Jakarta, IO – The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is currently holding its 22nd session in New York, United States of America. This year’s topic is “Indigenous Peoples, Human Health, Planetary and Territorial Health, and Climate Change: A Rights-Based Approach,” and it is being held at the United Nations Building from April 17 to April 28, 2023.
Nukila Evanty is representing Indonesia and leading the Indigenous Peoples’ Representatives (IMA). Nukila, being the only Indonesian representative, is attending the forum with fourteen other representatives from around the world. This event is supported by the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples.
Nukila considers the forum significant as it gathers the participation and voice of indigenous peoples to discuss the issues faced by indigenous peoples everywhere. “My grandfather and father were born in Rokan Hilir, Riau. We are proud of our language, customs, traditions, land, forests, and rivers, which we must defend until we die and pass on to the next generations,” said Nukila.
According to the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Indonesia is home to between 50 and 70 million indigenous people, or 18 to 19 percent of its total population. Indigenous peoples make up less than 6 percent of the world’s population, but they confront numerous problems, including living in poverty, a lack of information and education, the extinction of indigenous languages, land and land grabbing issues, the absence of a consultation mechanism when corporations enter the forests of indigenous peoples, and being the most marginalized women and children. “Imagine having your rivers dry up; having contaminated fertile soil; losing your food sources and medicinal plants; having dirty drinking water; and even losing water for drinking,” she explained.
In this forum, Nukila raised the issue of indigenous peoples in Riau Province, which concerns the forest, peatland fires, and disturbing palm oil plantations. “Most of these lands have historically been owned by indigenous peoples, and without their consent, these lands have been acquired by other parties,” added Nukila. “Allegedly, many businesses, gaining support from government and law enforcement officials, use violence to achieve their objectives on occasion, which has violated Article 10 of the UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) that prohibits the forcible removal of indigenous peoples’ lands from their lands or territories,” said Nukila. Nukila further added that there must not be any land relocation without the consent of the affected indigenous peoples, who must be noticed after an agreement on fair compensation has been reached.
The rights of indigenous peoples who have inhabited forest and peatland areas since ancient times have been violated by converting their lands and forests into palm oil plantations and other extractive industries. Moreover, forest fires have impacted the health and lives of the indigenous peoples who live around the forest, causing them to contract lung diseases, smog exacerbating asthma, bronchitis, respiratory infections, and heart disease in the elderly, and affecting pregnant women and children.
Sadly, many indigenous peoples have experienced extortion, forcibly receiving large sums of money for business projects and deceitful profit-sharing schemes, only to later be threatened to leave the forest.
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Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the UNGA resolution, which obligates the companies and the government fully implement multilateral environmental agreements that concern the right of the indigenous people to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and to connect their rights to other rights and existing international law. There must be further studies on palm oil plantations, extractive industries, and their impacts on indigenous peoples.
“We have ratified many human rights (HR) declarations and their instruments or even supported international declarations on human rights, but they are hardly carried out. Everyone is too busy with their own affairs while forgetting and violating the rights of our indigenous peoples,” concluded Nukila. (des)