Briefing on Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, and on Fellowship Program for Indigenous People
Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, the Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People was authorized to accept and administer voluntary contributions from governments, inter-governmental and non?governmental organizations and other private institutions and individuals for the purpose of funding projects and programs during the decade. (Read More)

A Call for Indigenous People to Participate on the Heritage System Project, organised by FAO .
After two changes in the schedule, the presentation on the project "Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems" (GIAHS) finally took place. Mr. David Boerma exposed briefly the objectives and means of the project after having explained the concept of a heritage system. (Read More)

Save the Romanian Gypsies
The documentary "Save the Romanian Gypsies" was presented by Mena Muria Foundation & Dutch Maluccan Group. The film focuses on a project by Gypsies in Romania. The group which is documented decided, with the help of Western donors, to buy a farm in order to become self sustaining since they no longer wanted to rely on food and cloth donations. (Read More)

Indigenous Caucus Committee - 23 July 2003
The Indigenous Caucus Committee held a session on Wednesday July 23rd 2003 and the following points were discussed: The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a survey on the Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, and the follow-up on the World Conference on Racism. (Read More)

Indigenous Caucus Committee - 24 July 2003
The Indigenous Caucus Committee held a session on Thursday July 24th, 2003 and the following points were discussed: General Information about Indigenous People Universal Magazine Draft, ILO 169 Convention, and the Recommendation for the 2004 Indigenous Caucus. (Read More)

Interview with Ms. Emily Caruso, Forest Peoples Program
The current political and economic strategy of the World Bank goes hand-in-hand with economic globalization. Seven case studies have been done by indigenous peoples of their experiences with the World Bank and extractive industries and there was a two day workshop at which these various contributions were presented and discussed at Oxford in April. (Read More)

Indigenous Peoples and the Commonwealth, organized by Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA)
The subject of Indigenous Peoples' Rights in the Commonwealth was addressed by Les Malezer (Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action, (FAIRA). The Commonwealth area includes 52 countries, of which 32 are small states, particularly vulnerable to external economic forces. (Read More)

Briefing on Fair Trade & Indigenous People, organised by MANDAT International
This discussion focused on the limits and perspectives of fair trade. Mr. Faye , from UNCTAD, started by stating that fair trade concerns agriculture and handicraft products. It is the principal source of revenue for several farmers and artisans of developing countries. (Read More)

From Khabarovsk to Geneva: A long way to recognition
Following the official celebration of the International Indigenous Peoples' Day, the debates of the Working Group were carried on in a colourful atmosphere and tackled the theme of Standard Settings. This question is of an utmost importance as it will be the basis of a final declaration on Indigenous Peoples' Rights. (Read More)

United Nations - Working group on Indigenous Populations Indigenous Peoples and Globalization
24 July 2003 Session.
The essence of today's working group discussions were mainly about Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples and other legal aspects around the same theme. A brief discussion about hard law versus soft law occurred during the deliberations. (Read More)

The Last Information Bulletin will be published and sent on Monday 28 July 2003

Plenary Session of the Working Group on the Indigenous Population- 23 July 2003
Today's morning session followed yesterday's session on item 4b of the agenda about the theme " Indigenous Peoples and Globalization ". Another 40 speakers had the floor today to make their statements. Again, the principle issues treated related to the general effects of globalization on Indigenous Population and the different initiative the concerned governments and especially the International Community should take to encounter these effects. (Read More)

The grievances of Indigenous people in South Africa and Namibia against Globalisation
The Plenary Session of the Working group on Indigenous People is the occasion for some eighty members of delegations to express their views and concerns about the relation between "Indigenous people and Globalisation". (Read More)

Indigenous people versus Extractive Industries
One of the main impediments for indigenous people development is the activity of mining industries and trans-national companies. This burning issue was discussed during the plenary Session and was soon afterwards the focus of a short informal workshop opened by Joji Cariño from the Indigenous Peoples' International Center for Policy Research and Education. (Read More)

Targetting the Millenium Development Goals on Basic Health : Promotion and protection of indigenous medicine and pharmacology in a liberalized world
The central discussion of this meeting, organized by Citizens of the World, was the preservation of knowledge about traditional indigenous medicine. The three principal subjects were 1) the problem of patenting this knowledge, 2) access to medication and the link between traditional medicine and; 3) scientific knowledge. (Read More)

"Greenland on its way"
The video «Greenland on its way » (produced by the Danish minister of foreign affairs) presented us (the film’s audience this afternoon) with the Denmark’s position about the autonomy of the Greenland region granted in 1979 by the past
colonial power. (Read More)

Indigenous Caucus - Monday, 21.07.03
Having started on Saturday, yesterday was the third session of the Indigenous Caucus. The Caucus' work was hindered by other events in the building which kept some of the participants away from the work in Room XVI. (Read More)