CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

The World Conference Against Racism: Continuing Racism Against Indigenous Peoples

By Alberto Saldamando, IITC General Counsel

Acknowledgement:

One of the few bright moments for Indigenous Peoples at the World Conference Against Racism, at Durban, South Africa, was a reception for Indigenous delegates organized by the Ko-San Peoples of South Africa, IPACC, the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee and the Griqua National Conference of South Africa. At this event, organized by Cecil Le Feur of IPACC, our Indigenous South African hosts were warm and generous in their time and greatly successful in their efforts to make us feel welcome. All Indigenous delegates to the WCAR were very appreciative and grateful.

Introduction:

The United Nations (UN) has held two World Conferences to Combat Racism, in 1978 and 1983 prior to the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) at Durban, South Africa, on August 31 – September 7, 2001. The General Assembly has also declared three Decades to Combat Racism, the third of which ends in 2003.

The first two World Conferences to Combat Racism of 1978 and 1983 took very strong positions against the apartheid system then in force in the Republic of South Africa. These first two World Conferences are credited by many as having contributed greatly to the end of the apartheid system.[i] But little was accomplished by these World Conferences with regard to ending racial discrimination against Indigenous Peoples or other victims of racism’s pernicious practices and deadly results in other parts of the world.

There are very few if any countries where racism is not a problem today, particularly for Indigenous Peoples. Many Indigenous Peoples and their representatives participated not only at the WCAR in Durban, but in all of the WCAR preparatory processes, as well as the NGO Forum held in conjunction with the WCAR, with the hopes that there would be a serious commitment by the member States of the United Nations and civil society to end racism throughout the world. No such commitment ensued.

At the WCAR, Indigenous Peoples were still in struggle in the United Nations over the basic recognition of their collective rights as peoples. Worse, the WCAR mis-stated international standards recognizing Indigenous Peoples as the owners of their traditional lands, territories and natural resources. It declared Indigenous lands and natural resources subjects of domestic law, “encouraging” (but not requiring) compliance with domestic and not international standards, and only “whenever possible.”

And civil society at the Durban WCAR became so entangled in the States’ ideological warfare over the state of Israel, that the NGO Forum Declaration and Programme of Action is now being rejected as antisemitic and racist by many Northern NGOs.[ii]

This brief article, an enlargement of a written intervention to the Commission on Human Rights 58^th Session, attempts to describe the WCAR process and outcomes with regard to Indigenous Peoples. Some may see it as unduly negative but is not meant to be. The personal observations and opinions of the author are meant to reflect on the nature of racism within the international community and the importance of continuing with the struggle against racism. Indigenous Peoples have achieved some success within the UN system. But the WCAR process reminded us that racism, including racism within the international community, continues not only to impede our progress but to justify the theft of our lands and natural resources and our oppression.

A. Prior World Conferences to Combat Racism:

The 1978 World Conference to Combat Racism, the States adopted a Declaration that used the word “peoples” with reference to Indigenous Peoples without qualification or restriction. The first World Conference to Combat Racism included, in its Declaration, the statement, that:

21. The conference endorses the right of indigenous peoples to maintain their traditional structure of economy and culture, including their own language, and also recognizes the special relationship of indigenous peoples to their land, and stresses that their land, land rights and natural resources should not be taken from them.

Almost immediately in UN terms, in 1983, the second World Conference to Combat Racism retrogressed. It failed to use the term Indigenous “Peoples” in its Declaration and Programme of Action, and relegated us to “populations.” But it did repeat the statements recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ special relationship to their lands and our right to our land and natural resources:

22. the rights of indigenous populations to maintain their traditional economic, social and cultural structures, to pursue their own economic, social and cultural development and to use and further development their own language, their special relationship to their land and its natural resources should not be taken away from them; the need for consultation with indigenous populations as regards proposals which concern them should be fully observed; the Conference welcomes the establishment of the (sic) United Nations Group on Indigenous Populations.

