International

Day of the World’s Indigenous People

(

9 August 2005 )

Since 1994, Aug. 9 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (link).
Visit the Dag Hammarskjold Library.

Amnesty Int’l: “Dispossessed and in Danger: It’s “time to make the rights of indigenous peoples a reality.”


The date marks the day of

the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group

on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the

Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The UN General Assembly

had proclaimed 1993 the International Year of the World’s

Indigenous People, and the same year, the Assembly proclaimed

the International

Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, starting

on 10 December 1994 (Resolution

48/163). The goal of the First Decade was to strengthen

international cooperation for solving problems faced

by indigenous people in such areas as human rights,

the environment, development, education and health.

In 2004, the UN General

Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade of

the World’s Indigenous Peoples through Resolution

59/174. The goal of the Second Decade is to further

the "strengthening of international cooperation

for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people

in such areas as culture, education, health, human rights,

the environment, and social and economic development,

by means of action-oriented programs and specific projects,

increase technical assistance, and relevant standard-setting

activities".