Events in the international community

United Nations General Assembly

58th Session, New York, 2003

Statement by Caroline Lewis, ILO Office for the United Nations, New York

The ILO has a long history of working on issues relating to the world's 350 million indigenous and tribal peoples. The ILO's two Conventions, the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107) and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), are the only international and legal instruments on the subject. Convention No. 169 marks a move away from the integrationist and paternalistic approach of its predecessor, towards recognition of the value of the culture and institutions of indigenous and tribal peoples; their right to be consulted on all decisions affecting their livelihoods; and protection of their social, economic, civil and political rights.

As this year's ILO Global Report on discrimination, Time for Equality at Work, notes: “It is not possible to eliminate discriminatory practices against indigenous and tribal peoples in the labour market alone unless issues of education, land rights and other more general rights are addressed”.

The ILO was pleased to be so actively involved in the second session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this year and in particular, the high level panel and dialogue on indigenous children and youth. The ILO provided a perspective on the problem of indigenous child labour. There are indications of high numbers of the worst forms of child labour among indigenous peoples in certain risk areas such as debt bondage in South Asia, migratory agricultural wage labour in Central America and Mexico, and trafficking in SE Asia.

In most countries, educational figures indicate low enrolment rates, poor school performance and high drop out rates among indigenous children, who often suffer the dual marginalization of being indigenous and children. Practical solutions have to be carefully thought through: formal education efforts are often ill adapted to indigenous children and their needs, since for many indigenous peoples traditional education typically includes learning traditional occupations. The ILO has produced an excellent working paper series on this subject – Indigenous and Tribal Children: Assessing child labour and education challenges – and looks forward to its continued collaboration with the 17 other UN system agencies in the Interagency Support Group on indigenous issues that supports the Forum.

The ILO has continued its two technical assistance programmes to support indigenous and tribal peoples. The Interregional Programme to Support Self-Reliance of Indigenous and Tribal Communities through Cooperatives and Other Self Help Organizations (INDISCO). A number of lessons have been learnt from the pilot projects under this programme, such as the importance of strengthening institutions of indigenous and tribal communities, community ownership of development projects to ensure project sustainability, and facilitation of income generating activities for indigenous and tribal peoples, particularly women.

The organization also carries out its Project to Promote ILO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, working mostly at the policy level to promote and help implement Convention No. 169. In the Philippines for example, the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act was drafted with ILO assistance; other policy promotion projects range from the development of national policies to strengthening indigenous peoples' organizations and setting up exchange programmes for them. In Kenya, a constitutional review process ensured the involvement of indigenous people, and in Central America empowerment has come through the establishment of legal teams trained to handle specific cases of the collective violation of indigenous rights.

Indigenous and tribal peoples are still not effectively protected by existing laws and policies, as national laws often do not address their specific situations, characteristics and needs - that is why the ILO views not only its Convention 169 as a tool to stimulate dialogue between governments and indigenous and tribal peoples, as well as to protect their interests, but also supports the visibility given to these issues by the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.