By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 11 -- When
the Permanent
Forum on
Indigenous
Issues
comes to the
UN has it has
this week,
it's often a
study in
contrasts. In
the UN's North
Lawn building,
tribes people
and Native
Americans
multi-colored
hats and
walking sticks
pass in a
parallel
universe the
here-indigenous
diplomats in
their native
dress, dark
suits.
The
two worlds
intersected
Friday
afternoon when
a
custom-suited
minister from
Republic of
Congo held a
three course
lunch in the
re-opened
Delegates
Dining Room
facing the
East River,
with a room
only half
filled, mostly
by other
African
diplomats.
Many places
were empty:
Somalia,
Zimbabwe, even
neighboring
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
The
Permanent
Representatives
of Cameroon,
Chad and
Angola were
there, the
last as
this month's
African Group
chairman. (He
did not
mention the
coup in
Guinea Bissau,
on which his
country seems
to disagree
with some
other
African
countries like
Nigeria and
Togo.)
The
Minister in
from
Brazzaville,
Bienvenu
Okiemy,
promoted his
country's Law
No.
5-2011 of
February 25,
2011 on the
Promotion and
Protection of
Indigenous
Populations'
Rights. Given
that some
African
countries
argued at the
UN not long
ago that
either all
Africans are
indigenous, or
none are, the
law is
noteworthy.
The
Law starts
that
"the term
Indigenous
Populations
mean
populations
who differ
from the
national
population by
virtual of
their cultural
identity,
way of life
and extreme vulnerability."
It also
provides that
"the use of
the term pygmy
is
prohibited."
It
did not seem
that the
delegation
from
Brazzaville
brought any
indigenous
person
with them,
those the two
African
members of the
Permanent
Forum's 16
members, and
some other
members
including from
Finland,
Estonia,
Canada and New
Zealand were
in attendance.
When
Q&A time
came, the
Permanent
Forum member
from Kenya
congratulated
Congo for
taking the
lead, noted
that Nairobi
"might lose
the UNEP
headquarters,"
and asked that
the PFII
preparatory
session to be
held in Congo
in 2013
include a
pan-African
meeting of
indigenous
people.
These
include,
according to
UNFPA's David
Lawson's
speech, the
Masai of
Kenya, the
Baaka of
Congo, the
Mbororos of
Cameroon, the
Batwa of
Uganda and the
Twa of the DRC
and Rwanda, to
say nothing of
the Bushmen
and others.
Inner
City Press
asked the
Minister what
progress has
been made on
the
recommendation
of Rapporteur
James Anaya
that the Congo
- Brazzaville
"Government
will need to
develop and
fully
implement a
new procedure
for
demarcating
and
registering
lands in
accordance
with
indigenous
peoples’
customary
rights and
tenure." The
Minister said
this
IS being done,
then closed
the session.
Earlier
in the
week music
filled the
General
Assembly
visitors'
lobby: two
songs by
Sak Tzevul of
Chiapas,
Mexico; much
from Kahurangi
theater of New
Zealand, Andes
Manta of
Ecuador and
the Chakma
people of
Bangladesh's
Chittagong
Hill Tracts;
Nepalese dance
and a group
from the
Republic
of Sakha in
Russia.
In
a session
listed as
closed, the
"first
Finno-Ugric
Event at the
UN"
ever was held,
and hockey
player
Alexander
Ovechkin was
claimed as
Finno-Ugric.
Across First
Avenue the
"Doctrine of
Discovery"
was rebutted
by a display,
complete with
cash bar, of
the Six
Nations
of the Grand
River in
Canada. They
presented a
litany of
broken
treaties. And
so it goes at
the UN.