Indigenous peoples’ call on U.N. member countries to adopt a declaration protecting their rights

An 11-day forum to support a proposed United Nations declaration to protect the land and resource rights of the world’s indigenous peoples convened in New York on Monday in the presence of more than 1000 delegates, Agence France Presse reported the next day.

The aim of the forum is to persuade the United Nations General Assembly members to adopt the declaration. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the Philippine chair of the Forum, expressed concern as to the exploitation of indigenous peoples’ territories and resources, and called the declaration “the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous people.”

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