We, Indigenous Peoples
A Compilation of Indigenous Peoples’ Declarations
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"This book is an initial collection of indigenous peoples’ declarations covering the themes of Economic and Social Development, Culture, Education, Human Rights, Health and Environment."
From the Preface ...
Indigenous peoples in many occasions have come up with their collective views and positions on issues directly affecting them. This compilation of indigenous statements and declarations was deemed by us to be important for the reason that such declarations have been results of serious collective thinking and deliberations between indigenous representatives and should, therefore, be disseminated and used more widely. It is a waste if these are not used to further enlighten and educate other indigenous peoples and to inform the work being done at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other multilateral processes. Furthermore, these should reach more people and institutions in the broader society to further raise the awareness on indigenous rights and perspectives.
It is important for indigenous peoples to build upon the work done in earlier processes which has led to these declarations and statements which are distillations of the thinking and debates done. As they say, “we should not reinvent the wheel.” There are many issues that have not yet been adequately deliberated and debated among indigenous peoples. More efforts should be spent in covering other grounds instead of repeating what were done in earlier processes. If there is a need to revisit what has been said on specific issues because there are changes in the context then the new thinking will be based upon what evolved earlier.
