Pulsar – The UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Affairs began its eighth round of sessions this Monday with over 2000 representatives of indigenous villages and communities from around the world attending the event held through May 29.
The framework of the forum highlights the examination of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.
In the opening session, the General Assembly president, Miguel D’Escoto, affirmed advances made towards addressing issues affecting the progress of the indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, D’Escoto maintained that “indigenous people continue to suffer marginalization, poverty, and other human rights violations, threatening not only their livelihoods, but their very survival.”
The main topic of the first day of the sessions was the elaboration of the effect of extractive industrial practices endangering the ancestral lands of indigenous people; including mining, oil, lumber, and monoculture cultivation.
