Theme: “Building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”

Executive Summary

The COVID 19 pandemic has worsened inequality and amplified the existing systemic discrimination and marginalization of indigenous peoples, further pushing them behind from reaching sustainable development. Many States were taking advantage of the pandemic to restrict fundamental rights and freedoms and to criminalize indigenous leaders who assert the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples. These measures have resulted in arbitrary arrest and detention as well as extra-judicial killings of indigenous leaders. Further, there is hardly any access to justice for victims and their families. 

Land-grabbing and resource extraction by the public and private sector also continued during the pandemic with profound impacts on indigenous peoples. The loss of livelihood due to landgrabs and lockdowns has also resulted in more violence and abuse against indigenous women and girls.

Resilient recovery from the pandemic needs to ensure access to vaccines of indigenous peoples and the strengthening of public health care systems that are accessible to all without discrimination. Likewise, indigenous peoples’ efforts and initiatives to address the pandemic and strengthen their resilience for sustainable recovery must be recognized as critical contributions for advancing sustainable development in the decade of action.

The inclusion of indigenous peoples in achieving the SDGs require the respect of fundamental rights and freedoms as well as democratic space that enable their meaningful participation without fear. Likewise, targeted policies, measures and programmes that are fully aligned with the respect of the rights and wellbeing of indigenous peoples must be developed with their full and effective participation; and sufficiently resourced for proper implementation, monitoring and reporting.

The current priority for economic growth for COVID recovery is inconsistent with the need to balance the social, environment and economic dimensions of the SDGs. In fact, many States have weakened their policies for environment protection and restricted democratic participation in order to pursue their economic targets in the guise of pursuing COVID recovery and advancing the SDGs. Likewise, many corporations continue to exploit indigenous peoples’ lands and resources for profit but now labeled this exploitation as contributing to the pandemic recovery and supporting sustainable development

The decade of action to achieve the SDGs must include the implementation of States’ obligations and commitments to human rights including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the national level. Likewise, data disaggregation by ethnicity to make indigenous peoples visible in monitoring and reporting under the follow-up and review processes at all levels is needed. Moreover, the implementation of the recommendations of the human rights system relating to indigenous peoples will accelerate their inclusion in the SDGs as well as in advancing the pledge of leaving no one behind.

Inclusive pathways to achieve the SDGs must ensure policy coherence and transformational actions anchored in the recognition of and respect for human rights, environment protection and a paradigm shift to sustainable economic models. We need strong global solidarity, political will and effective accountability mechanisms of States to primarily serve the interest and wellbeing of their citizens including indigenous peoples and to protect the planet.

Prepared by:

Joan Carling

Co-convenor - Indigenous Peoples Major Group

En geneal de los pueblos indígenas

Indigenous Peoples Situation: Four (4) years into SDG implementation

Overall Situation Of Indigenous Peoples

After four years of SDG implementation, indigenous peoples across the globe are not just left behind but pushed further behind. This is demonstrated by the continuing widespread grabbing of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources, criminalization, increasing poverty and hunger, loss of livelihood, destruction of cultural heritage, forest degradation, loss of biodiversity, conflicts on resource-use and development, increased violence against indigenous women and girls, rising inequality and lack of access to justice, among others.

High Level Political Forum for Sustianable Development

July 9-18, 2019

UN headquarters- New York

Inclusion, Equality, and Empowerment to Achieve Sustainable Development:

Realities of Indigenous Peoples

Report by the Indigenous Peoples’ Major Group for Sustainable Development  (IPMG)

“Many indigenous communities face intractable poverty despite living on resource-rich lands because their rights are not respected and their self-determined development is not supported” (VictoriaTauli-Corpuz).^[1] 

From the perspective of indigenous peoples, inclusion and empowerment entail legal recognition of their distinct identities; security of tenure of their lands, territories and resources; peace in their territory and enjoyment of the right to self-governance including their customs, traditions, cultures, and livelihoods linked to sustainable resource management practices. The last is based on a holistic approach to the reciprocal relations between human beings and nature. These are at the core of indigenous peoples’ dignity, wellbeing, collective survival and development which they have been asserting and defending for centuries.  

