<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="FR" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Dear All,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">The article below was sent to me and I thought I should share it with you. It's relevance to Internet Governance would be the WGIG 2005 Report where "multilingualism" was identified as a policy thematic area.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Apparently, 9th August is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#1f497d"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">There are two articles below:</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><br>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Also in support of </span><b><span lang="EN-NZ">International Day
of the World's Indigenous Peoples, 9 August is a statement by Hon Tariana Turia
and Hon Dr Pita Sharples <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1108/S00115/my-language-is-the-window-to-my-soul.htm" target="_blank">http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1108/S00115/my-language-is-the-window-to-my-soul.htm</a>
<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt">"my language is the window to my soul"<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Tuesday, 9 August 2011, 2:41 pm</b><br>
<b>Speech: The Maori Party</b> <u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">MEDIA STATEMENT <br>
<b>Hon Tariana Turia and Hon Dr Pita Sharples</b><br>
<b>Maori Party Co-Leaders</b><br>
<b>Tuesday 9 August 2011</b> <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria; <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-NZ">My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul. </span></i><span lang="EN-NZ"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Maori Party Co-leaders, Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia, have chosen
<i>International Day of World Indigenous Peoples</i> to speak out strongly in
support of Pacific nations in their call to promote the status of Pasifika
languages in Aotearoa. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“August 9 is our special day across the globe, when we celebrate the
distinctive cultures of an estimated 370 million indigenous peoples. Indigenous
peoples speak more than 4000 of the nearly 7000 languages which are still
spoken in the world” said Dr Sharples <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“When we heard the call from our Pacific whanaunga to promote the
significance of Pasifika languages it was a call to the heart which we are duty
bound to take up”. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“The support the Maori Party has been able to give to Te Ataarangi;
to Te Reo Mauriora, to kura kaupapa Maori and to kohanga reo in the
revitalisation of te reo Maori, has been amongst some of our most important
achievements”. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“The theme for 2011, “<i>Indigenous Designs: Celebrating Stories and
Cultures, Crafting Our Own Future,”</i> highlights the need to preserve
indigenous cultures” said Tariana Turia. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“We endorse the call from Pasifika peoples, for official recognition
to be given in Aotearoa to the languages of Niue, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Samoa
and Tonga, as promoting and protecting Pacific languages; and thereby nurturing
the spirit and the strength of the peoples. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">We have been greatly concerned at the impact of changes the Ministry
of Education has made in eliminating bilingualism goals and a lack of support
for two series of resources, Tupu (published in five Pasifika languages) and
Folauga (published in Samoan)". <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“There is a huge volume of research demonstrating that bilingual
education has proven ability to enhance students’ performance in English
academic areas, especially language and mathematics” said Mrs Turia. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“We firmly believe – as we have seen with Maori immersion
achievement – that Pacific children who are bilingual will eventually show
better educational achievement than those who are not”. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">"While we understand the Ministry may be reviewing the format
of bilingual material, we hope that there will new impetus in supporting the
call from Pacific language groups, for promoting and supporting language
growth" said Dr Sharples. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">“The Maori Party is taking the opportunity of World Indigenous
Peoples Day to encourage the New Zealand Government to support Pacific
languages, and enable and support Pacific communities to continue to nurture
their own languages”. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">ENDS<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><br></b></p></div></div><div><div class="h5"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-NZ">
<br>
<b>International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, 9 August<br>
<br>
</b>8 August 2011<br>
<br>
Kia ora,<br>
<br>
tomorrow is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, which is
marked annually on 9 August in recognition of the first meeting of the UN
Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva in 1982. The theme of the Day
this year is 'Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting
our own future'.<br>
<br>
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' statement for the Day is below, and
there is a video by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, James Anaya, at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzjr0Ha_ofY&feature=youtu..be" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzjr0Ha_ofY&feature=youtu.be</a>
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues' page with information about the
Day is at <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/news_internationalday2011..html" target="_blank">http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/news_internationalday2011.html<br>
<br>
</a>This message is available online at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/peace-movement-aotearoa/international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples/217462811634429" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/notes/peace-movement-aotearoa/international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples/217462811634429<br>
