[IPSM] State of the World's Indigenous Peoples Report

[Vincent Pang]

State of the World's Indigenous Peoples Report
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP_web.pdf



http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10586/83/
State of the World's Indigenous Peoples Report Launched
Friday, 15 January 2010

First UN publication on the state of the world’s indigenous
peoples reveals alarming statistics on poverty, health,
education, employment, human rights, the environment
and more.

Access the report here .
UN Press Release:

Indigenous peoples make up one-third of the world’s
poorest and suffer alarming conditions in all countries

First UN publication on the state of the world’s indigenous
peoples reveals alarming statistics on poverty, health,
education, employment, human rights, the environment
and more.

Indigenous peoples all over the world continue to suffer from
disproportionally high rates of poverty, health problems,
crime and human rights abuses.

- In the United States, a Native American is 600 times more
likely to contract tuberculosis and 62 per cent more likely
to commit suicide than the general population.

- In Australia, an indigenous child can expect to die 20
years earlier than his non-native compatriot. The life
expectancy gap is also 20 years in Nepal, while in
Guatemala it is 13 years and in New Zealand it is 11.

- In parts of Ecuador, indigenous people have 30 times
greater risk of throat cancer than the national average.

- And worldwide, more than 50 per cent of indigenous
adults suffer from Type 2 diabetes – a number predicted
to rise.

These are just a few of the startling statistics in the United
Nations’ first publication on the State of the World’s
Indigenous Peoples, a thorough assessment of how
indigenous peoples are faring in areas such as health,
poverty, education and human rights.

While indigenous peoples make up around 370 million of
the world’s population – some 5 per cent – they constitute
around one-third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor
rural people. Every day, indigenous communities all over
the world face issues of violence and brutality, continuing
assimilation policies, dispossession of land, marginalization,
forced removal or relocation, denial of land rights, impacts
of large-scale development, abuses by military forces and
a host of other abuses.

Alarming state of indigenous health

The publication’s statistics illustrate the gravity of the
situation in both developed and developing countries.
Poor nutrition, limited access to care, lack of resources
crucial to maintaining health and well-being and
contamination of natural resources are all contributing
factors to the terrible state of indigenous health worldwide.

According to the report:
- Indigenous peoples’ life expectancy is up to 20 years
lower than their non-indigenous counterparts.

- Indigenous peoples experience disproportionately high
levels of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition,
cardiovascular illnesses, HIV/AIDS and other infectious
diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

- Suicide rates of indigenous peoples, particularly among
youth, are considerably higher in many countries, for
example, up to 11 times the national average for the Inuit
in Canada.

Displacement and dispossession destroying indigenous
communities

One of the most significant threats facing indigenous
peoples identified in the publication is the displacement
of indigenous peoples from their lands, territories and
resources. The publication details several examples of
displacement, separation and eviction, including in
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hawaii, Rwanda, Burundi,
Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia.

“When indigenous peoples have reacted and tried to
assert their rights, they have suffered physical abuse,
imprisonment, torture and even death,” states the
publication.

The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was
authored by seven independent experts and produced by
the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues.

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