Producers/hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne
After 22 years of work, indigenous people were poised to finally see the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the Human Rights Council in June of this year, the UN General Assembly was expected to vote and adopt it early next month.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US, however, have expressed opposition to the declaration and on Tuesday were joined by the block of African countries in voting to table a full General Assembly vote until later next year.
The declaration would be a tool to address issues including genocide, displacement, self determination, intellectual property rights, collective rights, environmental issues and the right to maintain cultural traditions.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues says
opposing nations were concerned with articles addressing land and resource ownership, and the request that indigenous people give “free prior and informed consent?? for development and resource exploiting projects.
We interviewed Les Malezar, Chairperson of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus at the UN yesterday…
For more info: The Indigenous Working Group, www. iwgia.org
