Working Group Debates Legal Protections for Indigenous Peoples
By UNPO staff
The fourth day of the ongoing session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) began with a celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People and the International Decade on the Rights of Indigenous People. The occasion featured cultural performances by groups from around the world. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, and the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva took part in the festivities.
Indigenous Heritage
In the morning session, discussions continued on agenda point 5 (b) Review
of the draft guidelines on heritage. Working Group member Mr. Yozo Yokota
presented his report written in conjunction with the Saami Council on the
protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples.
The authors’ main concern is the lack of existing UN mechanisms to protect
cultural heritage, which is defined as a legacy or tradition passed on within
a community from one generation to another. The document calls for more rights-based
guidelines on heritage protection, which could be later transformed into legally-binding
instruments.
A workshop organized by the Tebtebba Foundation, which provided several
key points for the paper, identified the failure of existing intellectual
property laws to protect indigenous heritage and knowledge.
“We think this is discriminatory and racist because they [international
intellectual property rights regimes] ignore other systems which do not conform
to their dominant economic and legal frameworks,” said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz
of Tebtebba. “Western legal and economic philosophy and theory and western
property law… is being perpetuated as natural law or universal law.”
Free, Prior and Informed Consent
The debate then moved to agenda item 5 (a), a legal commentary on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The starting point for the discussion was a paper by WGIP expert Iulia Antoinella Motoc (Romania) on FPIC, a concept which would allow indigenous peoples to decide which corporate projects may extract resources from their territories.
Much to the disappointment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus, which drafted the Working Group’s position on FPIC, the representatives of the Board of Directors of the World Bank Group stated that the organization supported free, prior, informed consultation. This distinction makes clear that while multinational corporations would be obliged to hear the opinions of indigenous peoples, they would not be committed to act on their input.
Ms. Motoc’s preparatory paper and the points put forward during the Working Group will be considered by the Sub-Commission on Human Rights next week.
The International Decade
The day’s proceedings concluded with a review of the activities undertaken under the International Decade of the Rights of Indigenous People, agenda item 6(c).
While participants acknowledged that some progress has been made in the International Decade, they felt that a second decade was needed to meet the program’s goal in full. “In order to build on the gains of the decade, we then strongly recommend another decade for indigenous peoples to be immediately declared on or before the end of the year,” said Shoko Oshiro on behalf of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Caucus.
WGIP Chairman Martinez previously appealed for a second decade
in his opening statement on Monday. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
is expected to decide on an extension during their current sitting in New York.
