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STORY: UN / INDIGENOUS ISSUES FORUM
TRT: 03:59
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
15 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, Andean indigenous traditional music performance at General Assembly Hall
3. Pan right, GA Hall
4. Various shots, traditional ceremonial welcome by Tadodaho Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation
5. Various shots, handover of Chairmanship of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from Dario Mejía Montalvo to Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim
6. Pan left, delegates
7. Wide shot, Ibrahim at the GA dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII):
“A world where discriminations and inequalities are rising again; where the members of the United Nations are failing to implement the SDGs; where human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights are threatened by States, companies, everywhere; a world where our homes are still under the threat of land grabbing and extraction of the resources that are now considered critical minerals. We must admit that this world is scary for young Indigenous Peoples.”
9. Wide shot, GA applause
10. Wide shot, GA President Dennis Francis at the rostrum
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“The central philosophy of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to leave no one behind. To that end, it urges us to pay special attention to vulnerable communities – those who are most susceptible to being marginalized, left out and indeed, left back. We will have failed dismally to achieve the SDGs if we overlook the plight of indigenous peoples – or neglect to uphold their rights and dignity.”
12. Med shot, delegates
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“Indigenous youth have also become increasingly proactive in asserting their rights and in addressing some of humanity's most urgent issues - including the existential threat posed by climate change. While actively supporting their endeavours –we must also recognize their distinct challenges. One such challenge of great significance is preserving their indigenous heritage, language, and knowledge – as inevitably, they are caught in an unending struggle to navigate between modernity and tradition.”
14. Wide shot, General Assembly
15. Wide shot, press conference dais
16. Med shot, attendees
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII):
“We have the key, we have the car, and we can drive but we need the fuel. If the fuel is not in the car, we cannot move, and the fuel is the finance that indigenous peoples need to be directly on the ground and then we can accelerate the actions. We need to achieve the SDGs, and SDGs cannot be achieved without indigenous peoples.”
18. Med shot, attendees
19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) David Choquehuanca, Vice-president, Bolivia:
“The answer to the crisis caused by this Western and capitalist model of development; the answer will be found in the codes that have resisted for centuries, which today, in the face of this crisis, emerge from the heartland, to get back on the path of balance.”
20. Zoom out, end of presser
The twenty-third session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) opened today (15 Apr) at UN Headquarters in New York under the sub-theme “emphasizing the voices of Indigenous youth."
After a traditional ceremonial welcome by the Chief of the Onondaga Nation, Tadodaho Sid Hill, the Chair of the 22nd session, Dario Mejía Montalvo, handed over to the new Chair, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, who is a member of the Mbororo pastoralist people in Chad, said, “a world where discriminations and inequalities are rising again; where the members of the United Nations are failing to implement the SDGs; where human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights are threatened by States, companies, everywhere; a world where our homes are still under the threat of land grabbing and extraction of the resources that are now considered critical minerals. We must admit that this world is scary for young Indigenous Peoples.”
The President of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis told the Forum that “the central philosophy of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to leave no one behind” and to that end, “it urges us to pay special attention to vulnerable communities – those who are most susceptible to being marginalized, left out and indeed, left back.”
Francis said, “we will have failed dismally to achieve the SDGs if we overlook the plight of indigenous peoples – or neglect to uphold their rights and dignity.”
On the theme of this year’s Forum, the GA President said, “indigenous youth have also become increasingly proactive in asserting their rights and in addressing some of humanity's most urgent issues - including the existential threat posed by climate change. While actively supporting their endeavours –we must also recognize their distinct challenges. One such challenge of great significance is preserving their indigenous heritage, language, and knowledge – as inevitably, they are caught in an unending struggle to navigate between modernity and tradition.”
At a later press conference Ibrahim said, “we have the key, we have the car, and we can drive but we need the fuel. If the fuel is not in the car, we cannot move, and the fuel is the finance that indigenous peoples need to be directly on the ground and then we can accelerate the actions. We need to achieve the SDGs, and SDGs cannot be achieved without indigenous peoples.”
At the same press encounter, the Vice-president of Bolivia, David Choquehuanca, spoke of the role of indigenous Peoples in restoring balance in the world.
Choquehuanca said, “the answer to the crisis caused by this Western and capitalist model of development; the answer will be found in the codes that have resisted for centuries, which today, in the face of this crisis, emerge from the heartland, to get back on the path of balance.”
The UNPFII is a high- level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council. The Forum was established on 28 July 2000 by resolution 2000/22, with the mandate to deal with Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.
