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EDITORIAL
The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development and Indigenous
Peoples' Right of Self-Determination
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Author: Natalie Drache
Producer
DBN Digital Broadcast Network
Dialogue Between Nations
Submitted: September 15, 2002
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Indigenous Peoples gained unprecedented
recognition of their right of self-determination at the Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), as member states adopted a
Political Statement and Plan of Implementation, and in the final moments
of the Summit, agreed to the inclusion of an addendum as follows:
"We reaffirm the vital role of Indigenous Peoples in sustainable
development."
Throughout the numerous preparatory meetings leading up to the UN Summit
in Johannesburg, Indigenous Peoples have lobbied the member states of the
United Nations, and secured strong allies in support of their demands for
recognition and inclusion in the UN decision making processes on issues
affecting their nations and their communities.
 The "S" issue, which acknowledges the collective rights of Indigenous
PeopleS, has been an item of contention since Indigenous Peoples first
knocked on the doors of the UN in 1977, demanding a place at the table.
 Their history of exclusion as marginalised people, populations
and minorities by nation states has been a fundamental factor in denying
them the rights which apply to all peoples, which are protected by the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights and specified in the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which state that "All peoples have
the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social
and cultural development."
 Kenneth Deer, Mohawk journalist and publisher of The Eastern Door,
covering the WSSD from the the International Media Centre at the Summit,
(and, who has played a key role for more than twenty years at the UN
Working Group on Indigenous Populations which meets annually in Geneva)
seeking clarification of the process which led to an affirmative position
on the recognition of "peoples," asked the President of the Summit, Thabo
Mbeki (also the President of South Africa), the following question during
the final press conference upon the closure of the Summit.
"The Indigenous Peoples were very happy that our Declaration was passed.
To us, this is very historic. For the first time in a UN held document,
the term "Indigenous PeopleS" is being used without qualifications. In
Durban last year there was a big battle for Indigenous PeopleS, they
wanted brackets and asterisks, they wanted to call us Indigenous
populations, Indigenous issues, anything but PeopleS. They finally agreed
to call us PeopleS as long as the term does not imply any rights under
international law, which is discriminatory against Indigenous Peoples. For
the first time in over thirty years, now the United Nations has a document
that uses the term "Indigenous Peoples" without any qualifications. What
happened between Durban and today? What was the difference to make this
historical change in the way the UN is describing our peoples? "
The South African leader responded,
 I would hope that part of what happened in the formal processes of
consultation with civil society, but particularly with representatives of
the Indigenous Peoples, was that this matter needed to be dealt with
properly in the way that you say. So we agreed to that. And then came this
proposal to get at the detail and the problem arose, but fortunately it
got corrected. So I think surely that people must be hearing better to
what you are saying. I must say also that some other delegations did
submit, did give me drafts on the same question, on the same proposal, so
there was a base within the Summit to produce the kind of results that
were produced. In any case, I don't think that anybody would stand up and
say they were against. It wouldn't make sense."
Taking a brief look at the initial involvement of Indigenous Peoples in
the formal
 sustainable development discussion, in 1992, 650 Indigenous
representatives from all continents took part in the United Nations Earth
Summit in Rio, Brazil, presenting the UN World Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED) with their Kari-Oca Declaration and an Indigenous
Peoples' 109 point Earth Charter. In the official UN document, Agenda 21,
adopted in Rio, Indigenous People were identified as one of the
major groups to play a role in decision making and to be beneficiaries of
the long range vision on sustainable development, adopted by the member
states of the United Nations. Chapter 26 lays out the guidelines for Recognising and Strengthening the role of Indigenous People and their
Communities in environmental and development issues.
Many of the key complaints heard in Johannesburg were that Agenda 21
failed to acknowledge and produce a strong plan of action which, in the
past ten years, might have led to an effective implementation of the Rio
vision. Since that time, environmental degradation, misappropriation of
lands and resources, and violations of Indigenous Peoples' human rights,
including their intellectual and cultural property rights, has increased.
At the same time, however, Indigenous leaders have acquired an
increasingly high level of sophistication in understanding the legal
implications of these violations within international law, and have built
an extremely strong global network within their own organisations, as well
as with civil society, multilateral agencies and governments. Also to be
noted, is that many former grassroots Indigenous activists have taken up
consultant roles with governments, and in a number of cases, Indigenous
scientists and lawyers are key experts on government delegations. Several
countries also now have Indigenous politicians within their governments
who are able to develop and monitor implementation policies directly
relevant to the needs of their communities.
