International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

Every year, August 9 is celebrated as the International Day of the World's Indigenous People. There are about 300 million indigenous men, women and children worldwide¹. They are extremely diverse - more than 5,000 different groups of indigenous peoples live in more than 70 countries. They make up one third of the world's 900 million extremely poor rural people.  

In many countries indigenous peoples are among the poorest members of society and the poverty gap between them and non indigenous groups is increasing.  A World Bank study on selected countries in Latin America released in May 2005 observed that the indigenous poverty gap extends deeper into society and shrank more slowly over the 1990s than in previous periods.  A World Bank-UNDP Report of 2000 on China’s Rural Poverty found that ethnic minority groups make up less than 9 per cent of the total population but are believed to account for about 40 per cent of China’s extremely poor people. A similar study conducted by the World Bank in Vietnam in 2004 predicted that poverty in Vietnam will become increasingly associated with ethnic minority groups in coming years. A recent IFAD study of the Human Development Index (HDI) for the tribal belt of Orissa State in India found that the HDI for this region was as low as that of some of the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Indigenous and tribal peoples’ value systems, spirituality, capabilities and cultures have huge untapped potential for sustainable development. They play a crucial role in the stewardship of natural resources and biodiversity and provide environmental services at local, regional and international levels. Indigenous peoples have rich, varied and locally rooted knowledge systems. Their immense cultural diversity is extremely valuable in a world threatened by the homogenizing trends of globalization.

Unfortunately, the marginalized conditions of the indigenous peoples do not figure prominently in debates regarding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs).  Indeed, much of the attention indigenous peoples receive internationally is the direct result of their own efforts. An ethnic audit of the PRSPs undertaken in 2004 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 14 countries indicated a high incidence of poverty among indigenous peoples, but little or no actions planned to overcome it.  The ILO study also concluded that, with very few exceptions, most national progress reports have not included indigenous peoples in the consultation process. There is also concern that in some countries, unless the particular situation of indigenous peoples is adequately taken into account, they will not benefit from progress towards achieving the MDGs. ”.

In spite of the relative invisibility of indigenous peoples in the poverty reduction process, indigenous peoples are organizing themselves to bring about an end to all forms of discrimination and oppression that they experience. They are doing this in a positive way by raising issues central to their ability to thrive while retaining a separate identity. These include: their inherent human right to be different; their contribution to the diversity and richness of civilization and cultures; the material and spiritual value of their lands, territories and related resources; their self determining priorities and their desire for a harmonious and cooperative relationship with the State based on the universal principles of free, prior and informed consent.

IFAD and indigenous peoples

Thanks to its targeted approach to rural development, IFAD has long supported the development of indigenous peoples. In addition, IFAD is committed to advocate on behalf of indigenous peoples and the issues that they have defined as being important to them. IFAD emphasizes partnership with indigenous peoples, supporting their self-empowerment so that they can address the root causes of their marginalization. It backs them in their efforts to strengthen their own voices and ability to claim rights to land and resources, providing them with legal advice, assistance and training.

Since it started operations in 1978, IFAD has provided a total of US$1.13 billion equivalent in loans (or about 12.6 per cent of its total loan portfolio) in support to indigenous peoples. Although most of these loans have been extended to countries in Latin America and Asia, recently, there has been a renewed interest in supporting pastoralists in North and West Africa and some projects are investing in improving the livelihoods of hunters and gatherers in Central and East Africa.

IFAD funded projects, over the years, have addressed the following issues of crucial importance to indigenous peoples:

• valuing and revitalizing indigenous knowledge systems and blending with modern technology
• strengthening indigenous peoples’ institutions and their judicial systems
• promoting secure access to ancestral lands and natural resources
• expanding, in a culturally sensitive way, indigenous women’s capacity for autonomous action in community affairs
• enhancing their livelihoods through sustainable natural resources management, according to their own perspectives and vision
• supporting bi-lingual and cross-cultural education
• promoting inter-cultural awareness and dialogue
• enhancing indigenous identity and fostering self esteem
• supporting culturally based micro-enterprises

In the Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme in India, IFAD is assisting with the implementation of the provisions of the Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act of 1996. This milestone legislation entrusted ownership of all natural resources (non-timber forest products, minor minerals, minor water bodies, etc.) to the village assembly (Gram Sabhas). For that purpose, Gram Sabhas were to be established in all natural villages. The PESA also gave to the Gram Sabha the right to manage its land, water and forests resources.  A recent mid-Term review of that programme concluded:  “In all the programme area, Gram Sabhas have been set up, notified and activated.  They are engaged in programme planning with effective participation of female and male community members, and of poorer household members.  Women are equally present in all committees and the latter effectively have taken on responsibilities for programme implementation, notably in land, forest and water management.  Committees handle, in a transparent manner, both financial and food-aid programme resources for implementation”.

IFAD’s Office of Evaluation recently assessed IFAD’s strategy in Asia and the Pacific, which has a very strong emphasis on indigenous peoples. The evaluation concluded that this strategic thrust was very appropriate and relevant. It found that IFAD has many achievements to highlight in supporting indigenous peoples in Asia and the Pacific and that it must build upon those achievements and continue to play a leading role in addressing the problem of rural poverty among indigenous peoples.

A recent Country Programme Evaluation for Mexico recommended that IFAD concentrate its operations on indigenous populations, who comprise a large majority of the vulnerable poor rural people in Mexico. It further recommended that specific emphasis should be placed on indigenous women and their empowerment.

IFAD and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) sponsored a, brainstorming workshop on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Perspectives on Selected IFAD-funded Projects, 28-29 November 2005 in Rome. The workshop concluded that whenever IFAD-funded projects empowered indigenous peoples to implement and frame their own development policies, the results have been transformational. The workshop also reaffirmed the long held view of indigenous peoples that there can be no sustainable solution for them except through respect for their history, rights, identity, dignity and human security.  An advocacy framework for indigenous and tribal peoples’ rights and development was also presented and thoroughly debated.

