Español
THE
KIMBERLEY DECLARATION
International Indigenous Peoples Summit on
Sustainable Development
Khoi-San Territory
Kimberley, South Africa, 20-23 August 2002
We, the Indigenous Peoples, walk to the
future in the footprints of our ancestors.
Kari-Oca Declaration, Brazil, 30 May 1992
We the Indigenous Peoples of the World assembled here reaffirm the Kari-Oca
Declaration and the Indigenous Peoples' Earth Charter. We again reaffirm
our previous declarations on human and environmental sustainability.*
Since 1992 the ecosystems of the earth have been compounding in change. We
are in crisis. We are in an accelerating spiral of climate change that
will not abide unsustainable greed.
Today we reaffirm our relationship to Mother Earth and our responsibility
to coming generations to uphold peace, equity and justice. We continue to
pursue the committments made at Earth Summit as reflected in this
political declaration and the accompanying plan of action. The commitments
which were made to Indigenous Peoples in Agenda 21, including our full and
effective participation, have not been implemented due to the lack of
political will.
As peoples, we reaffirm our rights to self-determination and to own,
control and manage our ancestral lands and territories, waters and other
resources. Our lands and territories are at the core of our existence - we
are the land and the land is us; we have a distinct spiritual and material
relationship with our lands and territories and they are inextricably
linked to our survival and to the preservation and further development of
our knowledge systems and cultures, conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity and ecosystem management.
We have the right to determine and establish priorities and strategies for
our self-development and for the use of our lands, territories and other
resources. Free, prior and informed consent must be obtained before the
approval of any project affecting our lands, territories and other
resources.
We are the original peoples tied to the land by our umbilical cords and
the dust of our ancestors. Our special places are sacred and demand the
highest respect. Disturbing the remains of our families and elders is
desecration of the greatest magnitude and constitutes a grave violation of
our human rights. We call for the full and immediate repatriation of all
Khoi-San human remains currently held in museums and other institutions
throughout the world, as well as all the human remains of all other
Indigenous Peoples. We maintain the rights to our sacred and ceremonial
sites and ancestral remains, including access to burial, archaeological
and historic sites.
The national, regional and international acceptance and recognition of
Indigenous Peoples is central to the achievement of human and
environmental sustainability. Our traditional knowledge systems must be
respected, promoted and protected; our collective intellectual property
rights must be guaranteed and ensured. Without traditional knowledge
holders' free, prior and informed consent, traditional knowledge is not in
the public domain and is protected cultural and intellectual property
under customary law. Unauthorized use and misappropriation of traditional
knowledge is theft.
Economic globalization constitutes one of the main obstacles for the
recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Transnational
corporations and industrialized countries impose their global agenda on
the negotiations and agreements of the United Nations system, the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and
other bodies which reduce the rights enshrined in national constitutions
and in international conventions and agreements. Unsustainable extraction,
harvesting, production and consumption patterns lead to climate change,
widespread pollution and environmental destruction, evicting us from our
lands and creating immense levels of poverty and disease.
We are deeply concerned that the activities of multinational mining
corporations on Indigenous lands have led to the loss and desecration of
our lands, as exemplified here on Khoi-San territory. These activities
have caused immense health problems, interfered with access to, and
occupation of our sacred sites, destroyed and depleted Mother Earth, and
undermined our cultures.
We are responsible for defending Indigenous lands and communities against
exploitation by governments, development agencies, private enterprise,
NGOs, and individuals. Indigenous Peoples are not objects of tourism
development. We are active participants with rights and responsibilities
to our territories, including the process of planning, implementation, and
the evaluation of tourism.
Recognizing the vital role that pastoralism and hunting-gathering play in
the livelihoods of many Indigenous Peoples, we urge governments to
recognize, accept, support and invest in pastoralism and hunting-gathering
as viable and sustainable economic systems.
We reaffirm the rights of our peoples, nations and communities, our women,
men, elders and youth to physical, mental, social, and spiritual
well-being.
We are determined to ensure the equal participation of all Indigenous
Peoples throughout the world in all aspects of planning for a sustainable
future with the inclusion of women, men, elders and youth. Equal access to
resources is required to achieve this participation.
We urge the United Nations to promote respect for the recognition,
observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements concluded between Indigenous Peoples and States, or their
successors, according to their original spirit and intent, and to have
States honor and respect such treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements.
Language is the voice of our ancestors from the beginning of time. The
preservation, securing and development of our languages is a matter of
extreme urgency. Language is part of the soul of our nations, our being
and the pathway to the future.
We are willing to enter into partnerships with international agencies,
governments, private sector and corporations in order to achieve human and
environmental sustainability, provided that the partnerships are
established according to the following principles: honesty, openness and
good faith; free, prior and informed consent of the people affected;
respect and recognition of our cultures, languages and spiritual beliefs;
and our rights to land and self-determination.
We welcome the establishment of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues and urge the UN to secure all the necessary political,
institutional and financial support so that it can function effectively
according to its mandate as contained in ECOSOC Resolution E/2000/22. We
support the continuation of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous
Populations based on the importance of its mandate to set international
standards on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We call for a World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable
Development as a culmination of the United Nations International Decade
for the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004) and as a concrete follow-up
to the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
We continue to meet in the spirit of unity inspired by the Khoi-San people
and their hospitality. We reaffirm our mutual solidarity as Indigenous
Peoples of the world in our struggle for social and environmental justice.
* Including the Draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the Charter of the International Alliance of
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests; the Mataatua
Declaration; the Santa Cruz Declaration on Intellectual Property; the
Leticia Declaration of Indigenous Peoples and Other Forest Dependent
Peoples on the Sustainable Use and Management of All Types of Forests; the
Charter of Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic and the Far East Siberia; the
Bali Indigenous Peoples Political Declaration; and, the Declaration of the
Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Africa in the Regional WSSD Preparatory
Meeting.
|