Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eleventh session, New
York, 7-18 May 2012
Agenda Item 9: Future work of the Permanent Forum
Intervention by the International Indian Treaty Council and
the Pacific Indigenous Peoples Caucus
Presented by Santi Hitorangi, Pacific Indigenous Peoples
Caucus May 16th, 2012
The Pacific Region is a region of Ocean Peoples and
Nations. The International Indian
Treaty Council also has many affiliates and associates that are Island and
Coastal Peoples. These include
Indigenous Peoples from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Panama, Tuvalu, Nicaragua,
Mexico, Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Caribbean, Canada and other countries and
regions. We have received requests
to pass on the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues their urgent concerns
regarding a range of threats to the ocean homes and ecosystems on which their
lives, subsistence, political, cultural and spiritual identity and ways of life
depend. Moreover the health of the
oceans, the largest ecosystem on Earth, affects everyone and all Peoples on the
planet. The Oceans unite us all as
Peoples and members of the human family.
Specific concerns expressed by a number of Indigenous
Peoples in this regard include:
1) Increases
in shipping in northern coastal and ocean areas as Arctic ice recedes, creating
wide-spread and increasing stresses on ocean ecosystems and food sources
2) Lack
of Indigenous voices or considerations for Indigenous Peoples’ rights as
affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples in the
International Maritime Organization (IMO’s)’s discussions, policies and
standard setting activities
3) Impacts
of climate change including rising sea levels affecting island and coastal
homelands and water systems of island and coastal peoples and decreasing Arctic
ice, ocean temperature changes, extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes,
which drastically impact Indigenous Peoples’ food sources and subsistence
practices
4) Diminishing
ocean biodiversity affecting fish, plants, shore life and sea mammals vital for
Indigenous Peoples’ subsistence and traditional economies due to commercial
overfishing, habitat destruction and collapsing ecosystems, as well as
contamination of ocean food sources due to oil spills, offshore drilling, toxic
waste dumping, Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury.
5) Tourism
and industrial development of shoreline areas WITHOUT Free Prior and Informed
Consent, compromising culturally and spiritually important places, impacting
ceremonial and cultural practices, and preventing access to sacred sites,
fishing and gathering areas, shell mounds, burial areas, sacred beaches,
coastal wetlands and foreshores, violating the human and Treaty rights of
Indigenous Peoples. One example
among many is the tourism and extractive industry development by transnational
corporations in Rapa Nui, and the resulting repression and criminalization of
human rights defenders.
6) Impacts
of militarization, including military bases, military toxics and wastes,
conventional and nuclear weapons testing.
Our recommendation to the UNPFII at this 11th session is
therefore that the UNPFII hold a
half day session on the theme of Indigenous Peoples and oceans at its 12th
session in 2013, including a focus
on articles 20, 25, 26 and 29 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples.
This half day discussion will address all of the mandated
focus areas of the Permanent Forum including health, environment, culture,
education, economic and social development and human rights. It will address vital and urgent
concerns of Indigenous Peoples in all regions. It will also provide an opportunity to share
successful efforts by Indigenous Peoples regarding management and restoration
of marine and coastal eco- and food systems, including successful co-management
arrangements with states and other governments where those exist.
Thank you for considering this proposal from the Pacific
Indigenous Peoples Caucus and the International Indian Treaty Council.
