World's Indigenous Peoples Day

WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

By Anton Antonio

August 9, 2015

Today, August 9, 2015 (Sunday), the world celebrates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.  Indigenous people are those groups especially protected in international or national legislation as having a set of special rights and needs based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and their cultural distinctiveness from the rest of the population.  Indigenous peoples live in relative isolation (the uplands, remote coastal areas, and small islands) but managed to preserve their unique cultural identities because of this.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, made this statement in celebrating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: 

“As we celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples this 9^th of August 2015, we look back into what has been achieved the past years and envisage what can be done for the future.  Let us all celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples by demonstrating our collective political will to address the serious implementation gap in relation to the UN Declaration and the ILO Convention No. 169.  Long live the indigenous peoples all over the world.”

Indigenous peoples are very vulnerable to exploitation because of their simple mindedness, simple lifestyle and simple needs.  This is the reason why special laws (international and local) are crafted to protect them.  One such law is the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 or Republic Act No. 8371.

We should remember that the poorest of the poor can be found among the community of indigenous peoples somewhere out there.  Let’s put them in our consciousness and see what we can possibly do to make a difference in their lives as we celebrate the World’s Indigenous Peoples Day.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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