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Addressee: Member States, UN System, IPOs
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The Permanent Forum recommends that States, United Nations organizations and indigenous peoples’ organizations elaborate and develop strategies and action plans for communication, education and public awareness on indigenous issues during the Second International Decade, addressing different audiences. Toolkits should also be developed for use in the implementation of such plans.
Responses
The Government of Spain reports: “AECI has developed a plan for training and awareness-raising concerning indigenous issues aimed at civil services, non governmental organizations, universities and Spanish social networks. This plan will be implemented during 2007 by specialized non-governmental organizations under the Indigenous Programme. As part of its awareness-raising efforts, the Indigenous Programme will continue to support the annual Indigenous Film Festival in Madrid and to strengthen the indigenous communication networks in Latin America.”
UNICEF is committed to achieving the objectives of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and welcomes the Permanent Forum’s useful guidance on priorities in this regard.
ILO reports that (a) a number of initiatives undertaken by ILO have responded to this recommendation, including trainings and awareness-raising activities at the international, regional and national levels. For example, a subregional training on indigenous issues was conducted in Central Africa in November 2006, a regional training was conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in June 2006, and an international training was conducted in Turin in September 2006. Further details of these trainings are contained in section IV.B.2 of the report E/C.19/2007/3/Add.11. The Project also contributes to the training of English, French, Russian and Spanish-speaking indigenous fellows of OHCHR. (b) Furthermore, a number of efforts are aimed at engaging in a process of capacity-building for different target groups at national and local levels, within the context of existing national projects on indigenous issues. Examples of this are projects in Cameroon, Cambodia, Honduras and Nepal under the Project to Promote ILO Policy. Further information about these national efforts is contained in section IV of the report E/C.19/2007/3/Add.11. (c) Within the context of these training and awareness-raising initiatives and processes, tools and guidelines are being, or have been, developed for diversified target groups on a broad range of issues pertaining to indigenous peoples. Examples of tools produced during 2006 include a handbook on combating child labour among indigenous and tribal peoples and a set of publications on the MDGs, based on case studies from Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon and Guatemala.
IFAD reports that in October 2006, in cooperation with FAO, the Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia and several indigenous peoples’ organizations, it co-sponsored a special session on indigenous peoples and communication for development at the World Congress on Communication for Development held in Rome. It also supported the participation in the congress of indigenous peoples’ representatives from different regions. The special session produced specific recommendations to the World Congress on mainstreaming communication for development policies, programmes and services to foster the sustainable development of indigenous peoples’ communities (see details on grants activities in the document E/c.19/2007/3/Add.4. In 2006, IFAD also initiated programmes to raise the awareness of journalists in Latin America and South Africa about and to advocate indigenous peoples’ issues. Furthermore, in 2006, as part of the development of the Rural Poverty Portal powered by IFAD, the Fund expanded its web page on indigenous peoples to incorporate its experiences and general issues related to indigenous peoples. The page can be accessed through the Rural Poverty Portal (http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org), and through the IFAD web page (www.ifad.org).
UNESCO reports: “(a) In the broader context of elaborating UNESCO’s major strategy document for the next seven years (2008-2015), the Organization, through its intersectoral team, is consolidating input regarding its plans to respond to the recommendations addressed to UNESCO in the Programme of Action for the Second Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. Already, UNESCO has elaborated a handbook “UNESCO and Indigenous Peoples: Partnership to Promote Cultural Diversity” which presents the Organization’s response to the recommendations of the past Decade and discusses specific challenges for the years to come. This advocacy and informaton tool is now available in three languages (English, Spanish and French) and 2,500 copies have so far been disseminated among governmental and non-governmental partners, including indigenous peoples’ organizations and their regional and international networks. Furthermore, UNESCO updates web-based information on its programme with indigenous peoples to facilitate information-sharing in light of the Second Decade’s objectives. (b) UNESCO addresses the issue of coordinating strategies and programmes on indigenous peoples’ concerns through the UN Interagency Support Group on Indigenous Issues, notably by contributing to the elaboration of terms of reference for UN country teams to guide them in implementing the International Programme of Action for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 5 (2006)
Area of Work
