains to be done. In doing so, we set no criteria for measuring the Decade’s “success.” Nonetheless, the indigenous voices in these pages are unanimous…

International Resources Needed on the Ground<br><i>An interview with Pacifique Mukumba-Isumbisho</i>

Ellen Lutz interviewed Pacifique Mukumba-Isumbisho of the Centre d’Accompagnement des Autochtones Pygmees et Minoritaires Vulnerables (Support Center for Indigenous Pygmies and Threatened Minorities) during July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. What has the U.N. International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People meant to the pygmy peoples in the Democratic…

International Court Asked to Examine Abuses by DRC Military

On July 6, Minority Rights Group International asked the International Criminal Court to investigate human rights abuses aimed at the Bambuti Pygmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Known by the code name effacer le tableau, or "erase the board," the military has conducted what Minority Rights Group (MRG) terms a campaign of extermination against the Bambuti who live in Ituri and…

Ecuadors’ Past Offers Direction for the Future

Over the course of the last decade, Latin American indigenous leaders have transformed the indigenous rights discourse. While traditional human rights claims persist to stop killings, desist from seizing land and natural resources, end forced relocation, and cease cultural denigration, indigenous leaders also are insisting that states respect their obligations to give indigenous peoples power and…

Cultural Survival Endorses Revised Plan for Talo Dam Construction

After spending three years advocating for downstream concerns related to construction of a dam in Mali, Cultural Survival has offered its endorsement for the project to go ahead. Larry Childs, coordinator of the Djenné Project, a Cultural Survival Special Project, said that concerns Cultural Survival has held regarding the construction of a dam on the Bani River at Talo had been sufficiently…

Are Indigenous Peoples and Governments on the Same Page?<br>The Innu of the Labrador-Quebec Peninsula

Presented to the 22nd session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations on July 19 by Colin Samson, on behalf of the Innu Council of Nitassinan, Sept Iles, Quebec, Canada The Innu are the northernmost Algonquian-speaking peoples of North America. They and their ancestors have occupied the Labrador-Quebec peninsula for as long as 7,500 years. Human understanding of…

Are Indigenous Peoples and Governments on the Same Page?<br>The Dene People in Northern Saskachewan<br><i> An interview with Ade

Ellen Lutz interviewed Adelard Blackman, special emissary for Chief Elmer Campbell and the people of Buffalo River Dene Nation, during the July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Blackman lives in the northern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. What has the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples meant for you? The International Decade has…

Are Indigenous Peoples and Governments on the Same Page?<br>Canadian Government Lauds Advances in Indigenous Rights

Presented to the 22nd session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations on July 19 by John Sinclair, senior assistant deputy minister, Canadian Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development In Canada, we have successfully completed negotiations on a number of major land claims and self-government agreements. On August 25, 2003, representatives of the Dogrib…

Are Indigenous Peoples and Governments on the Same Page?<br> 'Repression of Indigenous People Has Actually Increased'

Ellen Lutz interviewed Leonor Zalabata of the Human Rights Commission of the Arhuacos people of the Sierra Santa Marta, Colombia, during July’s session of the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. What is your view of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People? The International Decade was an important vindication for Indigenous Peoples (IPs). For the first time their…

Are Indigenous Peoples and Governments on the Same Page?<br> 'Colombia is at the Vanguard With Respect to Diversity’

Statement presented by the government of Colombia at the 22nd Working Group on Indigenous Populations We wish to underscore the importance that the state and the government of Colombia places on the theme of the protection and defense of the rights of indigenous communities, which make up, in our case, 785,356 inhabitants out of a total population of 42 million inhabitants of our country…

Addressing Indigenous Rights at the United Nations

Indigenous efforts to gain recognition and rights protection from inter-governmetal bodies began in earnest after World War I. In the 1920s, a delegation of indigenous people from Canada led by Haudenosaunee Cayuga Chief Deskaheh approached the League of Nations to plead their case for treaty rights of self-government. While the matter was taken up by the League’s General Secretary and supported…

A Closer Look: Sudan The Peoples of Darfur

Indigenous peoples and Arab migrants have coexisted for centuries in the Darfur region of Sudan. Dominant tribes welcomed the settlement of other groups and recognized them in local governments. But in the past 30 years, recurrent episodes of drought and desertification have plagued the region, leading to conflicts over resources and livestock within and between Arab and indigenous groups. In…

500 Years in the Making<br> Centuries of Activism Were Preamble to International Decade’s Successes

The conclusion of the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People provides a moment to reflect on the history of the indigenous rights movement, which was spear-headed centuries ago by indigenous peoples and their allies in response to the moral exclusion, extinction, or assimilation policies prevalent during five centuries of conquest, colonization, and state sovereignty. One of…

22nd Working Group on Indigenous Populations Tackles Conflict Resolution, Indigenous Participation Issues

Nearly 1,000 people came together in Geneva this summer to tackle the challenge of conflict resolution during the 22nd United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. “Conflict resolution for indigenous peoples means survival,” said Stella Tamang, of the South Asia Indigenous Women Forum. “It means our rights to survive with our visions, values, culture, language, wisdom, knowledge and of…

'We’ve Gained a Lot' <br>Viktor Kaisiepo Discusses the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People

Viktor Kaisiepo has become a familiar face to indigenous activists throughout the world, representing the indigenous peoples of Papua at various international fora. He is a member of Presidium Dewan Papua and represents the organization in Europe, the United States, and at the United Nations. Since 2003, he has served as a consultant to the World Bank Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples.…