A place at the table: the United Nations established a historic new forum for indigenous issues. What will it mean for Native peoples around the world? (Action).

The mere usage of the term "indigenous" itself, it should be noted, has been a thorn of contention in some countries, particularly as there is no absolute, unilateral usage and acceptance of it. The government of India does not acknowledge that there are "indigenous" people in its territories at all. Rather, notes Anna Pinto of the Northeast India based indigenous peoples' Center for Organization, Research and Education, "It has an official list of what it calls 'scheduled tribes,' an arbitrary list of groups that it considers to have tribal characteristics."

In Australia, being an Aboriginal person of the original Native peoples subjugated by European invaders is essential to defining ones indigeneity. In the Philippines, however, those defined as indigenous peoples comprise groups from more remote sectors of the country "whose ancestors were never conquered by Spain," according to noted regional leader Victoria Tauli Corpus, of the Indigenous Peoples Network.

To assume that an indigenous person, by definition, is automatically nonwhite or non-European would be incorrect, as the Scandinavian Arctic region's blonde-haired, fair-skinned Saami people reveal. So, too, is the idea that a country's indigenous peoples must be also of a different race than the ruling group. In much of Africa, notes the region's elected representative to the Permanent Forum, Dr. Aytegan Kouevi of Toga, "there are some peoples indigenous to particular areas which have been marginalized not by Europeans but by other black Africans who have come from elsewhere, ignoring those who lived there first.

"Each government must change their mentality," he warns, to recognize the diversity within the state."

In Latin America, the peculiarities of the former Spanish colonial system's micro-categorization of race and racial mixtures among its Native, African, and Spanish descended subjects adds yet another complex layer to the indigenous question. For countries like Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, et al--where the overwhelming majority of citizens are Indian by blood (85 to 95 percent, according to the CIA World Factbook 2002)--individuals of mixed Indian/European ancestry are rendered categorically--many would argue, divisively--apart as "Mestizo," much the same as South Africa's otherwise-native "Coloured" population has been. "This process of negation with regard to indigenous identity runs deep in our history," acknowledges Xochitl Galvez Ruiz, a cabinet minister and head of Mexico's Office for the Development of Indigenous Peoples. "To be seen as 'Indian' was to be discriminated against, and so parents would not want their children to be identified as such."

Welcomed At Last

Nearly 80 years since a delegation from the Cayuga Nation first petitioned the League of Nations (unsuccessfully) for inclusion within its membership, the world's indigenous peoples have finally been welcomed at the proverbial table among world leaders who forged the alliances, signed the treaties, and initiated the economic development which has heretofore determined their destinies. For two weeks during the month of May, the historic first session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Comprised of a panel of eight regionally elected indigenous representatives--Willie Littlechild and Mililani Trask representing Native Americans and Hawaiians, respectively--and eight government appointed experts, the Forum gathered to discuss, advise, and debate the myriad concerns which bring commonality to otherwise highly diverse peoples.

From Australia's Tortes Strait Islanders to Bolivia's Aymara to the Russian Aleur, they are united in their quest for self-determination and equal representation within national governments, fair access to health care, education, natural resources, and economic development, the protection of cultural and intellectual property rights, and acknowledgement and respect for their own distinct traditions, languages, religious beliefs, etc. Piecemeal, their voices wield scant influence on the world political stage; they are now counting on that, linked with more that 350 million other indigenous voices, they will be impossible to ignore.

By working within the UN system, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is equipped to engage the governments of the world at the highest levels possible, reporting directly to Economic and Social Council. "We have created a very open, transparent, and participatory body," says ECOSOC President Dr. Ivan Simonovic, "and the work of the Forum is open to all indigenous representatives, whether or not they belong to organizations accredited by [us]." With such continued input and involvement from its varied constituencies, particularly from tribal councils and nongovernmental organizations, the Permanent Forum functions as an advisory and coordinating committee to other UN agencies and initiatives as well, insuring that indigenous peoples' concerns are represented throughout.

Toward Recognition

The past half-century preceding the Forum's establishment comprises a still-developing timeline, as indigenous peoples began to amass greater levels of recognition and respect from the United Nations and other significant global organizations. The International Labour Organization became an early and fervent supporter of the protection for indigenous rights during the 195 Os. Other key markers include a 1971 UN study commissioned on the problems of discrimination against indigenous populations, followed six years later in Geneva by the First International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations on Indigenous Issues. By 1982, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations had been established under the auspices of ECOSOC. And finally, during 1993's World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, the Permanent Forum was formally proposed.

During the tenure of current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, UNHCHR has been a crucial supporter and promoter of indigenous rights initiatives, including the Permanent Forum. Among the key indigenous leaders themselves who have contributed greatly to this process--from Chief Ted Moses of the Grand Council of the Crees in Canada to Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala--one shall remain especially and fondly remembered for her contributions to not only the Working Group on Indigenous Populations but a seemingly endless list of relevant causes and coalitions. Ingrid Washinawatok of the Menominee Nation- who, in 1999, was brutally murdered by erstwhile revolutionaries from the guerilla army FARC while in Colombia to help its U'wa tribe build a school--was a gifted and charismatic activist and organizer, as well as an internationalist visionary who saw early on the necessity for worldwide coalition-building among indigenous peoples.

"Partnership in Action" has been a central theme for the UN-initiated International Decade for the World's Indigenous Peoples, now with two years remaining in its term. Developing new and more effective ways to facilitate practical working collaborations among indigenous peoples, governments, and agencies are key priorities.

"This is a job for the Forum," affirms Tony Belcourt of the Metis Nation in Canada, to seat us together at the table of potential partners.

Taking on the role of silent partner on occasion, too, is something that indigenous peoples are asking of these same governments today. "The traditional strategy [in New Zealand] had been to focus on Maori as a client," recalls Minister Parekura Horomia of the country's Department for Maori Affairs, while noting that the tide has certainly changed in recent years. "It is about empowering and enabling Maori to solve their own problems, with the governments role being to build on the strengths of Maori communities and aligning those strengths to the needs of their people."

Though attendees at the Forum's first session have been leaning heavily toward an optimistic vision of the Forum's promise to achieve real successes, it's still important to note that leaders of indigenous nations themselves remain unable to sit alongside representatives from UN member nation-states in the General Assembly hall.

Nevertheless, the progress and well-being of indigenous peoples can and often does contribute to that of their non-indigenous neighbors, exemplifying the symbiotic--if not always apparent--connection between both. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has acknowledged this, readily affirming, "Indigenous peoples have knowledge, vision, values, skills, and many other attributes that can--and must--help us at the United Nations, and indeed all of humankind, to achieve the long-sought goals of development and peace.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, ushering in this third millennium--according to Western calendars, that is--bespeaks a definite change in the air for indigenous peoples of the world, at least where the governments and governing of the world is concerned. Their combined strength, voices, and perseverance are a force that demands reckoning as never before. How long this empowered sentiment takes to trickle down to the people remains to be seen.

Cristina Veran is a journalist, historian, and educator who is also a United Nations correspondent. Her work has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Vibe, Newsday, and News From Indian Country.