Lead actors

There were six IPOs which were between the most active participants at both EMRIP and PFII sessions in 2017. These organizations will be shortly presented in the following, before highlighting the role of individual leadership. From Africa, the most vocal organizations both represent Nomadic pastoralists. The Association Tin Hinan,¹⁶² based in Burkina Faso, focusses on a strengthening of Nomadic women from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso with an emphasis on health related issues such as nutrition or sexual

161 20 interview partners mentioned differences in the roles of Indigenous participants and highlighted the leadership roles taken by a reduced number of organizations and individuals.

162 https://www.tinhinan.org/, accessed 02.02.2019. The name Tin Hinan makes reference to a mystic Tuareg queen of the 4th century.

and reproductive health. Tin Hinan also works on issues related to the environment, human rights and poverty reduction. The organization was founded in 1994, and has recently established counterparts in Canada and the US. Its program coordinator, Saoudata Aboubacrine, participated in the OHCHR fellowship in 1998. Since then, the organization has regularly participated at the WGIP, the PFII, and EMRIP. It has also been active in the context of UNFCCC and WIPO (mainly through Ms. Aboubacrine). The organization is one of the most vocal and respected voices from Africa within the Indigenous movement at the UN, as shown by the fact that Ms. Aboubacrine functioned as a coordinator for the African region in the process leading up to the World Conference. One of the members of the Permanent Forum (and its current chair), Mariam Wallet Aboubacrine, is a member of Tin Hinan.

Also from Africa, the Congrès Mondial Amazigh¹⁶³ (CMA) is a federation of Amazigh organizations mainly from Algeria and Morocco, and of diaspora organizations. Its offices are located in Paris. CMA’s activities center on lobbying for Amazigh rights. It realizes conferences and festivals, conducts studies, and provides information on the human rights situation of Amazigh peoples. The CMA participated only sporadically at the WGIP, but since about 2007 has become very active at the UN level as a regular participant at PFII and EMRIP, and participates with delegations consisting of several persons. The organization also issues shadow reports regarding the situation of Amazigh peoples in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco in the context of CERD and the HRC’s Universal Periodic Review. The ex-PFII member Hassan Id Balkassm (2005-11) is one of CMA’s founding members.

From Asia, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)¹⁶⁴ is a federation of Indigenous organizations from 14 countries, including many national level organizations. It has a comparatively big secretariat with about 20 employees working in several programs based in Chiang Mai (Thailand). AIPP specifically aims at strengthening the capacity of its member organizations, empowering Indigenous women, and establishing an Indigenous media network. Moreover, the organization works on human rights and environmental issues. It regularly organizes Asian-wide regional preparatory meetings on UN Indigenous mechanisms. Two staff members from AIPP have held mandates at

163 https://www.congres-mondial-amazigh.org/, accessed 02.02.2019.

164 https://aippnet.org/, accessed 02.02.2019.

the UN: Joan Carling was a member of the PFII from 2014-2016; and Jannie Lasimbang was a member of EMRIP from 2008 to 2014. The organization holds ECOSOC consultative status and is accredited to a number of other UN agencies and programs such as UNFCCC, the CBD, WIPO, and UNEP. AIPP also functions as a facilitator for the IP Major Group in the UN sustainable development process. Since the mid-2000s, AIPP has become a very active participant at EMRIP and PFII and also regularly speaks in the name of the Asian caucus. The organization has participated at HRC sessions and the UPR. It generally accepts financial support from the private and public sector, including UN agencies.

In turn, the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF)¹⁶⁵ represents one nationality, the Khmer-Krom from the Vietnamese Mekong delta, and diaspora Khmer-Krom. They self-identify as Indigenous, but are not recognized as such by the Vietnamese government. The KKF had received ECOSOC consultative status in 2012, but following pressures by Vietnam, the status was revoked after a few months.¹⁶⁶ Based in the US, the organization is run by a team of volunteer diaspora activists. The KKF mainly does lobby work for the Vietnamese Khmer-Krom, and since 2004 has actively participated at the UN with this goal. It has been a regular participant at PFII and EMRIP, but also has provided submissions to the UPR process and CERD. Moreover, KKF organizes conferences and events regarding the human rights situation of the Khmer-Krom. The organization is a very active member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). Individuals of the Khmer-Krom diaspora strongly contribute to the financing of KKF.

The Indigenous Peoples Organisation of Australia¹⁶⁷ is a broad network of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organizations and individuals which mainly functions in the context of United Nations activism. It aims at advocating for Indigenous rights and lobbies for the implementation of UNDRIP in Australia. It seems to be a rather loose

165 https://khmerkrom.org/, accessed 02.02.2019; see also UNPO Member page at http://unpo.org/members/7887, accessed 02.02.2019.

166 http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/viet-nam/2012/07/d21880/, accessed 02.02.2019.

