INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CAUCUS’ OPENING STATEMENT
ON PARTNERSHIP

Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue, Session 2, Partnership
PrepCom IV, WSSD, Bali, Indonesia
28 May 2002

We, the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, are very interested and concerned about this topic of partnership, especially in the context of Type 2 outcomes that puts emphasis on private and public sector partnerships, especially those involving transnational corporations and the private sector. This initiative explores various levels of governmental and non-governmental actions between government, business, industry and civil society. Of course, we cannot mention Type 2 outcomes without mentioning Type 1 outcomes that must put emphasis on the responsibility of governments to have the political will, commitment and responsibility to implement Agenda 21 and provisions of sustainable development.

Before we address certain principles and key issues in this dialogue on partnerships, we must express our concern of three items:

1. The reality of the historical practices, attitudes and policies of local authorities and States towards indigenous peoples very often do not permit equal partnership, no recognition of core values of democracy and with numerous violations of human rights towards our indigenous communities.
2. The reality that most forms of development that has taken place within our lands and territories has been resource industries that form partnerships with governments, very often without consultation with local indigenous communities. These so-called sustainable developments, in fact, have not been sustainable and have left a legacy of environmental, social, economic, and cultural devastation to our indigenous communities. This form of “western development” have left many indigenous communities in poverty with ecological landscapes destroyed, family systems disrupted, and the lost of secured food systems that have sustained us for generations. In some regions, our indigenous peoples are forced to relocate to urban areas to make room for development in our homelands. It has been expressed by social scientists that indigenous peoples, worldwide, are the poorest of the poor.

3. Partnership cannot be discussed with indigenous peoples without the recognition by government of the rights of indigenous peoples that consist of self-determination and rights to land and water-ways.

If we could mention the following statement of the Vienna Declaration and Programme Action, paragraph 20, of the World Conference on Human Rights:

20. The World Conference on Human Rights recognizes the inherent dignity and the unique contribution of indigenous peoples to the development and plurality of society and strongly reaffirms the commitment of the international community to their economic, social and cultural well-being and their enjoyment of the fruits of sustainable development. States should ensure the full and free participation of indigenous peoples in all aspects of society, in particular in matters of concern to them. Considering the importance of the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, and the contribution of such promotion and protection to the political and social stability of the States in which such people live, States should, in accordance with international law, take concerted positive steps to ensure respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, on the basis of equality and non-discrimination and recognize the value and diversity of their distinct identities, culture hand cultures and social organization. [World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 13-25 June 1993, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, A/CONF.157/2 4 (Part I) (1993), para 20]

Any programme of action to address sustainable development, from local authorities, to national, regional and international levels, must ensure the participation of and respect for the human rights and self-determination of indigenous peoples. This issue must be within the framework of partnership. If partnership under this emphasis of Type 2 outcomes is to be implemented in regions and localities where indigenous peoples reside, there are key issues and questions that deserve dialogue.

1. There must be clear definition of partnership and indicators for measuring and evaluating its implementation. Partnership may have different definitions between dominant society and indigenous peoples.
2. We feel there must be a programme that addressesthe need for communication and education to be achieved between the indigenous and non-indigenous community. As indigenous peoples, we remain open to share our worldview with local, national and international community. Culture, language and our spiritual – cosmic relationship to the sacredness of the female-creative principle of Earth Mother and father-sky is often a foreign concept to the private sector and transnational corporations who, in most cases, are profit driven and not interested in our cultural ways. These indigenous values are often not incorporated within governmental decision-making involving development, despite our efforts to express our cultural values within the decision-making processes.
3. We demand mechanisms that would ensure any Type 2 partnerships create equal playing fields for indigenous peoples and local communities to participate in these partnerships as equal partners.
4. We demand mechanism be created that would prevent governmental decisions to demonstrate bias towards private sector development.
5. We demand mechanisms for monitoring and regulating industry and the private sector in these Type 2 partnerships being negotiated. There must be provisions that are transparent to indigenous peoples, local communities and civil society, especially if industry and private sector will be self-regulating themselves in proposals being introduced in these Type 2 dialogues. There must be clear understanding on the role and responsibility of governments to ensure proper environmental and resource management, in addition to Type 2 provisions.

Before any discussion on partnership could take place, there has to be dialogue. With indigenous peoples, to have dialogue, certain parameters must be meant:

1. Respect and recognition of the culture, language and spiritual beliefs of our indigenous peoples.
2. Honesty, openness and good faith.
3. Dialogue is about developing a relationship and networking with less emphasis on money.
4. As dialogue progresses to partnership dialogue, all participants must recognize the rights to land and the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples.

As a condition of establishing partnerships, governments, private sector and corporations must consult with indigenous peoples in all matters that may affect them. These consultations must be carried out in good faith, meaning there is no fraud, intimidation and manipulation. Good faith consultation also requires that indigenous peoples be involved in:

1. Giving free and informed consent to conduct the consultation.
2. Being provided the means and capacity to fully participate in such consultation, and,
3. Being allowed to exercise both their local and traditional decision-making processes, including the direct participation of their spiritual and ceremonial authorities as well as traditional practitioners of subsistence and cultural ways in the consultation process and the expression of consent for the particular development project or measure.

These are some of the primary concerns and issues concerning the dialogue on partnerships. The right of indigenous peoples to participate in decision-making activities in countries where indigenous peoples reside is a very important prerequisite to any dialogue on partnership. There are 350 million Indigenous peoples throughout the world. These indigenous peoples live in areas that comprise near 90% of the biodiversity of this world. This subject of partnership in the implementation of Agenda 21 and sustainable development is a serious issue to indigenous peoples. The form of action coming from the World Summit on Sustainable Development will affect the future of our peoples. This topic is a life and death issue to indigenous peoples.

In final comment, we must mention Chapter 26, paragraph of Agenda 21, titled, “Recognizing and strengthening the role of indigenous peoples and their communities”:

In full partnership with indigenous peoples and their communities, Governments and, where appropriate, intergovernmental organizations should aim at fulfilling the following objectives:

1. Establishment of a process to empower indigenous people and their communities through measures that include: (1) Adoption or strengthening of appropriate policies and/or legal instruments at the national level, (ii) Recognition that the lands of indigenous peoples and their communities should be protected from activities that are environmentally unsound or that the indigenous peoples concerned consider to be socially and culturally inappropriate, (iii) Recognition that their values, traditional knowledge and resource management practices with a view to promoting environmentally sound and sustainable development, (iv) Recognition that traditional and direct dependence on renewable resources and ecosystems, including sustainable harvesting, continues to be essential to the cultural, economic and physical well-being of indigenous peoples and their communities; (v) Development and strengthening of national dispute resolution arrangements in relation to the settlement of land and resource management concerns; and,
2. Establishment, where appropriate, of arrangements to strengthen the active participation of indigenous peoples and their communities in the national formulation of policies, laws and programmes relating to resource management and other development processes that may affect them, and their initiation of proposals for such policies and programmes;
3. Involvement of indigenous people and their communities at the national and local levels in resource management and conservation strategies and other relevant programmes established to support and review sustainable development strategies, such as those suggested in other programme areas of Agenda 21.

This concludes our comments and look forward to the interactive dialogue in this session.