Indigenous Communities + Human Rights
The rights of indigenous peoples’ have been progressively given more attention by the UN system. Yet, indigenous peoples continue to be left behind and suffer disproportionately from climate change, environmental degradation, high levels of poverty, poor access to education, health, and broader human rights violations.
While representing over 6 percent of the worlds’ population (476 million in some 90 countries), indigenous peoples are nearly three times as likely to be living in extreme poverty. They account for almost 19 percent of the extreme poor. Indigenous peoples have been particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic and cultural consequences. Globally, there is a lack of disaggregated data on indigenous peoples. Where data exists, the situation is concerning.
Indigenous peoples live on all continents, from the Arctic to the Pacific, via Asia, Africa and the Americas. There is no singularly authoritative definition of indigenous peoples under international law and policy, and the Indigenous Declaration does not set out any definition. This decision was taken intentionally by the drafters based on the rationale that the identification of an indigenous people is the right of the people itself—the right of self-identification- and a fundamental element of the right to self-determination. Indigenous peoples’ situations and contexts are highly variable; any single definition will not fully capture the full diversity of the indigenous peoples of the world. In fact, its articles 9 and 33 state that indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and customs of the community or nation concerned, and that they have the right to determine their own identity.
The situation for indigenous women + Displacement, conflict and reprisals
Indigenous peoples continue to face threats, especially to their land rights (from natural resource extraction, infrastructure projects, large scale agriculture and conservation). In some instances there is a heightened risk of statelessness, particularly for those indigenous peoples whose traditional lands cross national borders.
This has resulted in the displacement of millions of indigenous peoples, and caused conflicts and a sharp increase in attacks, killings and criminalisation of indigenous peoples, including increasing threats and assassinations of human rights defenders. This also includes harassment and reprisals against indigenous representatives, including for participating in UN fora.