The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened today its eighth annual two-week session in which some 2,000 representatives of indigenous groups were expected to discuss ways to further implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which gained momentum last month when Australia officially endorsed the accord after previously having voted against it.  Other issues to be taken up included the relationship between indigenous peoples and industrial corporations, climate change, the Arctic region and land tenure.

PAVEL SULYANDZIGA, Forum member from the Russian Federation, underscored the interrelationship between indigenous peoples and natural resource companies, particularly in oil and gas, gold and diamonds.  The Russian Federation was working on standards between indigenous peoples and corporations.  Some companies had even signed agreements to respect indigenous peoples’ rights, in line with national and international standards.  Also, global financial corporations had pushed companies to work with indigenous peoples.  For example, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s policy included a provision on free, prior and informed consent whose language was lifted from the indigenous peoples’ Declaration.  Natural resource companies that came to the Russian Federation had Western management, allowing indigenous peoples to hold negotiations in a dignified manner.

At the same time, he said, many corporations that acknowledged indigenous rights in one region behaved differently in others.  Without pressure, they would not move towards protecting indigenous peoples’ rights.  Private fishing and hunting companies were edging indigenous peoples off their traditional areas.  In Kamchatka, for example, a village’s river had been given over to a fishing entity, and its community was being asked to fish in another river.  Clearly, people would not move away from their lands, but they were being compelled to act against the law.  He hoped the Forum would develop recommendations that addressed such issues.

The Permanent Forum was established by the Economic and Social Council in 2000 to discuss indigenous issues relating to economic and social development, the environment, education, health and human rights.  It is composed of 16 independent experts functioning in their personal capacities; eight are nominated by Governments and eight directly by indigenous organizations in their regions.