Presentation by Ipulpowaseu

Presentation by IpulPowaseu

It is with great pleasure to address you all and to bring to your attention the recognition of Indigenous people with disability in the Pacific. My name is Ipul Powaseu and I come from Papua New Guinea.

Firstly let me thank the Disability Rights Fund for bringing me and my other colleagues from the Global South to this forum to listen and present our situations, that of indigenous persons with disability; an issue that is probably raised at this Forum for the first time.

Our presence today among our indigenous brothers and sisters affirms our status as indigenous people and specifically indigenous people with disability.

The challenges that all indigenous people face are also felt by us as well. But in most cases, when discussing solutions and mitigation approaches we are often left out in many of these discussions and decision making levels.

Indigenous communities around the world are threatened by the waves of globalization firstly through colonization and the breakdown of traditional social fabrics of society which once protected and provided our unique identity as indigenous people. The sweeping effects of globalization,technological advancement and market forces are threatening our way of life.

You may ask why is it so important that we as indigenous persons with disabilities call for your recognition when you may argue that we are all indigenous people and therefore there is no need to compartmentalize indigenous persons? Yes I may agree with you but the reason that we are all here is that our very human fabric, the essence of our existence is being threatened by internal and external forces challenging our way of life, cultures, land, food source, etc. Further, just as we are rightfully allowing indigenous women and youth to have their space and voice at such important Forums such as this for indigenous peoples, we, your indigenous brothers and sisters with disabilities want to enjoy the same privileges to enable us to be seen, heard, included and counted!

Therefore in recognizing these, we indigenous persons with disability are also concerned that as much as being indigenous people as well as having a disability and in my case being a female further marginalizes and makes us more invisible.

In the Pacific region, a larger part of the various island states and countries are inhabited mainly byindigenous communities who like most of you here today, share a common fight against their colonial past. The struggles that confront the global indigenous communities and peoples affects us as well because we too are indigenous peoples first and foremost, yet living with various types of disabilities. Therefore, if our presence is not recognized and excluded from the struggles of all indigenous peoples, we will be further marginalized by the very society that we struggle tobe a part of. I am going to highlight some of the issues familiar to us in the pacific that is threatening our indigenous population and nations.

1. Environment (Article 10) – our environment is threatened both by natural forces and through development based on market forces.

o Rising sea levels, floods, and droughts are threatening our food security, drinking water sources and the land that breaths life to us causing displacement of indigenous communities. Indigenous people with disabilities are the first to be affected in this context as their familiar and accessible environment are hard to reach further increasing poverty among them.

o Displacement of indigenous communities into unfamiliar environment and cultures also affects indigenous persons with disability. In most cases, indigenous persons with disability and the elderly often are left behind and therefore live in poverty.

2. Violence against indigenous women and children

o VAW is a very great concern for indigenous women around the world and yesterday afternoon was largely devoted to this issue. But sad to say that in my observation there was no mention of indigenous women and girls with disability. Our very action in not mentioning and including indigenous women,girls and person with disability in our report further highlights the need for our voices and presence to be heard and realized. Indigenous women and girls with disabilities are triply disadvantaged even within the indigenous social structural system of law and justice. This is because we are indigenous, being women and also having a disability. VAW cases brought by women and girls with disabilities are often discriminated by the very social structural systems that once protected all women. For example, when an indigenous woman with disability is raped and is found being pregnant, nothing is done and in most cases either compensation is made or the woman is forced to marry the perpetrator against her wishes.

3. Right to Life – cultural identity

o Indigenous children with disabilities are often neglected and not registered as citizens and therefore have lost their own cultural identity. They are often neglected and in most indigenous communities, are looked after by one family after another and sometimes ending up begging on the streets further increasing poverty in this case.

To conclude let me inform you that there are more than almost one billion persons with disability in the world according the World Report on Disability launched by WHO last year in this very building. There are also our marginalized indigenous brothers and sisters who hail from indigenous communities of developed countries whose voices are hardly audible and we present their cases before you as well.

Therefore in deliberating on strategies and policies to combat the violations of the UNDRIP by countries that are represented here, we call your particular attention as well to the causes of all indigenous persons with disability recognising our identity as indigenous people as well.

We ask your support to include the voices and perspectives of people with disability and reinforce what we stated yesterday by proposing these recommendations:

1. Consultation and participation of persons with disabilities in the regional and global caucuses to ensure that our voices are heard in the Forum agenda in the years to come

2. Drafting of a special report on the situation of indigenous persons with disability

3. Inclusion in the preparatory work for the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous People’s Rights to ensure that the situation of indigenous persons with disability are discussed at that high level meeting.

4. Inclusion in the Agenda of the UN System, including the Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People

We thank you for the opportunity to present to the Forum our concerns and we call your attention to our Global Motto: NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US.

Thank you Madam Chair for giving us this opportunity

Ms Ipul Powaseu from Papua New Guinea on behalf of indigenous people with disabilities in the Global South