The fiasco that was falsely proclaimed to be the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP), continues to endanger the international movement for Indigenous peoples’ self-determination. In the most recent betrayal of Indigenous peoples’ rights, resulting from the sham UN “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples,” the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, on October 23, named Wu Hongbo as the UN coordinator to implement any "action plans" that are hypothetically imagined in the “World Conference” Outcome Document. As I, and others, have previously written, the UN High Level Plenary Meeting (HLPM) - was deceptively labeled a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples,” but it was not one.

Wu’s new position mandates his duties to raise awareness for, and advance the rights of, indigenous peoples in the UN system. It is curious, therefore, that the important announcement of Mr. Wu’s appointment was not posted (as of this writing) on the two websites that Indigenous peoples would reasonably visit for updates on the HLPM. Wu’s assignment is another retreat from the expectation of indigenous peoples that indigenous peoples be involved, as equal and effective partners, in UN decisions that affect us. Ban Ki-Moon could reasonably expect a negative reaction by many indigenous peoples to Wu’s installation, because there is little evidence to indicate that Wu will vigorously defend Indigenous peoples’ rights.

Although Wu currently serves as the Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN, he has been a career diplomat for the Chinese government, having previously served as the Chinese ambassador to both Germany and the Philippines. Wu's representation of his government’s positions (a career to which he will presumably return after his UN service) is significant, given China's history of hostility to the rights of indigenous peoples -- including Tibetans, Uighurs, the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, and China’s current provocative incursions into the Indigenous territories of the Arunachalese and Ladakhs in the Himalayas.