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* DPI *
SOURCE: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/upload…
The first-ever indigenous media zone at UN Headquarters, held during the 16th session of
the Forum, attracted dozens of indigenous media representatives and offered a space for
amplifying indigenous voices. Co-hosted by DPI and DESA from 24 to 28 April 2017, the
indigenous media zone provided a much-needed work and meeting space for indigenous
media producers and featured live interviews, discussions and press conferences with
human rights defenders and indigenous experts.
Participants in the media zone included indigenous radio and TV producers from Bolivia,
Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Norway, the
Philippines, South Africa, Sweden and the United States. Live interviews and discussions
took place with indigenous experts from countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Belize,
Canada, Ecuador, Finland, Mali, Peru, Russia, Tanzania and Uruguay, on topics ranging
from the 10th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to
land rights and natural resources, violence against women, the Sustainable Development
Goals and issues affecting indigenous youth.
Five discussions—one per day—were streamed live on UN DESA’s Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/pg/joinundesa/videos) and reached up to 200,000 viewers each.
About 20 other interviews and discussions were streamed on Facebook by Notimia, a news
agency of Indigenous and Afro-descendant women, who partnered with DESA and DPI to
organize the programme for the Indigenous Media Zone:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/notimia/videos/?ref=page_internal.
DPI also organized an NGO briefing on “Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Rights: The Role
of Community Media” on 27 April 2017, featuring indigenous media representatives from
Guatemala, Nepal and South Africa.
For DPI, the 2017 Indigenous Media Zone and related activities provided strong
momentum for a promising collaboration with indigenous media organizations and
constituted an important step toward strengthening the Department’s outreach to
indigenous communities and amplifying indigenous voices.
In 2018, DPI plans to work with DESA and indigenous media representatives again to offer
an Indigenous Media Zone at UN Headquarters during the first week of the Permanent
Forum session in April.
On the national and regional levels, DPI works through its UN information centres
(UNICs) to reach and collaborate with indigenous media representatives, such as for
example UNIC Bogota’s collaboration with the National Indigenous Organization of
Colombia and its Dachi Bedea Radio on International Day of the World’s Indigenous
Peoples in August 2017, during a year that also marked the 10th anniversary of the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
