Indigenous people call for recognition and respect at the EIDHR Forum

This blog was filmed and submitted by capacity4dev.eu stagiaire, Pierre-Alain de Laminne de Bex

Joan Carling from the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Belkacem Lounes from the World Amazigh Congress (WAC) were two of the speakers at the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Forum that recently took place in Brussels. They captured audience attention with stories from the field, and appealed for continued European Union assistance towards recognition and the respect for the rights of indigenous people.

Carling is the Secretary General of the NGO, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact AIPP (AIPP), which is a partnership of 46 organisations in 13 Asian countries. “We work on the development of the capacities of indigenous peoples to be able to engage with governments and other key actors,” she explained. 

According to her, governments in Asia have not made distinction between indigenous peoples in terms of their culture, spirituality, identity and in terms of their territory.  She says that many indigenous people in Asia suffer from marginalisation and discrimination.

AIPP works mainly to promote recognition of indigenous peoples' rights, in terms of their lands, territories and resources, and to help them protect their culture and environment.
 

AIPP is implementing an EU-supported project that has gathered seven indigenous organisations from five countries, with a focus on community building. Carling says that she has learned that making sure that the political stakes of each community are understood, and that separate cultural identities are respected, is key to the success of a project like this.

Capacity development of human rights defenders, local recognition of indigenous communities and promoting advocacy in collaboration with other human rights organisations are the main aims of this project, which will close at the end of this year.

At the Forum, Belkacem Lounes from the World Amazigh Congress (WAC) (link1) drew attention to the bleak human rights situation of the Amazigh peoples. Better known as Tuaregs or Berbers, they are present in more than ten states or countries of north Africa, and face marginalisation and discrimination in the face of adverse climatic conditions and a general lack of resources. 

According to Loundes, where there are mineral resources, large companies have forced them to leave the land. “We need help. We are strangers in our own country,” he said.

“The articles concerning human rights in the Association Agreements with the states are not respected. We ask the EU to dialogue (with states) and to make sure our rights are respected, ” he explained.

 

EuropeAid’s Martha Mendez closed the Indigenous People’s session by reminding EU delegations of their role to support indigenous peoples.

“Through its Country Based Support Scheme (CBSS), many of the EU delegations in the field have prioritised indigenous peoples in their local EIDHR Calls for Proposals “ she said.

“And this summer, the EU will issue a Call for Proposals on combating discrimination, with a segment dedicated to indigenous peoples.”

She called attention to the international instruments for the protection and promotion of rights, citing the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the 27 EU Member States, and the 1991 International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.

Mendez also mentioned the 1998 Working Document of the EC, which proposes concrete guidelines for the support of indigenous peoples by the community, and member states, throughout a project cycle.

Effective support, she said, can be in the form of capacity-development in negotiation, administrative, financial and technical terms, development of long-term economic strategies, and lastly but importantly, training and education as a means to maintain and develop indigenous knowledge and practices.

Through the EIDHR, Mendez continued, the Commission has provided long-standing assistance to the ILO with the advancement of Convention 169, by providing support to the technical secretariat to inform, train and prepare indigenous peoples leaders to make better interventions during all UN meetings and events.

“In the framework of our EIDHR funded projects, three countries have ratified this Convention: Nepal, the first country in Asia, in 2007, the Central African Republic in 2010, also the first African country to do so, and Nicaragua, also in 2010,“ she said.

Please visit the EIDHR website for more information on projects for indigenous people.