Furthermore, inclusion for indigenous peoples means equal access and opportunities to basic social services that the State should provide, taking into account their specific condition, culture and indigenous ways of life. An enabling environment should be provided for their meaningful participation in decision making including in political and development processes through institutionalized mechanisms for their meaningful engagement  in line with the respect and protection of their individual and collective rights. Specifically, their Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is required when projects and programmes are planned in their territories or have potential adverse impacts on them. To fully take into account their specific condition, needs, priorities and aspirations, including those of indigenous women in the context of “leaving no one behind,” their meaningful participation is required in designing the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDG) implementation of programmes on poverty reduction, ending hunger, quality education, health and wellbeing; access to renewable energy among others. Thus, the attainment of the SDGs calls for inclusion and partnership of indigenous peoples as rights holders and development actors in developing and implementing specific and targeted measures and programmes.

More than 200 million indigenous peoples in the Asia-Pacific region are seriously affected by the huge gap in the SDG implementation and are facing serious threats  from  economic growth targets, climate change and worsening authoritarian governments, among others. A report released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) states that Asia Pacific will not achieve any of the 17 SDGs by its 2030 target basing on its current trajectory. It further stated that “ASEAN has moved backwards on decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), climate action (SDG 13), and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), and areas requiring immediate action to reverse trends including a number of other social and environmental indicators.”[1]

Download the full report to know more.

[1]ASEAN not on track for SDG goals, https://theaseanpost.com/article/asean-not-track-sdg-goals?fbclid=IwAR2sLpPw3j_4I8k4TaNZvtvBHLKAFlar6Y7RaNPVBrREab7b2tLikLZQqTs\

^[1]The Guardian 2017,‘Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of world's biodiversity.’ Interview with UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2017/aug/09/indigenous-peoples-are-the-best-guardians-of-the-worlds-biodiversity

High level Political Forum (HLPF) 2019

Theme: Inclusion and Empowerment for Sustainable Development

Special Report: Continuing Discrimination and Disempowerment  of Indigenous Women

By the International Forum of Indigenous Women ( FIMI) and the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development (IPMG)

Introduction

There are more than 370 million indigenous peoples  which is 5 % of the global population but 15 % of the poorest.  In particular indigenous women experience multiple layers of discrimination as women and as indigenous peoples. The intersection of gender and ethnicity renders them more vulnerable to oppression, exploitation, abuse and violence due to the prevalence of patriarchy in the dominant society and in many indigenous institutions, and the utter disregard of indigenous peoples’ collective rights. The UN system upholds the principles of gender equality and women’s rights thru the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)  and affirms the inherent collective rights of indigenous peoples to social justice and non-discrimination with the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Further, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the ILO Convention 169  are key international human rights instruments for the protection of the rights of indigenous women among others.  However, more actions are urgently needed for indigenous women to exercise and enjoy their rights, their wellbeing ensured, and their contributions to sustainable development for the people and the planet  recognized.   

Indigenous women play a critical role in the indigenous peoples’ stewardship of their lands, territories and resources. Their interaction and reciprocal relations with nature and  their practice of  sustainable resource management and biodiversity protection and enhancement  embody the indigenous peoples’ knowledge in their centuries of reciprocal relations with nature. Indigenous women also play a critical role in food security in the indigenous peoples’ subsistence economy as they are the main food producer. They are also central in keeping community cohesion and peace in their territories because the consequences of conflicts are more severe to indigenous women and children.  Thus, indigenous women should not be regarded only as women but as part of indigenous peoples. The violations of indigenous peoples collective  rights  affect indigenous women profoundly and disproportionately.  Indigenous women embody a distinct identity and unique condition of  severe discrimination on the basis of their gender, ethnicity and economic condition. With this,  they are advancing their own movement and  many of them are in the frontline of indigenous peoples movements.

While indigenous women remain largely marginalized in all aspects of life due to intersecting vulnerabilities and historical discrimination, they have been consciously empowering themselves against all forms of violence and violation of their rights as women and as indigenous peoples.  There is a  growing number of indigenous women’s organizations and networks actively raising their voices from the local to the national and global levels. This growing strength, however, is being challenged by more aggressive land and resource grabs, political repression, criminalization of indigenous peoples, including gender-based  attacks and exploitation of indigenous women.

