IPS-English INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Declaration of Rights Still a Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:01:06 -0700 X-Spam-filter-host: darwin.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com ROMAIPS LA WD HD IP PR IN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Declaration of Rights Still a Distant Goal By Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Aug 16 (IPS) - The adoption of resolutions on indigenous peoples' rights in both the U.N. and the OAS remains bogged down after over a decade by deep discrepancies between negotiators, according to experts meeting in the Mexican capital. Governments and indigenous leaders seem to be speaking different languages while negotiating these declarations, but it is crucial to carry on with the efforts, said Jaime Andrade Guenchocoy, the Chilean president of the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. Once they have been successfully drawn up, these instruments should serve as an "ethical framework" to help guarantee the rights of native peoples, he told IPS. The Indigenous Peoples Fund, a multilateral agency created in 1992 with equal representation by governments and indigenous communities, wrapped up a two-day conference in Mexico City on Tuesday. The meeting was aimed at seeking ways to break the current deadlock in negotiations for resolutions on indigenous rights in both the United Nations and the Organisation of American States (OAS). According to Andrade Guenchocoy, progress has been obstructed by the fact that the actors involved in the negotiations have "different understandings of various issues." "For example, when some speak of land, others understand territory; when some speak of natural resources, others understand the environment; or when some speak of autonomy, others think of exclusion," he explained. For his part, Juan Alvarado, an OAS delegate at the meeting in Mexico City, admitted that it is difficult to ask indigenous people to show greater flexibility in the negotiations "after so many centuries of injustice." Nevertheless, he called on indigenous leaders and governments alike to make "an extra effort to reach balanced and viable declarations." Concepts like territories, collective rights and free determination continue to represent points of contention, as do policies for reparations to the original inhabitants of the region and the use of the word "peoples" to refer to indigenous ethnic groups. Some governments fear that the adoption of declarations on indigenous rights could pave the way for separatist movements and the creation of independent, autonomous indigenous territories. "Every country has its own distinct realities and this has stood in the way of progress on the declarations," said Andrade Guenchocoy. "But beyond that," he added, "there is the unfortunate fact that despite these discussions and the greater public and political presence of indigenous people today, they continue to face high levels of poverty and exclusion throughout the Americas." Latin America and the Caribbean are home to the world's largest indigenous population, with some 40 million aboriginal people divided into roughly 400 ethnic groups. A World Bank study released in May, titled Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America: 1994-2004, notes that the political influence of indigenous peoples in Latin America has grown "remarkably" in the last 15 years, alongside an increase in "indigenous-tailored" health and education policies. The last decade in Latin America has been "marked by a groundswell of indigenous movements exercising greater and greater political power," the study adds - from the 1994 rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico led by the predominantly indigenous Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) to the toppling of governments in Bolivia and Ecuador. Nevertheless, the report acknowledges, "Income levels among this group, as well as human development indicators such as education and health conditions, have consistently lagged behind those of the rest of the population." In the five Latin American countries with the largest indigenous populations - Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru - simply being indigenous significantly increases one's chances of being poor, it adds. Indigenous organisations are struggling to correct these economic inequalities while demanding respect for their distinct social and cultural characteristics and their right to maintain and promote them. The idea of a declaration on indigenous rights first began to be discussed in the U.N. in the 1970s. In the 1980s, a special commission was created with the task of developing a draft version. The U.N. Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was prepared in consultation with indigenous organisations and completed in 1993. Two years later, in 1995, it was submitted to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The Commission established a working group made up of representatives of governments and non-governmental and indigenous organisations, whose mandate was to review the draft declaration and prepare it for adoption by the General Assembly. Ten years later, however, it has proven impossible to reach consensus on a final draft version, and many governments, such as those of the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and some Latin American countries, are demanding major changes to the declaration based on discrepancies over concepts like collective rights, territorial autonomy, and rights to natural resources. In fact, at the 10th session of the working group held in 2004, consensus was reached on only two of the draft declaration's 45 articles - the ones dealing with indigenous peoples' right to citizenship and the equality of men and women under the declaration, according to a report prepared by the Indigenous Peoples Fund's Human Rights Commission. The case of the OAS declaration has been very similar. The 34-member organisation - composed of all of the states of the Americas and the Caribbean except Cuba, which was expelled in 1962 - ordered the drafting of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas in 1989. In 1995, after numerous consultations with governments and indigenous groups, a Proposed Declaration was completed. But the text has been rejected by the majority of indigenous organisations as inconsistent and narrow in scope as compared with the U.N. draft declaration. They also maintain that they were not adequately consulted during the drafting of the document. "Our aim is to give the OAS and U.N. declarations another chance, and that is why we are searching for alternatives and hope to revive the negotiations," said Andrade Guenchocoy. ***** + Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean - in Spanish (http://www.fondoindigena.org) (END/IPS/LA WD/HD IP PR IN/TRASP-LN-SW/DC/DM/05) = 08170033 ORP001 NNNN