\r\n \t
  • A draft report from the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues offers guidance on Indigenous health and land rights and encourages Indigenous participation in solutions.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Some Indigenous leaders call for the U.N. system to change to allow more Indigenous leaders to participate in negotiations that involve them. How can the forum help advocate for these changes?<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Learn more about Indigenous peoples and ways to get involved.\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","intro":null,"content":"Colonialism and market forces are destroying the planet and affecting Indigenous peoples\u2019 health, a draft report from the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues declared last week. One of only three U.N. bodies that deal specifically with Indigenous issues, the Forum\u2019s report was the culmination of two weeks of talks around the theme of Indigenous peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health, and climate change. \u201cThe destruction of the Earth is driving a global health and humanitarian crisis,\u201d the Forum wrote.\u201cIt is unacceptable that we continue to hear how Indigenous leaders and human rights defenders from among Indigenous peoples are threatened, harassed, and killed for defending their home,\u201d Forum chair Dar\u00edo Jos\u00e9 Mej\u00eda Montalvo, Indigenous Zen\u00fa from Colombia, said in a closing statement.The\u00a0near-final report\u00a0described\u00a0the eviction of Indigenous communities\u00a0to create protected conservation areas,\u00a0green energy projects that violated human rights, and the killings of land defenders\u2014particularly women and children. It made a list of recommendations to U.N. agencies and member states, including calling on the United States to release Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier and decommission the Line 5 oil pipeline that passes through Canada, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The Forum also called on UNESCO to \u201cstep up\u201d its protection of Indigenous lands and culture from mining activities like Rio Tinto\u2019s projects in\u00a0Oak Flat\u00a0in Arizona and Juukan Gorge in Western Australia.The challenge now is ensuring that the report\u2019s recommendations are implemented by U.N. agencies and member states, over which the Forum has no enforcement power. Last year, for example, the Forum for the first time made the same recommendation about releasing Leonard Peltier, and a similar recommendation that member states, primarily Australia and New Zealand, reform their child protection policies to prevent the removal of children from Indigenous communities. In both instances, member states ignored the Forum\u2019s recommendations.But some Indigenous leaders say that for action to truly take place, the U.N. system itself needs to change \u2013 and provide Indigenous peoples access to international negotiations to influence policy, a fight Indigenous advocates have been advancing for a century,\u00a0beginning in 1923 with the League of Nations. Currently, Indigenous leaders are excluded from high level U.N. bodies like the General Assembly, which decides the U.N. budget, elects member states to the Security Council, and sets other key international goals and policies.","html_content":"

    Colonialism and market forces are destroying the planet and affecting Indigenous peoples\u2019 health, a draft report from the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues declared last week. One of only three U.N. bodies that deal specifically with Indigenous issues, the Forum\u2019s report was the culmination of two weeks of talks around the theme of Indigenous peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health, and climate change. \u201cThe destruction of the Earth is driving a global health and humanitarian crisis,\u201d the Forum wrote.<\/p>

    \u201cIt is unacceptable that we continue to hear how Indigenous leaders and human rights defenders from among Indigenous peoples are threatened, harassed, and killed for defending their home,\u201d Forum chair Dar\u00edo Jos\u00e9 Mej\u00eda Montalvo, Indigenous Zen\u00fa from Colombia, said in a closing statement.<\/p>

    The\u00a0near-final report<\/a>\u00a0described\u00a0the eviction of Indigenous communities<\/a>\u00a0to create protected conservation areas,\u00a0green energy projects that violated human rights<\/a>, and the killings of land defenders\u2014particularly women and children. It made a list of recommendations to U.N. agencies and member states, including calling on the United States to release Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier and decommission the Line 5 oil pipeline that passes through Canada, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The Forum also called on UNESCO to \u201cstep up\u201d its protection of Indigenous lands and culture from mining activities like Rio Tinto\u2019s projects in\u00a0Oak Flat<\/a>\u00a0in Arizona and Juukan Gorge in Western Australia.<\/p>

    The challenge now is ensuring that the report\u2019s recommendations are implemented by U.N. agencies and member states, over which the Forum has no enforcement power. Last year, for example, the Forum for the first time made the same recommendation about releasing Leonard Peltier, and a similar recommendation that member states, primarily Australia and New Zealand, reform their child protection policies to prevent the removal of children from Indigenous communities. In both instances, member states ignored the Forum\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>

    But some Indigenous leaders say that for action to truly take place, the U.N. system itself needs to change \u2013 and provide Indigenous peoples access to international negotiations to influence policy, a fight Indigenous advocates have been advancing for a century,\u00a0beginning in 1923 with the League of Nations<\/a>. Currently, Indigenous leaders are excluded from high level U.N. bodies like the General Assembly, which decides the U.N. budget, elects member states to the Security Council, and sets other key international goals and policies.<\/p>

    <\/div>

    Read the full article about Indigenous peoples by Joseph Lee and Jenna Kunze at Grist.