23 May 2013 – A United Nations official today stressed that
Africa has taken positive steps to protect the rights of indigenous people,
adding that the continent must continue making progress and avoid repeating
mistakes made by other regions.
“Africa has been consolidating and strengthening the legal
framework protecting indigenous people,” Senior Specialist on Indigenous Tribal
Peoples’ Issues for the International Labour Organization (ILO), Albert Kwokwo
Barume, said at a Headquarters press conference being held in connection with
the 12th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. .
“We have a large number of African countries that supported
the UN Declaration [on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples],” he continued, noting
countries implementing domestic laws, like Congo has done. In addition, the
Central African Republic has become the first African member country of the ILO
to ratify the agency’s Convention 169, which is a legally binding treaty which
deals specifically with the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, Mr. Barume
said.
Adopted by the General Assembly in September 2007 after more
than two decades of debate, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
sets out the individual and collective rights of those peoples, as well as
their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and
other issues.
Mr. Barume also noted that the African Commission on Human
and People’s Rights has been “playing a leading role on indigenous people’s
issues in Africa.” He underlined that the Commission had particularly helped to
conceptualize what being ‘indigenous’ means in Africa, something that has been
controversial in some countries.
“Today, that concept has a clear, well-defined, and
non-controversial understanding,” he said.
Around 2,300 indigenous participants have gathered at UN
Headquarters in New York to discuss culture, education and health during the
12th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. This
year, the two-week forum will particularly focus on youth, indigenous groups in
Africa and the importance of strengthening ties with international financial
institutions.
Mr. Barume said the current session on Africa is an
opportunity for African countries to learn from good practices in other
regions, as well as an opportunity for them to share their successful
experiences with the world.
“We have seen different attempts of trying to educate
indigenous children, but indigenous people have the right to make the choices
of the education they want to give their children because they have the right
to self-determination,” he said. “In that sense, Africa must avoid making the
same mistakes that other countries have made in the past.”
Also participating in the forum were the Legal Adviser to the
President of the Republic of the Congo, Laurent Tengo and Simon William
M’Viboudoulou, Member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Responding to a number of questions, including one on visits
of UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights James Anaya to Africa,
in particular to Namibia, Mr. M’Viboudoulou said that, when Mr. Anaya had
visited the Republic of Congo, the country had been in the process of
establishing its laws on indigenous peoples. The State’s openness to dialogue
had helped to improve the situation of its indigenous population, including
implementing the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations.
“We all know the problems facing the indigenous people of
Namibia”, he said of that particular visit. However, it was important to
consider that accepting Mr. Anaya’s visit – and engaging in dialogue on the
issue – showed political will on the part of the Namibian Government. He was
confident that things would soon change for the San, one of that country’s
indigenous groups.
Asked what was being done to educate mainstream populations
about the rights of indigenous peoples, Mr. Tengo responded that there was a
longstanding belief in many countries that indigenous people were part of the
nation, and that there was no reason to take particular measures to protect
them. The first challenge was to break away from that thinking.
The second challenge, he continued, was the state of
underdevelopment that generated poverty and intolerance. Indigenous peoples
lived mostly in poverty, and changing that would require the political courage
to take proactive measures. In addition, indigenous peoples themselves needed
to “take their destiny in their hands” and defend their own rights, he said.
On the same question, Mr. Barume stressed the need to address
historical injustices against African indigenous peoples, in particular with
regard to the annexation of land. Acknowledging those injustices was the first
step, he underscored, as “you cannot correct a mistake that you do not first
recognize”. It was also critical to legally address those wrongdoings, and then
to implement laws and educate the mainstream community.
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