Kenneth Deer: UN meeting an opportunity for indigenous peoples

The most important part of any UN world conference or high level plenary meeting is the Outcome Document. More important than all the speeches and ceremonies, the Outcome Document is the political declaration that will be agreed to by states during the conference. It has the weight of a UN General Assembly Resolution. Negotiated between states and Indigenous representatives, the Outcome Document will be the deciding factor on whether this High Level Plenary Meeting called the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples is deemed a success. However, the document itself will be decided before the conference even opens, on September 15 at the latest, when the final draft is released in the version to be voted on during the meeting.

The Outcome Document should be a statement by the UN uplifting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and promoting action to implement those rights. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the standard set by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, and it should be a simple matter to reiterate those rights and put them into action. If only it were so.

The biggest concern of Indigenous Peoples is that governments will attempt to limit or redefine their rights. So, when the first drafts of the outcome documents appeared, Indigenous Peoples looked for paragraphs that would try to reduce those rights. A number of Indigenous representatives wanted a paragraph stating “we reaffirm that nothing in this outcome document may be construed as diminishing or extinguishing the rights [of] Indigenous Peoples.” However, states did not want negative text in the document, so it was not included. Instead, a delegation of North American representatives proposed language to confirm the states’ “solemn commitment to uphold and in no way diminish the rights of Indigenous Peoples as contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”