The office of the
Anglican Observer has been deeply
involved with the ongoing struggle
of indigenous peoples since the
beginning of the ministry in the
early 1990's. Among other activities,
the Observer actively participated
in the Working Group on Indigenous
Peoples, which is their primary
vehicle for NGO representation at
the UN. The current Anglican Observer,
Archdeacon Taimalelagi Matalavea,
an indigenous person from Samoa,
was recently quoted on the website
of the Anglican Indigenous People’s
Network (AIN) in saying that indigenous
minority issues at the United Nations
are one of her priorities.
Although indigenous
peoples have been making their voices
heard there for over 75 years, their
concerns became especially prominent
in 1993, which the UN proclaimed
as the "International Year
for the World¹s Indigenous
People." The purpose of that
designated year was to create a
"new partnership" between
the UN, its member States, and indigenous
peoples. However, as the Working
Group aptly insisted, the correct
term should not have been "people,"
but "peoples" in order
to express accurately the tremendous
diversity among the millions of
indigenous peoples living in all
parts of the world. This concern
was about much more than the meaning
of words. It was about continuing
attempts to silence their voices
and to deny their basic human rights,
sometimes leading to genocide. As
one member of the Working Group
put it, "we are human beings
living today; we do not live in
a museum; we are not a thing of
the past." This statement summarized
well, as it still does, the many
obstacles faced by indigenous peoples
everywhere and everyday.
The Working Group
on Indigenous Peoples and other
NGOs representing them at the UN
have effectively brought these severe
problems to the halls of the United
Nations, but the forces acting to
destroy them and their homelands
continue. The goal of the "new
partnership," which was to
create a post-colonial relationship
between indigenous peoples and member
States has not been achieved. Archbishop
Sir Paul Reeves, the first Anglican
Observer, described this situation
by saying indigenous peoples are
not seen "as citizens, but
as subjects" in a colonial
dynamic that has not essentially
changed over several centuries.
Part of the reason for this is that
tribal territories are not usually
given legal status by the countries
in which they geographically exist.
At the UN, "sovereignty"
applies to the citizens and laws
of member States, rather than to
people who exist either outside
or at the margins of those States.
This situation creates ambiguity
in the official identification of
indigenous peoples, who live as
minorities in their own countries,
but do not receive full rights to
make decisions for themselves about
their own lives. The concept of
sovereignty employed by most States
both deprives indigenous peoples
of fundamental religious, economic,
and political rights and supports
exploitative economic development
strategies, which destroy ecological
systems. In other words, indigenous
peoples are marginalized in the
most severe sense of the word. The
testimony of their experience calls
into question the effectiveness
of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights as truly "universal."
It is for that reason that the
ministry of the Anglican Observer
has taken a special interest in
them and the issues they bring to
the UN.
In recent years,
the struggle of indigenous peoples
has often been directed toward the
legal recognition of their "intellectual
property" in its many forms,
including cultural knowledge, which
has diverse practical and sacred
uses. Examples of this intellectual
property are the medicinal and ecological
knowledge of plants, animals, and
land usage practices in the ecosystems
in which indigenous peoples live.
The question of adequate and equitable
financial compensation is crucial
here, as well as the basic human
right of preserving that knowledge
as part of, their own cultural tradition
Also, the preservation of this cultural
knowledge and the vitality of the
people who hold it are crucial to
the sustainability of those ecosystems.
The Office
of the Anglican Observer takes the
position that indigenous peoples
and the issues they bring to the
UN are anything but marginal. They
should be at the center of policy-making
in virtually all matters pertaining
to human rights, sustainable development,
and the environment. They are at
the heart of the ongoing struggle
for
all humankind to become more humane
at a critical time in human history.
