News, events and stories on indigenous and tribal peoples

  1. © John Isaac / UN Photo 2022

    Rights of indigenous peoples

    Urgent action needed to tackle poverty and inequalities facing indigenous peoples

    03 February 2020

    Thirty years after the adoption of the only international Convention on the rights of indigenous peoples, a new ILO report finds they are still more likely to be poor and face particular hardships in the world of work.

  2. Media advisory

    New report assesses situation of world’s indigenous and tribal peoples

    29 January 2020

  3. News

    ILO shares its orientation tool on coops with indigenous women entrepreneurs at WIPO training

    18 November 2019

  4. Event

    ILO and Partners Celebrate International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples 2019

    The International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated in Bangladesh on 6 August 2019 at an event organized by The Indigenous Peoples Forum and Kapaeeng Foundation the ILO, UNDP, Australian Aid, and Royal Danish Embassy all attended the event.

  5. Event

    International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2019

    There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across more than 70 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but account for 15 per cent of the world’s poor. Yet they protect nearly 80 per cent of the Earth’s biodiversity. The ILO has been engaged with indigenous and tribal peoples’ issues since the 1920s. It is responsible for the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the only international treaty open for ratification that deals exclusively with their rights.

  6. Blog

    Navigating indigenous rights

    09 August 2019

    The International Labour Organization is working with Indigenous peoples in some of the remotest parts of Bangladesh to raise awareness of their rights and to ensure the voices of indigenous women and men are heard on issues that affect their communities.

  7. Side Event at the 18th Session of the UNPFII

    Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169): “Learning and looking ahead”

  8. Side Event at the 18th Session of the UNPFII

    Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: Emerging Research on Traditional Knowledge and Livelihoods

  9. Blog

    Why indigenous peoples’ knowledge matters to a green future of work

    24 April 2019

    Can indigenous and tribal peoples help save the planet? That is a question we looked into to research what traditional knowledge means in everyday practice and how it can contribute to addressing climate change.

  10. United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

    ILO at the Eighteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues