The UNPO recently submitted input to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) ahead of their report on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Their Traditional Economies. Many of the UNPO’s members are indigenous peoples and for the purposes of the call for input, the UNPO submitted information on the Baluch; Khmer-Krom; the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts; and the River Peoples of Zambesia. For these unrepresented indigenous peoples, the limitation and repression of their right to self-determination impacts their ability to enjoy their fundamental human rights and lead a traditional way of life.
In the case of the Baluch peoples, particularly in the Sistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran, a lack of representation and the limitation of political participation has led to high levels of poverty, unemployment, as well as environmental degradation which has impacted the community’s access to safe drinking water. Despite the region’s rich mineral resources, Sistan and Baluchistan is one of the most impoverished provinces in Iran. Central authorities’ mismanagement of water resources has exacerbated the experience of droughts in the region and impacted the Baluch people’s traditional way of life, which includes living off fishing and reed making in areas such as the Hamon Lake and Wetland. Various lakes and water sources in the region have drastically dried up as a result of mismanagement, causing a stark rise in unemployment locally.
The Khmer-Krom are the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta and one of the largest indigenous peoples in Viet Nam. The Khmer-Krom live in agrarian societies with economic livelihood tied to farming and agriculture, making access to land vital. However, government land appropriation is a significant challenge for economic opportunities, with the Mekong Delta being reported to have the second highest level of landlessness in Viet Nam. The increase in rice exportation demands in the region have forced the Khmer Krom to farm for three seasons a year, under intimidation by local authorities. Khmer farmers must also resort to costly and environmentally hazardous fertilisers and pesticides to meet these demands which has resulted in a poverty-reinforcing cycle whereby farmers often struggle to break even.
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), indigenous peoples have a deep spiritual, cultural, social, and economic connection to their land. These practices are at risk due to the widespread dispossession and land grabbing under the pretext of large-scale development projects by both state and non-state actors. Commercial rubber farming by state and military supported companies in the CHT have caused many indigenous villagers to lose their farming lands and sources of livelihood, while facing continual displacement from their ancestral land and homesteads. These activities have further led to shortages of food and drinking water for the local indigenous communities as a result of water contamination encroachment upon cultivable farming land and forest areas.
The River Races of Zambesia inhabit territories that currently fall within the borders of Namibia, Botswana and Zambia. Zambesia is a region rich in resources, with fertile soils and adequate rain fed crops expanding throughout the whole territory, with the indigenous peoples way of life closely connected to the Zambezi River and surrounding land. The region’s resources have often been exploited to the exclusion of the peoples of Zambesia, who are limited in their ability to practice their traditional livelihoods. Within Namibia, Zambesians living in the Caprivi Strip are isolated from the rest of the country and face severe consequences as a result, such as widespread poverty and limited access to healthcare and education. In 2019, the community’s right to food security was undermined when the Namibian government authorised a foreign company to grow tobacco in the eastern Caprivi Zipfel under a 99-year lease.
The above illustrates the relationship between the right to self-determination and the ability for indigenous peoples to live by their traditional livelihoods and foster traditional economies. A lack of representation and exclusion of peoples from decision-making processes and the exploitation of indigenous land in unsustainable practices has countless negative consequences for these communities. Some of the examples highlighted above include the landgrabbing, resource exploitation, environmental degradation, limitation of basic resources like water, food insecurity, and abject poverty. This, in turn, has an impact on the traditional livelihoods of indigenous communities by restricting their ability to live by their traditional practices, such as fishing and farming.
The UNPO calls for greater national and international recognition of indigenous peoples, such as the Baluch, Khmer-Krom, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Zambesia, as well as their active inclusion in decision-making processes and policies which impact their livelihoods and traditional practices. This is crucial to ensuring the protection of their fundamental human rights.