B. Indigenous Positions:

On August 10, 2000, over 200 Indigenous participants attended a preparatory consultation for the WCAR, at UN Headquarters in New York City, hosted by the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, on the 6^th Commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. After three breakout sessions, and two full plenary sessions, the participants recommended to the Preparatory Committee of the WCAR, among other things, that the WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action should specifically recognize indigenous peoples as peoples, and should use no other word such as “populations” or “people.”

Lamenting the fact that the statements of the first two World Conferences had not been observed, this gathering of Indigenous Peoples also recommended that the WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action recognize Indigenous Peoples’ right to own and control their lands and territories. It recommended that the WCAR recognize that Indigenous Peoples have a right not to be deprived of their lands, natural resources and means of subsistence, and that the WCAR should call upon the States to take effective measures to protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their land, territories and natural resources.

This call was repeated at the May, 2000 Prepcom II, by its Indigenous Caucus and by the Indigenous Initiative for Peace, in its satellite conference from Mexico City, in November of 2000. At the same time, in November of 2000, the hundreds of Indigenous Delegates attending the Intersessional working Group on the United Nations Draft Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples issued a statement on Racism Against Indigenous Peoples and the WCAR, calling upon the states to use the word Peoples with regard to Indigenous Peoples, and no other word, and to specifically recognize indigenous peoples as peoples. They also called upon the States to take immediate and effective measures to demarcate and protect indigenous lands, territories and natural resources from encroachment and ruination.

Indigenous Peoples at the Americas Preparatory Conference to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, in Santiago de Chile on 3^rd and 4^th December 2000, adopted a Declaration, calling for full recognition of Indigenous peoples as peoples, and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and natural resources. Again, Indigenous Peoples meeting in Quito, Ecuador, in March of 2001, at a UN sponsored NGO Forum, also described racism in the Americas as an extension of colonialism, calling for the full recognition of indigenous peoples as peoples with the right of self determination, and the recognition of indigenous systems of governance of their territories.

Indigenous Peoples from all parts of the world held numerous other consultations, meetings and conferences, at the national and regional level, in preparation for the Durban WCAR. At the Regional Meeting of Indigenous Peoples on the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Sydney, Australia, February 2001, Indigenous Peoples from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hawai’i and the United States, in their long and eloquent report, also called not only for the recognition of indigenous peoples as peoples, but in particular, the recognition of our inherent right of self determination and of ownership and control of our territories and resources.

The Indigenous Peoples Millennium Conference, hosted by NAPGUANA, held in Panama City, Panama, in May of 2001, gathered what had become a global consensus of Indigenous Peoples from all over the world on recommendations to the WCAR. The consensus included the outcomes of the above named conferences, as well as the Community Consultation on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Kampala, Uganda, April-May, 2001; the Abokabi Declaration of Ghana, April 2001; and, the Kidal Declaration, of Mali, January 2001.

The Indigenous world-wide consensus called upon the States to recognize Indigenous Peoples as Peoples within the full meaning of international law, and their right of self determination, as well as the reiteration of the first two World Conferences’ recognition of the special physical and spiritual relationship between indigenous peoples and their lands, and that their lands and natural resources should not be taken from them.

To be sure Indigenous Peoples and their representatives issued many more statements and declarations on racism and recommendations to the WCAR than are listed above. Many, such as the Santiago Declaration, and particularly the Sidney Report, eloquently reflect the feelings of indigenous peoples after 500 years of colonization, religious persecution and intolerance, genocide and its contemporary manifestations, the continuing militarization of Indigenous lands, the new and pernicious manifestation of environmental racism, the unabated loss of sacred lands and sacred sites, the consistent failures of governments to consult indigenous peoples and their free and informed consent on matters that affect their environments, subsistence and very survival, and many other issues already recognized as subjects of Indigenous rights under international standards.[iii] Correctly, Indigenous Peoples viewed these historically persistent gross and massive violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous Peoples as grounded on an equally historical and persistent racism.

