Second Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples

Under the theme "Indigenous Children and Youth" the second session of indigenous peoples took place from 12-23 May 2003 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Members of the Permanent Forum, representatives of Governments, United Nations bodies and intergovernmental organizations, as well as a significant number of non-governmental organizations, indigenous organizations representing some of the 500 indigenous groups worldwide and academic institutions attended the meeting which focused on the survival of indigenous peoples through its children.

During one of the many discussions held during the session, speakers highlighted the enormous challenges that indigenous youth were facing, particularly the lack of access to decent education, as well as information and values allowing them to become productive and self-determined adults.

According to UN estimates, there are at least 5,000 indigenous groups composed of 300 million people living in more than 70 countries on five continents. Growing international awareness of the critical situation of indigenous people and their invaluable contribution to the survival of humankind led the United Nations to proclaim the International Decade for the World's Indigenous People.

An Inter-Agency Support Group to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples has been meeting during this past year to discuss further ways in assisting the implementation of the Forum's mandate.

The second meeting of the Support group was organized by the World Bank and held in Washington on 17-18 February 2003 with the participation of the Secretariat of the Forum, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Health Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, the ILO and UN-HABITAT. The group contributed with a common discussion paper on data collection and desegregation coordinated by the World Health Organization for the Second Forum of Indigenous Peoples.

During the discussions over methods of work, indigenous groups stressed the need for more research regarding disaggregated ethnic data, increased Secretariat funding and closer cooperation with United Nations agencies.

For more information on the outcomes of the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, please click here.

To read the documents, please click here.