Self-Determination

Listen to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples speak about an incident in July 2015 in Southern Belize affecting the rights of the Maya people.

To learn more read: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/belize-unsr-victoria-tauli-corpuz-…

Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn speaks about successes at the 2015 UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, including the new participation on Indigenous Peoples of Japan and Taiwan in the conferences.

Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn speaks about successes at the 2015 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Communities in the Pacific region have united over common issues, different groups have made efforts to align as Indigenous Peoples as a body in international conferences, and Indigenous Peoples were represented in a major climate change conference.

Lemoine LaPointe, a Lakota of South Dakota and Minnesota, speaks about community conversations and their importance in providing support for Indigenous Peoples and their relationship with the surrounding region both in the present and in the future.  We met up with Lemoine at the UNPFII 2015.

Nancy Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota) from South Dakota shares her work in domestic violence and sexual assault and gives advice on how to make a change. She speaks about historical trauma and its effects on Native American peoples today. Nancy works with women who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking and hopes to lessen the economic and mental health disparities in Indigenous women.  We caught up with Nancy at the UNPFII 2015. 

Interview at the United Nations Permament Forum on Indigenous Peoples, May 2015 in New York. Listen to a members of the Indigenous Peoples Global Network speak about how they want to be included as Indigenous Peoples with Disabilities in the broader movement.

Mililani Trask frankly states that there is not much work which can be done in the 2 days of discussions which make up the WCIP. She is not surprised by the lack of funding and the limitations on which issues can be discussed, but describes the resulting meeting as a betrayal because the WCIP was meant to bring people together to discuss many issues facing Indigenous Peoples and address how to move forward.  

“Key doors are now open but it has to be Indigenous Peoples who walk through those doors.”

In terms of the next steps for Indigenous Peoples, Les Malazer highlights that the outcome document contains many actions which are easy to look at and discuss how they might be implemented.

Les Malazer discusses the process for deciding items and actions to be included in the outcome document from the WCIP.