DID YOU KNOW that there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries, yet they make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest? They speak an overwhelming majority of the world's estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.
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International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed each year not only to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population, but to also recognize the contributions and achievements that the indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.
On the 23rd of December 1994, the General Assembly of the United Nations, pronounced August 9th to be celebrated every year for the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1996-2004). However, in 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade, with the main goal to strengthen international cooperation around resolving the problems faced by indigenous peoples, hence the theme "A Decade for Action and Dignity".
Today, people from around the world participate in this day by means of activities such as educational forums which shed more light and deepen the appreciation of indigenous peoples. The theme this year is: Indigenous Peoples' Right to Education. The right of indigenous peoples to education is protected by a number of international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Indigenous Rights
Indigenous rights recognize the specific conditions which include the most basic human rights of indigenous peoples as well as the preservation of their land, religion, language, and other aspects of their cultural heritage. And although these rights and identities are observed differently from government to government, with the help of various organizations and networks, indigenous societies have often joined forces together to form bodies which seek to further their communal interest.
Such non-governmental civil society movements, networks and organizations are:
1)Amnesty international
2) Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism
3) Minority Rights Group International
4) Earth Peoples
5) International Indian Treaty Council
6) Global Forest Coalition
7) Survival International
8) Friends of Peoples Close to Nature
9) International World Association.
There are also many others, all with the sole aim of protecting indigenous rights, including land rights, without states imposing their ideas of so-called 'development'. Indigenous peoples are facing lack of recognition in the way that they choose to live their lives and their entitlement to the rights over their lands and territories. But these groups help protect these rights, their firm belief being that each indigenous culture is differentiated, rich in religious belief system, way of life, sustenance and arts, and that the root problem is the governments interference and disrespect of their rights to their way of living as well as the invasion of traditional lands by multinational cooperations and small businesses for exploitation of natural resources.
