On the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Program of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights pays tribute to the struggles of the Indigenous Peoples for dignity, justice and human rights and stands in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and their communities and the Indigenous human rights defenders.
The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is celebrated with events around the world. The International Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly and was first marked in 1994. The date was selected to honor 9 August 1982, the first day of the very first UN human rights body established to deal with Indigenous Peoples rights, i.e. the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. This Working Group worked tirelessly with the Indigenous Peoples' movement and laid down the groundwork for the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 13th, 2007.
A commemorative virtual event is also organized at the United Nations Headquarters in New York by the Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch—Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday, 10 August 2020 from 9 am to 11 am. The virtual event’s theme is “COVID-19 and indigenous people’s resilience” and will feature an interactive panel discussion with several guest speakers. The aim is to highlight how the preservation and promotion of indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and practices can be leveraged more fully during this pandemic to build back stronger.
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Indigenous peoples' organizations, member states, UN agencies, civil society, academia and the general public are invited to attend.
