Will the UN stand by it's commitment to secure indigenous peoples' full participation?
Around 30 indigenous peoples’ representatives and invited UN experts met in Copenhagen to brainstorm about how best to secure indigenous peoples' full participation in the planning and celebration of the 2014 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
The organizing of a World Conference on indigenous peoples was decided by the UN General Assembly at its 65th session in 2010. It is, however, still very unclear and undecided which form the Conference will take, as the UN resolution merely talks about organizing a “high-level meeting of the General Assembly that is to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples”.
The Copenhagen indigenous peoples’ brainstorming meeting was organized by the Greenland Government's Representation in Copenhagen, the Sami Parliament of Norway and IWGIA, and it was opened by the Premier of the Greenland Government Kuupik Kleist, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal and UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya.