The impact of the growth and maturity of the international indigenous
movement is that it is now capable of taking on the strategic economic
alliances being developed around the world. It is to be noted that
Indigenous Peoples consider themselves to be rightsholders, and not merely
stakeholders in all decision-making affecting "their lives, territories
and well-being." The powerful blocs of multinational corporations and
ensuing partnerships between business and the United Nations agencies,
need to take into account the fact that they will no longer be able to
obtain access to resources within Indigenous Peoples' territories, with
the same ease that historically destroyed Indigenous communities and
life-styles, as the dialogue in the international arena is becoming more
and more transparent. The key obstacle however, for Indigenous Peoples is
a time-factor; land claims and restitution processes can go on, undecided,
at the negotiation tables or in the courts over lengthy periods, while the
resources are being extracted from their territories. Never to be
underestimated are the overt or subtle practices of genocide and
environmental racism which still permeate the regions where Indigenous
Peoples reside.
But while the world's so-called post-colonial powers attempt to allocate
the earth, air, water and mineral resources in development projects which
are meant to alleviate poverty, and the inequalities arising from
unbalanced economic practices, the representatives of the many millions of
Indigenous Peoples around the world, sometimes referred to as the Fourth
World, are demanding the right of free, prior and informed consent on all
developments affecting their territories, lands, resources and
communities.
When reviewing the 109 point Indigenous Peoples' Earth Charter from Kari-Oca,
Brazil, and comparing it ten years later with the current document which
the international Indigenous caucus developed and presented in
Johannesburg, one can see that the earlier demands are taking on more
realistic and practical dimensions vis a vis the contributions which
Indigenous experts are making today in the very complex global plan of
action for sustainability. Both the Kimberley Political Declaration and
the Indigenous Peoples' Implementation Plan, coming out of the
Johannesburg experience, not only reflect the holistic view of Indigenous
Peoples' traditional knowledge systems, cosmovision and spirituality of
the earlier Declaration, but now make carefully considered specific
recommendations on broader mainstream issues such as food security,
biopiracy and patenting of life forms, forests and protected areas,
mining, energy, tourism, fisheries, marine and coastal resources, water,
climate change, ratification and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol,
health and toxics, and desertification,
When looking at the process from Kari-Oca to Kimberley (this latter
diamond mining city in South Africa being the site of the Indigenous
People's pre-Summit from August 20 to 23, 2002) it is evident that many of
the traditional Elders who attempted to get a hearing in the corridors of
the UN from the '30's onward, and who shared their wisdom to the few who
were prepared to listen in the many venues of Rio, have passed on. In
their place, is another generation, walking to the future in the footsteps
of their ancestors. Some of them continue the tradition of travelling
internationally on passports issued by their sovereign nations, such as
the Haudenosaunee, comprised of six Indigenous nations whose territories
cross the US-Canada border in the eastern region of North America.
Albeit, there is no international recognition of Indigenous nations as
nations. But the fact remains that they do indeed have governments. This
important distinction between them and other members of civil society,
made up primarily of non-governmental organisations, with whom Indigenous
delegates interact in their own Global or People's Forums parallel to UN
mega-conferences, cannot be ignored. In many instances, Indigenous leaders
have signed treaties with the domestic governments who occupy their
territories. The relationships established by the treaty processes, rarely
respected by the countries in which they live, establish nation-to-nation
protocols with responsibilities and above all, demand accountability.
For the most part, if we were to reverse our general understanding of how
geopolitics defines the world, it can be clearly stated that Indigenous
Peoples are living in occupied territories. This helps us to understand
the position they are advocating as rightsholders, within the broader
spectrum of UN orchestrated dialogues and multi-sector roundtables, where
their access to participation is based on representation as one of the
major groups, as mentioned previously in Agenda 21.
The rightsholders and geopolitical aspect of the participation of
Indigenous Peoples' presence in the international arena has even greater
implications given the following excerpt from the Indigenous Peoples'
Caucus Statements for the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Governance,
Partnerships and Capacity Building, presented by
Joji Carino, Tebtebba
Foundation, Prepcom IV, WSSD, Bali, Indonesia, 27 May, 2002:
 "Governance, partnerships and capacity-building are about addressing
social and power relationships, and about how these relationships impact
on our relations with the Earth. The contemporary world is characterised
by deep imbalances in our social relations, of gross inequalities between
nations and within societies, manifested by huge disparities in
consumption of natural resources. International governance gives
disproportionate power to the same economic elite and their institutions
of choice - the World Trade Organisation and the international and
financial institutions - to decide the futures of our children. The WSSD
process is itself harmonising into this unequal and unbalanced
architecture. Governance structures for Sustainable Development must
strive for greater democratisation, transparency, equity and
accountability in order to achieve better outcomes."
Further to this, this same paper states that "Respect for Indigenous
Peoples' territories and self-determination is a precondition for
strengthening processes of partnership and governance for sustainable
development on an equal footing."
One can only assume that the different entities which participated in the
adoption of the official UN Johannesburg Political Declaration and its
controversial addendum fully understand the implications of the "S" issue,
which, until now, has only made it into UN and other multilateral
documents with qualifications, such as in Durban in 2001 at the UN World
Conference Against Racism, previously mentioned by Kenneth Deer.