The overwhelming reality of discrimination of and violence to indigenous women in particular and of indigenous peoples in general illustrates that they are extremely lagging behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).  This report aims to demonstrate this reality with a focus on   Goal 10 “Reduce inequality within and among countries’’ and Goal 16 “Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies” and its linkages to Goal 5: “Empowerment of women and girls”

Download the document attached to know more. 

The report on the current state of Indigenous Peoples’ Lands, Territories and Resources (LTR) was prepared by the Indigenous Peoples Major Group (IPMG) to inform the implementation of global commitments to Sustainable Development and the various related processes for transformational change. It is a summary of regional reports written by indigenous researchers and experts under the guidance of the IPMG 

Global Coordinating Committee to stress the importance of securing the collective land rights of indigenous peoples, an imperative to achieve sustainable development for all. 

Indigenous peoples’ intrinsic and reciprocal relationships with their land, territories and resources constitute the foundation of their identities and cultures, spirituality and values, health and collective well-being. Springing from these relationships with their homelands are their diverse contributions towards enriching nature, engendering diversity and maintaining balance with the natural world. Securing, renewing and nurturing these relationships with their lands, territories and resources amid unsustainable production and consumption, extractive industries and carbon-based development, marked by highly unequal power relations and social inequality, is the challenge indigenous peoples face around the world. 

The legacy of 500 years of colonialism and its institutional framework of political and cultural discrimination, environmental destruction, economic marginalization and impoverishment persists in modern-day States. Indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources were forcibly taken, exploited, divided and expropriated in the name of development. Dismantling this legacy by upholding the rights of indigenous peoples has been the challenge posed to the global community for more than 30 years of engagement with the UN system. As a result, the UN General Assembly in 2007 adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In 2014 at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP), States reaffirmed their commitment to respect, promote, advance and in no way diminish the rights of indigenous peoples set forth in the UNDRIP. 

Hundreds of recommendations and advice issued by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples also emphasize the urgent need to recognize and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples over their lands, territories and resources in response to the worsening condition of indigenous peoples across the globe. 

These UN General Assembly resolutions on indigenous peoples, along with the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, constitute a strong political foundation and mandate – that include human rights obligations - for States to work in partnership with indigenous peoples to overcome inequality gaps and being left behind. At the WCIP, States made this commitment: 

“We commit to establish at the national level, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent mechanisms to acknowledge, advance and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to lands, territories and resources. Such mechanisms will be culturally appropriate and flexible, and competent to safeguard free, prior and informed consent by indigenous peoples prior to development or use of lands, territories and resources. 

We commit to address the impact or potential impact of major development projects, including extractive industries, on indigenous peoples and to ensure transparency and benefit sharing. The rights of indigenous peoples regarding development of lands, territories and resources, will be incorporated into law, policies and practice. 

We commit to develop, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, policies, programmes and resources to support indigenous peoples’ occupations, economies, livelihoods, seeds, and food security.” 

For in truth, indigenous peoples are contributing immensely in addressing the current crises of biodiversity loss and climate change mitigation and adaptation. They offer diverse and innovative solutions to these problems which they encounter daily on the ground. Their simple lifestyles and sustainable systems of resource governance and management are also invaluable in achieving sustainable development in an integrated and cohesive manner. 

For their contributions to be fully realized, indigenous peoples need secure tenure over their lands, territories and resources, to freely determine their development paths and priorities consistent with self-determination, and full respect for and exercise of their collective and individual human rights. This should be a centerpiece of development strategies that will not only benefit indigenous peoples but all of humanity and the planet.

This report presents stories from around the world about how indigenous peoples are facing contemporary challenges and contributing to sustainable development. We hope it will spur more attention and actions by decision makers and development actors at the national, regional and global levels on the centrality of securing the lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples, if we are to save the only planet we all depend on. 

Joan Carling
Co-convenor
Indigenous Peoples Major Group for the SDGs