Keeping in mind the definition of racial discrimination in the CERD Convention, that of any distinction based on race or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition or enjoyment of other human rights, Indigenous Peoples were in global consensus that the refusal of States to use the word Peoples, without restriction or condition, was itself racist. Article 1 in Common of the Universal Bill of Human Rights, states: “All Peoples have the right of self-determination.” We continued to ask, Why not Indigenous Peoples?

All that was asked of the States by Indigenous Peoples for the WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action was a reaffirmation of our already internationally recognized collective rights as Peoples, as reflected by the two prior World Conferences.

C. The Outcomes:

1. The UN Preparatory Processes: The United Nations sponsored 5 Experts Meetings, beginning in December of 1999, in preparation for the WCAR: two in Geneva (Refugees and Multiethnic States, and Remedies) and one each in Santiago de Chile (Legal Measures), Addis-Abbaba, Ethiopia (Preventing Ethnic Racial Conflict), Bangkok, Thailand (Migrants and Trafficking), and Warsaw, Poland (Protection of Minorities and other Vulnerable Groups).

In addition, beginning in October of 2000, the Commission on Human Rights sponsored 4 Regional Preparatory Meetings: the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, France), Americas (Santiago de Chile), Asia (Teheran, Iran) and Africa (Dakar, Senegal).

Although Indigenous Peoples are found all over the world and face severe problems of racial discrimination and survival in every region of the world, the only meeting of all mentioned above that addressed Indigenous Peoples to any significant degree was the America’s Experts and Regional Meetings.[iv] We understand that Indigenous Peoples and their NGOs were not even invited to many of the other Experts and Regional Prepcoms, even where organized by non-Indigenous NGOs themselves.[v]

2. The Santiago Latin American and Caribbean regional seminar of experts: The Experts meeting of the Americas used the term “indigenous peoples” without any qualification or restriction of the term “peoples” under international law.[vi] The seminar concluded that Indigenous Peoples collective rights to land and territories, and natural resources should be recognized and exercised.[vii] It recommended to the WCAR that it call upon the States to: “Recognize the right of indigenous peoples to the ownership, exploitation, control and utilization of their lands and territories, including natural resources.[viii]

3. The Santiago Regional Conference on the Americas: Unlike the regional seminar of experts meeting (to which it was not invited) the United States did attend the Regional Conference of the Americas, also held at Santiago de Chile. At the insistence of the United States, the Conference adopted language in its preamble, that the “rights associated with the term “peoples” have a context specific meaning that is appropriately determined in the multilateral negotiations in the texts of the declarations that specifically deal with such rights.”[ix] The word “peoples” was rendered an empty word, one without any meaning.

Sections repeating the first two World Conferences language related to Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land and natural resources were dropped. Instead, the Santiago Prepcom referred only to the “well being of indigenous peoples and their enjoyment of the benefits of sustainable development…”

There was a struggle conducted in Santiago by Indigenous Peoples’ representatives and the United States that included calls to the Clinton White House. It went on until the final day’s final hour. And although many Latin American and Caribbean States supported our demands, the United States would not agree to a consensus until their language was adopted.

And at the following Prepcom in Geneva, the Preparatory Committee, the Commission on Human Rights, decided that it would consider the Santiago Regional Prepcom language as the draft for the Indigenous sections of the WCAR documents.

D. The Durban World Conference Against Racim:

In spite of great participation by Indigenous Peoples throughout the process, and support from many States, upon the insistence of the North, led by the United Kingdom, the WCAR retrogressed from previous World Conferences to Combat Racism.

With regard to the word “peoples,” the WCAR Declaration defines the term “indigenous peoples,” as a term that, “..cannot be construed as having any implications as to rights under international law.”[x]  The word “Peoples” in the WCAR Declaration is thus an empty word, devoid of meaning, devoid of rights.