 Indigenous representatives will now have an opportunity to take this new
development related to the recognition of the right of self-determination
further in the next meeting on the United Nations Draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, where the biggest obstacle
 to the adoption
of this Declaration is Article 3 which states: Indigenous Peoples have the
right of self-determination." They will also bring it up in the UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a unique body recently established
by the Economic and Social Council. Two of the sixteen independent experts
who comprise this new body, Mililani Trask, (Hawaii) and Antonio
Jacamanijoy (Colombia), were present at the WSSD.
What remains to be seen, if the issue of self-determination as addressed
in the final documents of the WSSD is truly seen as a realistic gain, then
the issue of governance practices from an Indigenous perspective, in light
of the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit, could potentially take on
greater meaning within the international arena. With the independent
experts of the Permanent Forum in a position to make significant
 recommendations to the Economic and Social Council, will the role of
Indigenous PeopleS with the "S" within the UN system be taken seriously by
the member states at other levels? Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for
Human Rights, stated during the inauguration of the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, that the present circumstances are not about what the
United Nations can do for Indigenous Peoples, but what Indigenous Peoples
can do for the United Nations.
Member states will not be able to back away from this new development very
easily, given the clarification on record by President Mbeki in his press
conference. What member states fear most is that along with the
recognition of Indigenous self-determination comes Indigenous sovereignty.
And furthermore, if Indigenous communities or nations are able to control
a land and resource base, that out of the projected economic wealth
generated by the rightsholders, comes the possibility of secession.
Unfortunately, national governments rarely view the contributions of
Indigenous Peoples as potentially strengthening and enhancing the
structure and well-being of the nation state itself.
 What is important as a follow up to Johannesburg, is an evaluation of the
successes Indigenous communities have had in effective resource management
and how these models can support and contribute positively to both
domestic and international relationships as well as to the sustainablity
agenda. One important example in the Indigenous Peoples' Plan of
Implementation on Sustainable Development adopted by their caucus in
Johannesburg cites the sustainable development models presented by the
Arctic Council, which "incorporate principles of genuine partnership
between States and Indigenous Peoples, ecosystem approaches, collaboration
between traditional and scientific knowledge and local, national and
regional implementation plans."
The concluding paragraph in this same document, comprised of 101 points,
indicates support for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as a
global focal point for promoting co-operation among States and Indigenous
Peoples in the implementation of international policies, commitments and
action plans on Indigenous Peoples and sustainable development. "We will
utilise the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to monitor the
fulfillment of this (Indigenous Peoples') Plan of Implementation." No doubt
the Permanent Forum will also be in a position to make recommendations on
the compliance of member states to their own agreements in Johannesburg as
well.
WEB SITE
LINKS:
DBN Digital Broadcast
Network/Dialogue Between Nations
"From Kari-Oca to Kimberley" and "UN Permanent Forum"
Tebtebba Foundation
Arctic Council
Indigenous Peoples Secretariat
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES/REFERENCES CITED IN THE
EDITORIAL
United Nations
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Political Declaration
Plan of Implementation
UN
Universal Declaration on Human Rights
UN Universal
Declaration on Human Rights -- Office of the High Commissioner
UN
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
UN
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
UN
Working Group on Indigenous Populations -- Office of the High
Commissioner
UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations -- International Indian
Treaty Council
UN World
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
UN World Conference on Environment and Development (UNEP)
Kari-Oca Declaration
Indigenous Peoples' 109 point Earth Charter
Ingenous Peoples Earth Charter
Agenda 21 -- UN
Agenda 21 -- UNEP
Agenda 21, Chapter 26: Recognising and Strengthening the role of
Indigenous People and their Communities
Agenda 21 - Information Habitat
PrepCom I: Statement by Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous Peoples as a Major Group of Agenda 21 and the
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
Rio +10/World Summit on Sustainable Development PrepCom I
Multi-stakeholder Presentation
United Nations, New York, NY, April 30, 2001
Presented by the
International Indian Treaty Council (ECOSOC NGO)
on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus
Read by
Ms. Carol Kalafatic
Fourth World Documentation Program
Background on
the Term "Fourth World"
Fourth World/Indigenous Peoples
Kimberley Political Declaration Indigenous Peoples' Implementation Plan
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change
The Kyoto
Protocol
Impacts of the Kyoto Protocol on U.S. Energy Marketsand Economic Activity
United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, Prepcom IV
Indigenous Peoples' Caucus Statements for the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue
on Governance, Partnerships and Capacity Building, presented by Joji
Carino, Tebtebba Foundation, Prepcom IV, WSSD, Bali, Indonesia, 27 May,
2002
Indigenous Peoples Political Declaration, PrepCom IV, Indonesia, Bali,
June 6, 2002 (Tebtebba Foundation): Reaffirming Kari-Oca
World Trade Organisation
UN World
Conference Against Racism
World Conference Against
Racism -- WCAR
United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
-- University of Minnesota
The
Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- Office of the High Commissioner
UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
CONTACT:
Natalie Drache
Producer
DBN Digital Broadcast Network/dbn.tv
Dialogue Between Nations
EMail:
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