‘A Home at the United Nations’: Indigenous Peoples and International Advocacy

Abstract

Over the past three decades, Indigenous peoples have successfully forged a presence within the United Nations (UN) and international law as a result of their organised international advocacy, raising awareness of the distinct nature of Indigenous peoples’ rights and the unique human rights challenges that contemporary Indigenous communities face (Anaya, 2004: 56–58). In 2001, Indigenous peoples celebrated the first session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Permanent Forum/PFII) — a forum established for permanent coordination of Indigenous peoples’ issues within the UN system. When the then Secretary General Kofi Annan opened the UN Permanent Forum, he declared to the Indigenous peoples present: ‘you now have a home at the United Nations’. While many Indigenous representatives delighted in this effusive welcome, many have reserved judgment upon the Permanent Forum and questioned the effectiveness of entrenching indigenous diplomacy within the UN’s bureaucracy (Havemann, 2001: 24–25; Stewart-Harawira, 2005: 18).