2024 United Nations Forum on Indigenous Issues Convenes in New York
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is one of three UN bodies focusing on Indigenous Peoples' issues, discussing economic and social development, culture, education, environment, health, and human rights. It also ensures that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is implemented worldwide.
This year marks the 23rd session of the forum, and focused on youth. Specifically, “Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination in the context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: emphasizing the voices of Indigenous youth.”
The focus on indigenous youth, “underscores their crucial role in safeguarding the conditions, capacities, and values that present generations will bestow upon future ones.”
Another talking point was “financing for Indigenous Peoples,” which aimed to address the “lack of direct financing towards Indigenous Peoples and the inability to track financing through intermediaries.” Furthermore, it also proposed recommendations for solutions to ensure that “bilateral and multilateral funding can reach Indigenous Peoples directly.”
“The importance of the Permanent Forum is that it puts pressure on other parts of the United Nations to take appropriate action regarding Indigenous Peoples,” said Andrea Carmen, Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council.
Mililani Trask, a longtime Native Hawaiian activist and one of the first members of the Permanent Forum states that having a forum shifted the balance of power and provided a basis for indigenous activists to work in partnership with governments.
“When the forum came into existence, it was the first time that non-white Indigenous international legal experts came to the forefront,” Trask said. Member states “didn’t think that we had any.”
The forum was held in New York from 15 - 26 April 2024.