Equally offensive to our human dignity is the retrogressive change made to the prior two World Conference Declarations with regard to land and natural resources:

We also recognize the special relationship that indigenous peoples have with the land as the basis for their spiritual, physical and cultural existence and encourage States, wherever possible, to ensure that indigenous peoples are able to retain ownership of their lands and natural resources to which they are entitled under domestic law.[xi]

The WCAR thus only “encourages” observance of our internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms (even though human rights are legally binding obligations under international law) and only where “possible.” Worse, internationally recognized rights to our lands and natural resources are subjected to domestic law, in effect approving State thefts of land that have been condemned by both the Human Rights Committee and the CERD Committee.[xii]

Language suggesting that our human rights are “negotiable” at the Intersessional on the Draft Declaration was stricken, at the WCAR primarily because Indigenous Peoples forced a re-opening of the consensus that adopted it. But the result adopted by the WCAR, that the meaning of the word “peoples” awaits the adoption of the proposed Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, are in the end, offensive enough, even if no reference is made to “multilateral negotiations.”[xiii]

Whether by purpose or effect, the United Nations nullified and impaired our internationally recognized human rights. The WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action was an act of racial discrimination by the United Nations itself.

Conclusion:

Mr. Theodor van Boven, a highly respected and long standing United Nations expert on human rights and member of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the treaty monitoring body of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, wrote a background paper for the WCAR preparatory process, examining the lack of effectiveness and commitments of the two prior World Conferences to Combat Racism.[xiv] Much of his criticism can be applied to the Durban WCAR.

Noting the apparent ineffectiveness of commitments made by the first two World Conferences, he cites the European Union’s (to which we would add the United States, and call this collectivity the “North”) lack of commitment to United Nations processes, such as the CERD Convention and CERD Committee and its monitoring processes, preferring their own, “conspicuously ignoring the existence of United Nations standards and pronouncements on the same subject even though 14 of the 15 EU States (and the United States) are signatories to the CERD Convention).[xv]

As reasons for the failures of the first two World Conferences to effectively deal with the problem of racism he cites the North’s “perception” that the United Nations is influenced by forces hostile to its interests, reminding us that Europe (and the United States) have boycotted prior racism conferences over the issue of Israel and Zionism.[xvi] And, indeed, the United States and Israel did boycott this WCAR, for exactly the same reason.[xvii] In keeping with the declared reasons for the continuing boycotting of these conferences on racism, van Boven cites the North’s use of the UN to promote their own perceived interests and not the interests of the victims of racism.[xviii]

He cites the North’s guilt with regard to colonialism and its racism, as well as a political unwillingness to come to terms with racism in a manner consistent with the views expressed by the victims of their racist history and present practices.

And, indeed, it is obvious that certain deeply rooted patterns of racism and racial discrimination are closely related to the colonial past with its white supremacy and that nefarious doctrines of racial superiority were preached and practiced by Europeans.[xix]

The very same criticisms can be said of the Durban WCAR particularly with regard to the North’s colonialism and “deeply rooted patterns of racism and racial discrimination.”

What the WCAR did accomplish, in the end, was to underscore the need to continue our vigilance and struggle against racism. To Indigenous Peoples, the WCAR only revealed, once again and in bold strokes, that racism underlies all other denials of our human rights and fundamental freedoms. It demonstrated that racism and racist practices continue, even by the Commission on Human Rights as it consciously and purposefully decided to devoid the world “peoples” of all meaning. Equally disturbing is the Commission’s mis-statements about existing international standards on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their lands, territories and resources as dependent on domestic law.

The WCAR process, including the WCAR itself did have one very positive effect, that of solidifying the Global Indigenous movement. It is no small accomplishment that all Indigenous Peoples from all regions of the world spoke with one voice throughout. But in the end, the WCAR only revealed that it is our lands and natural resources that they still hunger for. It is our common reality.

There are some States that lent us substantial support and encouragement. Understanding of our plight by States and NGOs is growing. But as the Indigenous Santiago Declaration reminds us:

[R]acism, discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance are characteristics of dominant Western ideology and are reflected in the relationship Western society has maintained with the Indigenous Peoples of America, constituting an historic problem with deep roots in colonialism and the enslavement of entire peoples, a problem that began with the invasion of 1492 and which continues to this very day, denying Indigenous Peoples their self-determination;

It is racism that fuels our oppression.