Press Release SDG Media Panel “The 2030 Agenda – an opportunity or threat for indigenous peoples’ rights?”

“The 2030 Agenda – an opportunity or threat for indigenous peoples’ rights?”

PANEL DEBATE 21/09/2017 4pm- 4:20pm SDG MEDIA ZONE, United Nations, NY

While this year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the UN General Assembly, indigenous peoples around the globe still face a huge implementation gap of their rights. At the same time, international agreements, particularly the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is yet to be fully aligned with the commitments of States to respect and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples with clear policies, measures, and programmes to implement the SDGs.

The implementation of the UNDRIP is a prerequisite to achieving truly transformational SDGs that leave no one behind. For this, the recognition of indigenous land, territories, and resources will not only ensure their inclusion in reaching the SDGs, such as ending poverty and hunger and empowering women but will also contribute significantly to the world’s sustainable resource management and biodiversity protection.

With the active engagement of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group in the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) in July this year, their issues and aspirations gained increasing visibility. The Ministerial Declaration of the HLPF contains 4 references to indigenous peoples: the need of empowering indigenous peoples; the inclusion of indigenous peoples in appropriate national plans and measures to implement social protection systems; the acknowledgement of the extreme vulnerability of indigenous peoples to climate change and land degradation and the need to do outreach on indigenous issues in the context of the “localizing and communicating the SDGs”.

These are significant advances in consideration to raising more visibility, attention, and inclusion of indigenous peoples in the implementation of the SDGs. However, these need to be translated into actions on the ground with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples committed to monitoring the implementation of their rights in relation to the SDGs can already generate community-based data by using the Indigenous Navigator tools, an innovative initiative by and for indigenous peoples. Visit: www.indigenousnavigator.org

The Ministerial Declaration is one of the key outcomes of the HLPF as the global review process to provide more guidance and actions to implement the SDGs.

Panelists: Joan Carling Myrna Cunningham Stanley Kimaren

Moderator: Chandra Roy-Henriksen, Chief, Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ( UNPFII)

This media panel event is coordinated by the Secretariat of the UNPFII.

Follow live on www.un.org/sdgmediazone #SDGlive #GlobalGoals #UNGA

Spokespersons for press inquiries

If you would like to know more about indigenous peoples rights during the UNGA, please contact our spokespersons available 19-21 September in New York.

Joan Carling, Focal Person/Convenor Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development

Philippines

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Stanley Kimaren, Executive Director, Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA)

Kenya