The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples
Geneva, 12th to 16th July 2010
Article by Katherine Carre

The Expert Mechanism is a new UN mechanism on the rights of the indigenous peoples which continues the work of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples held annually in Geneva in the past and well attended by Subud members on several occasions: by the first SDI Chair, Wilbert Verhayen, three French/Swiss anthropology students and by myself.

The Expert Mechanism is a subsidiary mechanism of the Human Rights Council composed of five experts who provide thematic expertise focused on studies and research-based advice to the human rights body.

The five experts for 2008-2010 are from the DR Congo, Norway, Costa Rica, Philippines and Malaysia which chairs the expert group.

At this year’s session which was the third, the study on indigenous peoples and the right to participate in decision-making was considered.

The second session had discussed Studies on lessons learned and challenges to achieve the implementation of the right of indigenous peoples to education. The first session had been mainly on the working of the Expert Mechanism itself.

The UN system has successfully contributed to improving the plight of the approximately 350 000 indigenous people from around the world through a Working Group in Geneva which led to a Permanent Forum in NewYork.

In 2007, the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (1) was adopted by the General Assembly by a majority of 143 states described as “a triumph for justice and human dignity following more than two decades of negotiations between governments and indigenous peoples' representatives.”

There were 4 votes against—Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States; but since then Australia and New Zealand have signed, leaving only the US and Canada with ‘no’ votes. There were 11 abstentions.

Prior to the declaration, a framework for strengthened engagement on indigenous peoples’ issues had been provided by the International Labour Office Convention no.169 on Indigenous and Tribal peoples in1989 and, in 2005, at the Heads of State World Summit it was decided to have a Second UN Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.

This year, over 500 indigenous and State representatives participated in the third session of the Expert Mechanism to consider the study prepared by the experts on indigenous peoples’ rights to participate in decision-making which is to be presented at the next Human Rights Council session.

Many other papers were presented by States, academia and indigenous groups thus confirming the marked interest in the Expert Mechanism.

Among these papers were two which I picked out since they concern the neighbours of “our” indigenous people of Kalimantan. One was a sad note by the indigenous people of West Papua which said they didn’t participate in any decision making at any level.

Another paper was a serious study by a professor of the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, on:

“Malaysia’s indigenous peoples, the Malays, Natives and Aborigines or Orang Asli, classified as ‘bumiputera’ meaning ‘princes or sons of the soil’, a classification that has been used as a basis for affirmative action and policies in their favour, including  the reservation of places for them in the civil service.”

The Dayaks of Malaysian Borneo and the indigenous people of West Papua have been long been participants in UN meetings.

This meeting was on THE SDI/WSA LIST OF UN MEETINGS but no-one was able to attend in person.

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KC July 2010