In support of such a framework, IFAD has provided two institutional grants to indigenous organizations and their supporting institutions at a total cost of US$349,500. The first grant totalled US$150,000 and was provided to the Secretariat of the UNPFII to define concepts and practices of development. This was completed on the basis of regional consultations by representatives of indigenous organizations and drew upon indigenous-sensitive indicators based on the principles of indigenous peoples’ themselves, The second grant totalled US$199,500 and was provided to the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) to initiate a worldwide comparative action-research project on the theme “Identity, power and rights” in relation to indigenous communities.

IFAD was invited to give a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Session of the UNPFII. The address was delivered by the Assistant President on Special Assignment on Indigenous Issues on behalf of IFAD President Lennart Båge, who has taken a special interest in indigenous peoples issues. Given their status as being among the most marginalized segments of society that IFAD works with, the address stressed IFAD’s view of indigenous peoples as one of its most important target groups. It underlined the importance of keeping indigenous peoples and other marginalized populations at the center of all MDG-related actions. The speech also emphasized the transformational role of indigenous women and the need for more efforts to develop the capacity of national and local institutions to work with and be sensitive to indigenous peoples and their issues.

IFAD currently chairs the Inter Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples (IASG)  and, in this capacity, will host the upcoming IASG meeting 15-18 September 2006. The theme of this meeting will be Development with Identity, where the respective Agencies will share their experiences in three important areas, namely, Land, Territories and Resources, Indigenous Knowledge and Technology and the Role of Culture.  As the chair of the IASG, IFAD will have an important opportunity in 2007 to play a harmonizing role advocating on behalf of indigenous peoples’ issues with other UN agencies.  It will also continue to work closely with the UNPFII and the World Bank to enhance the understanding and collaboration between international financial institutions and indigenous peoples’ organizations. 

The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

2006 will be remembered as a watershed year for indigenous peoples and their rights. On 29 June  2006, the newly established UN Human Rights Council adopted the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is a landmark event for the indigenous peoples’ movement, which struggled and negotiated for over 20 years in favour of the adoption of this Declaration. Indigenous peoples and nation states, working together, managed to develop language that strikes the necessary balance between the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and those of others, including those of nation states.

The Declaration complements existing international law by elaborating upon and acknowledging the unique social, cultural, political and economic reality of indigenous peoples as well as their distinctiveness. Importantly, this new international instrument affirms the collective rights of indigenous peoples, including the much debated right to self determination, giving them the right to “freely determine” their political status and to “freely pursue” their economic, social and cultural development..

The UN General Assembly will discuss adoption of the Declaration in November 2006.

Key elements of the Declaration can be summarized as follows:

“Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination (emphasis added). By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” (Article 3).

Furthermore, the two important dimensions of self-determination have been positively affirmed by the Declaration, namely rights for pastoralists to maintain their nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life, rights for hunters and gatherers for subsistence hunting, gathering and fishing rights and their rights to lands, territory and resources. The term development does not mean economic development only but is inclusive of social, cultural, spiritual, political as well as economic development.

Specifically, Article 21 of the Declaration states that:

• Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities (emphasis added); and
• Indigenous peoples, deprived of their means of subsistence and de4velopment, are entitled to just and fair redress (emphasis added).

It should be noted that the provision for just and fair redress in cases where indigenous peoples have been deprived of their means of subsistence, does not presently exist anywhere else in international law.

In relation to lands, territories and resources, Articles 25 through 30 affirm:

• Their rights to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities for future generations;
• Their rights to lands, territories and resources that have been traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, i.e. addresses lands in the past tense);
• Their rights to own use, develop and control lands, territories and resources that they presently possess;
• The right to redress where lands, territories and resources have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent;
• Environmental protection and safeguards from military use of their lands;
• The right to protect and develop their traditional knowledge, medicines, heritage and intellectual property; and
• The right to determine and develop their own priorities for development or use of their lands, territories and resources.

The Plan of Action for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

At the Fifth Session of the UNPFII, the UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, Josè Antonio Ocampo, launched the Plan of Action for the Second International Decade for the World’s Indigenous Peoples.  The Plan emphasizes the role of partnerships in furthering the issues and perspectives of indigenous peoples and highlights the need for development with identity with respect to indigenous peoples. In this regard, it stresses the role of indigenous culture as a prerequisite and a basis for building “development with identity” – pursuing sustainable development while respecting indigenous peoples’ way of life. The plan urges UN agencies, bilateral and multilateral organizations to establish policies that recognize environmentally sustainable pastoralism, hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation as legitimate activities, as in the case of farming and other types of land use. The Plan of Action also calls on agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system to adopt programmes of activities premised on the human rights-based approach to development and include a provision on free, prior and informed consent. It recommends the development of strong monitoring mechanisms to enhance accountability at all levels, especially regarding the implementation of legal, policy and operational frameworks for the protection of indigenous peoples and the improvement of their lives.
IFAD is preparing its own work plan to implement the recommendations of the Plan of Action throughout it programmes, projects, loans and grants.

Source: IFAD

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1/ In its revised Operational Policy, the World Bank states : “the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ is used in a generic sense to refer to a distinct, vulnerable, social and cultural group possessing the following characteristics in varying degrees: (a) self-identification as members of a distinct indigenous cultural group and recognition of this identity by others; (b) collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats or ancestral territories in the project area and to the natural resources in these habitats and territories; (c) customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions that are separate from those of the dominant society and culture; and (d) an indigenous language, often different from the official language of the country or region”.