167 https://www.facebook.com/Indigenous-Peoples-Organisation-Network-Australia-190946244391874/, accessed 02.02.2019. The coalition also has a website

(https://indigenouspeoplesorg.com.au/, accessed 02.02.2019), but this website focuses on a single campaign, namely a rally which took place in January 2018 and contains very limited information on the network itself.

coalition as it has no formal staff or office, but is housed and provided secretariat support by the Australian Human Rights Commission. At least under this name, it has only delivered statements at recent sessions of the PFII and EMRIP, as well as during the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

Lastly, the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC)¹⁶⁸ is an international Indigenous organization with offices in the US. It currently lists over 90 IPOs mainly from North and Central America as affiliates, but also some from South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The IITC was founded in 1974 as the international branch of the American Indian Movement. Through networking, lobbying, awareness-building and dissemination of information, it aims at supporting Indigenous struggles for self-determination. One central goal also is to strengthen Indigenous participation at the UN and in other international organizations. Thus, IITC has been involved in UN work since the first conferences in Geneva in the 1970s. It also was the first IPO to receive ECOSOC consultative status in 1977, and claims to have been the first IPO to be upgraded to General consultative status in 2011. There is probably no other Indigenous organization which has a similar record of continuous participation since the 1980s in practically all UN bodies relevant to Indigenous peoples: it is a highly visible and vocal IPO at sessions of the PFII and EMRIP, has been a central actor in the negotiation of the UNDRIP, and also takes part in the Human Rights Council, treaty body sessions, the CBD, UNESCO, acts as a FAO focal point and a co-convener of the Indigenous Peoples’ Major Group on the 2030 Agenda etc. One of the central persons in the organization has been its executive director Andrea Carmen. Individuals connected to IITC also regularly carry out capacity-building workshops for Indigenous participants at the PFII and EMRIP. Thus, it has been considered as one of the most influential IPOs in the UN context (Dahl 2012: 180). The IITC receives funding from Indigenous nations, private donors, foundations and other allies, but accepts no funding from states.

This short presentation of the most vocal IPOs at EMRIP and PFII sessions in 2017 can of course provide only an impression insofar as it is restricted to the groups most active in 2017 in terms of the number of delivered statements, whereas there are of course other vocal IPOs within the Indigenous movement. The compilation, however, still allows for drawing some conclusions regarding general features of vocal IPOs. First, the most vocal

168 https://www.iitc.org/, accessed 02.02.2019.

IPOs often are federations or networks of IPOs, speaking for broad constituencies. AIPP and IITC bring together diverse Indigenous peoples from different countries; CMA spans Amazigh organizations from several countries and the Indigenous Peoples Organisation of Australia speaks for Australian IPOs. However, with Tin Hinan and KKF two individual NGOs also were between the most active IPOs. Second, of the four ‘southern’ IPOs, two (namely KKF and CMA) have strong connections to the diaspora and offices in ‘northern’

countries rather than in those states in which the peoples live for which they work.

Third, the most vocal IPOs often are NGOs with professional staff rather than Indigenous nations, traditional authorities or governing institutions. Fourth, many of the IPOs most active in the context of EMRIP and PFII also engage in several other UN contexts such as treaty bodies and UN programs and agencies. And fifth, while some general patterns might be observed, this short introduction into vocal IPOs also speaks to the diversity of actors that shape the Indigenous movement at the UN.

Moreover, many of these vocal IPOs are connected to very effective individuals. Joan Carling, Saoudata Aboubacrine, and Andrea Carmen are examples in this regard. The importance of strong, experienced individuals is similar for many other IPOs active in the UN context.¹⁶⁹ Jannie Lasimbang has not only been linked to the AIPP, but has also worked for the Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia and Pacos Trust, which are also well-known IPOs in the UN context. Dalí Angel Pérez of the Organización de Mujeres Indígenas por la Conservación, Investigación y Aprovechamiento de los Recursos Naturales or Q”apay Conde of the Centro de Estudios Multidisciplinarios Aymara have both functioned as co-chairs of the Indigenous youth caucus; their organizations were between the few IPOs which attended both EMRIP and PFII in 2017. Kenneth Deer has been a central figure in organizing the Indigenous caucus (Dahl 2012: 116–117). Many of these central individuals also have been or currently are mandate holders at the UN, such as Philippine Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Australian Les Malezer, Canadian Willie Littlechild, or US-American Dalee Sambo Dorough. These individuals sometimes participate as leaders in their own capacity rather than as representatives of certain IPOs. Their leadership is mostly explained with reference to long experience and continuity of attendance in the movement by interview partners. In this regard, the

169 Twelve interview partners highlighted the central role of individuals within the Indigenous movement;

eight were Indigenous themselves, four were IO staff. Especially the role of Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, the current Special Rapporteur and long-time chairperson of the PFII, was highlighted regularly by interview

partners.

importance of the OHCHR fellowship program also has to be highlighted. Several of the graduates have become effective voices in the Indigenous movement and initiated veritable UN careers, such as Megan Davis, former PFII chair and currently a member of EMRIP. In short, a group of Indigenous experts has formed in and around the United Nations which closely follow relevant meetings. These are generally well-educated individuals (or at least experienced from long years of interaction with development agencies, NGOs etc.) and dominate the vocabulary of the UN system. They often are experts with regard to specific fields of knowledge such as human rights, traditional knowledge, or biodiversity. One experienced Indigenous activist highlighted that the participation by individuals like himself who are present at all major UN events dealing with Indigenous issues is highly important to maintain the thread of lobbying by the Indigenous movement. At the same time, however, some observers feel that the number of individuals with expertise in each issue area is still limited.