<br>
</a><b>High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Let us ensure that development for
some is not to the detriment of the human rights of others”<br>
<br>
</b>5 August 2011 <br>
<br>
Following is the statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s
Indigenous People which is commemorated on 9 August:<br>
<br>
“As we celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People this
year, many of the estimated 370 million indigenous peoples around the world
have lost, or are under imminent threat of losing, their ancestral lands,
territories and natural resources because of unfair and unjust exploitation for
the sake of ‘development.’ On this day, let us ask the crucial question: who
actually benefits from this so-called development, and at what cost is such
development taking place?<br>
<br>
When indigenous communities are alienated from their lands because of
development and natural resource extraction projects, they are often left to
scrape an existence on the margins of society. This is certainly not a sign of
development. Many such projects result in human rights violations involving
forced evictions, displacement and even loss of life when social unrest and
conflict over natural resources erupt. This is certainly not what we mean by
development. Natural resource extraction projects such as mining are
land-intensive and water-intensive and often directly affect the collective
rights of indigenous peoples to their lands and territories. <br>
<br>
All too often we see conflict between corporations, indigenous peoples and the
State over development projects which are initiated without consultation or
consent of the very people who are dispossessed of their land. <br>
<br>
In Malaysia, for example, planned hydroelectric dam projects in Sarawak and
Sabah have caused great concern for indigenous peoples, who are either being
displaced or dispossessed of their lands. The Penan people have received
threats and there are reports of harassment of the Penan by workers of logging
companies. Various complaints and claims have prompted SUHAKAM, Malaysia’s
human rights commission, to initiate a national inquiry on the land rights of
indigenous peoples.<br>
<br>
In India, social unrest and conflicts over land acquisition for development and
mining projects have increased in recent years. Adivasis defending their
ancestral lands and community forests are often subject to threats and
harassment, despite the existence of constitutional protections, Supreme Court
judgments and progressive national legislation requiring consent of tribal
communities, and community rights over forest use. In a positive development in
2010 the Ministry of Environment and Forests in India stopped the Orissa
government and Vedanta, a multinational mining company headquartered in the
United Kingdom, from mining in the Niyamgiri hilltop in Kalahandi district,
since such an operation would severely affect the ecology of the area and the
situation of the Dongria Kondh Adivasi people living in the mountains.<br>
<br>
Threats against anti-logging activists working to protect the Amazon forest in
Brazil have been long ongoing. Recently, José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his
wife Maria de Espirto, both anti-logging activists and defenders of indigenous
peoples’ rights were killed in the Brazilian state of Para. My Office continues
to directly monitor the impact of extractive industries and development
projects in a number of other countries, including Bolivia, Cambodia, Guatemala
and Mexico.<br>
<br>
In many cases, extractive activities in indigenous territories are pursued by
multinational companies headquartered in developed countries. Moreover,
extractive industries are often present in the areas inhabited by indigenous
peoples in these nations. For example, intensive oil and gas development
continues in northern Alberta, Canada in the areas where the long-standing land
claims by the Lubicon Lake Nation remain unresolved. In the Nordic countries,
the Sami are concerned about the impact of mining, forestry and other natural
resource extraction on reindeer husbandry. <br>
<br>
Many States maintain contradictory or antiquated laws on mining and land acquisition
for development. These laws must be re-assessed to determine if they are
consistent with international human rights standards and principles.. Such
reviews must be conducted in consultation with indigenous peoples and in good
faith.<br>
<br>
Indeed, proper consultations must be conducted with indigenous peoples at all
stages of the development and natural resource extraction cycle. They are
entitled to full disclosure of environmental, social and human right impact
assessments in a language of their choice. States should also provide financial
and technical support to enable indigenous peoples to consult with
corporations. When indigenous peoples consent to such projects, they should
have a right to a fair share of benefits from activities on their lands. And
where projects proceed without consent, mechanisms for redress are required.
International and national institutions financing such projects must ensure
their operational policies and guidelines are consistent with international
human rights standards and principles. <br>
<br>
On their part, extractive companies have a responsibility to respect human
rights. This was affirmed in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council when
adopting the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples makes explicit reference to
free, prior and informed consent. It is very clear about this requirement for
the “development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other
resources”. This is further reinforced by international treaties such as ILO
Convention No. 169 and in the jurisprudence of human rights treaty bodies, in
particular the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. <br>
<br>
The right to development is a human right for all, and indigenous peoples have
the right to define and determine their own development. On this International
Day of the World’s Indigenous People, let us ensure that development for some
is not to the detriment of the human rights of others. Let us work together to
ensure true development for all.” - HC11/071E <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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