The United Nations commemorates today the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9) with a strong appeal to the states so that they comply with the agreements and existing commitments with those communities.
That claim appears in separate messages sent by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, and special rapporteur on the rights of originating populations, James Anaya.
On occasion of the date, the world body will hold a special session in the presence of the UN chief, and the chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Paul Kanyinke Sena, among other personalities linked to issue.
Some 200 indigenous rowers will arrive in today to one of the Hudson River’s docks, in the western shore of Manhattan, the UN headquarters, after an extensive tour to honor the 400th anniversary of the Two Row Wampum Treaty.
That pact, signed in 1613 between the Haudenosaunee community, a confederation comprising six indigenous nations, and European immigrants, is considered the first of its kind and the foundation of all subsequent conventions.
According to the UN, there are more than 370 million indigenous people in 90 countries worldwide, who preserve their traditions and social, cultural, economic and political characteristics.
Via PL