Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

AD 2002 represents an important milestone for indigenous peoples. First, after nearly 80 years of trying to gain access to the League of Nations and its successor the United Nations, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues commenced its inaugural session on May 13. Second, 2002 marks the 10th anniversary of the launch (December, 2002) of the Year of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations in New York. The Year, observed in 1993, was the prelude to the United Nations Decade of Indigenous Peoples 1995–2004. Both the Year and the Decade, as well as the establishment of the Permanent Forum represent significant advances in the struggle of indigenous peoples for recognition within their own lands and territories. They have brought global attention to the impacts of colonization, discrimination, marginalization, and the overt and covert policies that led to ethnocide and sometimes frank genocide. There are significant differences in the circumstances of indigenous peoples in various parts of the world, manifest by varying degrees of dispossession, different health experiences1 and diverse political relationships. However, there are also fundamental commonalities in experiences and world views. These commonalities may be discussed according to a range of perspectives. For example five levels of argument that characterize indigenous peoples have been proposed, at least for legal purposes: human rights and non-discrimination, minority rights, self determination, historical sovereignty, and indigenous rights.2 Although consensus about universal human rights is sometimes seen as a rationale for regarding a ‘rights-based’ approach as the most important level, it has not been possible to prioritize them so that all five levels need to be considered. Nonetheless, a history of colonization is often regarded as the most significant experience that indigenous peoples share. Imperial might, whether emanating from Great Britain or America or France or Germany, arrogantly assumed a right, often on the basis of a claim to a higher order of civilization, or simply on the authority of God, to dismiss, deconstruct, and subjugate the sovereign rights of native peoples. The results of colonization were consistently cataclysmic. A common pattern emerged: loss of culture, loss of land, loss of voice, loss of population, loss of dignity, loss of health, and wellbeing. Others base indigenous commonalities on the similar socioeconomic positions and parallel epidemiological patterns of disease—devastation by infectious diseases, malnutrition and then obesity; cancer and heart disease, diabetes and alcoholism, suicide and depression. Life expectancy generally compares unfavourably with other non-indigenous population groups and disparities are even more obvious when independent life expectancy is measured. In fact on almost all indicators of social wellbeing, whether they measure educational achievement, standards of housing, income levels, unemployment, or lifestyle risks, indigenous peoples fare worse than their non-indigenous neighbours. However, neither colonization nor socio-economic disadvantage is considered to be the most defining element of indigeneity. Instead, most indigenous peoples believe that the fundamental starting point is a strong sense of unity with the environment.3 IJE vol.33 no.5 © International Epidemiological Association 2004; all rights reserved. International Journal of Epidemiology 2004;33:1138–1143 Advance Access publication 24 June 2004 doi:10.1093/ije/dyh250