While applauding recent World Bank policies and initiatives, such as a recently established small-grants facility for indigenous people, several speakers remarked that the Bank had lent millions of dollars for projects that had led to the destruction of indigenous communities and environment. He asked well-meaning organizations to assist indigenous people in reviving traditional economic systems. Indigenous people had become almost completely dependent on non-indigenous economic systems, due to the failure of projects aiming to help them. Towards that end, the Philippines had taken steps to include the voice of indigenous peoples in the planning and implementation of socio-economic projects and had recognized indigenous communities as equal partners in shaping, crafting and implementing development programmes.Īlthough indigenous people must adapt to the modern system, they must do so in traditional ways, remarked a representative of the Parlamento del Pueblo Qullana Aymara. The representative of the Philippines said the Forum should continue to place the utmost importance upon ensuring respect for the right of indigenous peoples in the planning and implementation of economic and social development projects. The Permanent Forum should recommend that States implement the right to self-determination because of its direct link to the right for social and economic development. While he welcomed partnerships with institutions such as the World Bank, it was essential that indigenous peoples became equal partners in these relationships. The Bank was proud to support these new approaches, while attempting to recognize past mistakes and establish processes of genuine dialogue to overcome distrust, ethnocentrism and prejudice.Ī representative of the Partnership for Indigenous Peoples Environment said the most important right for indigenous communities was the right to self-determination. “Sustainable development is achievable only if it is based on the cultural foundation and management capacity of the indigenous people involved”, said a representative of the Inter-American Development Bank as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues began its discussion on economic and social development today.ĭespite material poverty, discrimination, and environmental degradation, indigenous peoples were defining new avenues for more durable, balanced and inclusive development, he said. Right to Consent on Development Projects Also Cited
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