Advance unedited version United Nations E/C.19/2011/7 Economic and Social Council Distr.: General 23 February 2011 Original: English ADVANCE UNEDITED TEXT Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Tenth session New York, 16-27 May 2011 Item 6 of the provisional agenda* Comprehensive dialogue with United Nations agencies and funds Information received from the UN System and other intergovernmental organizations United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Summary This report is submitted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for consideration during the in-depth dialogue of the tenth session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). It provides a summary of UNICEF’s approach to promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous children and women, and the work which the agency has been undertaking regarding indigenous peoples issues. It further identifies gaps in its current efforts, and proposes a road map for moving this agenda forward. UNICEF’s immediate agenda in the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights includes the design of * E/C.19/2011/1. Advance unedited version a strategy that reinforces a human rights-based approach to development in favour of the rights of indigenous peoples. The report is not exhaustive of UNICEF’s activities, and contains a range of practices and case studies pertaining to UNICEF’s interventions in the field, particularly as they relate to how the agency is responding to recommendations of the Permanent Forum. 2 Advance unedited version Content I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… II. Analysis and assessment of current work …………………………………………. A. Regional perspective on UNICEF’s practice with indigenous peoples…………... III. Measures in relation to the recommendations of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues A. Response to recommendations made during previous sessions of the UNPFII addressed exclusively to the United Nations Children’s Fund………………………. Migration……………………………………………………………………… Climate change and the environment…………………………………………. B. Response to recommendations made during previous session of the UNPFII addressed to one or more agencies or to the United Nations system in general…..… Adolescent suicide…………………………………………………………….. Incorporating a cultural perspective into health policies, programmes and reproductive health services…………………………………………………... Increased participation of indigenous peoples, including women, in programme design, implementation and monitoring………………………... Intercultural bilingual education……………………………….…………….. Data collection and desegregations…………………………………………... Birth registration……………………………………………………………… Violence against indigenous women and children……………………………. C. Response to recommendations made during the ninth session of the UNPFII addressed to one or more agencies or to the United Nations system in general Cultural heritage restoration………………………………………………… D. Addressing issues of special interest to the Permanent Forum ………………….. Promotion of sustainable forest exploitation to protect forest-resource dependant indigenous peoples……………………………………………….. Indigenous children with disabilities…………………………………………. Child participation…………………………………………………………….. 3 Advance unedited version Dissemination of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Children (UNDRIP)…………………………………………………………………...... Respect for the principle of free, prior and informed consent………………. Capacity-building programmes on indigenous peoples’ issues for staff, or a plan for capacity building activities in this area…………………………….. Partnership for indigenous children’s rights…………………………………. Human resources……………………………………………………………… E. Budgetary allocations………………………………………………………………. F. Obstacles encountered in implementing the recommendations of the Permanent Forum…………………………………………………………………………………. Proposed solutions…………………………………………………………….. A. Strategic Framework………………………………………………………. B. Adapting UNICEF’s approach to different regional and sub-regional contexts……………………………………………………………………. C. Refining understanding of local cultures and societies…………………. D. Institutional collaboration and partnerships…………………………….. E. Next steps……………………………………………………………….. 4 Advance unedited version Acronyms AECID Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development CAN Andean Community of Nations CAR Central African Republic CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child ECLAC Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean FLACSO Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences at Ecuador GIG Inter-Agency Gender Working-Group GRCE Gender, Rights and Civic Engagement Section IASG Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues IBE Intercultural Bilingual Education ILO International Labour Organization LAC UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean MNCS Maternal, Neonatal and Child Survival MOET Ministry of Education and Training MoEYS Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports MTBBE Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education MTSP Medium-Term Strategic Plan NGOs Non-governmental organizations OEI Organization of Iberian-American States for Education, Science and 5 Advance unedited version Culture OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ORA “Observer, Réfléchir, Agir” or “Observe, Think, Act” OVC Orphans and other Vulnerable Children SISCA Secretariat of Central American Social Integration UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDRIP UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNPFII UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 6 Advance unedited version I. Introduction 1. UNICEF has been a key actor in UN processes related to indigenous issues. At the global level, the organisation has made significant contributions towards ensuring that the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) addresses the rights of indigenous children and women. It contributes to the work of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues (IASG). In 2005 in particular, it hosted the IASG annual meeting in its Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Panama, the first ever meeting of the IASG outside of UN Headquarters. This was done with the aim to promote coordination among UN agencies at regional and country level, thus raising awareness of the gap between efforts at the global level and in the field, and generating momentum on this issue. The elaboration of UNDG Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues (UNDG Guidelines) was one of the recommendations of the meeting, and UNICEF co- chaired the inter-agency task team in charge of drafting the Guidelines. 2. UNICEF has been active at country level, with various programmes and activities specifically designed to advance the rights of indigenous peoples, and projects ranging from bilingual and intercultural education, culturally sensitive health services, to birth registration and the fight against violence, abuse and exploitation. The agency is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) forming the other keystone of the agency’s mandate and mission. The CRC applies to all children in the world, and the principle of non- 7 Advance unedited version discrimination as articulated in Article 2 of the Convention is at the core of UNICEF’s work. UNICEF’s approach in this connection is inspired by ILO Convention 169 (ILO 1989), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UN General Assembly resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/295 of 13 September 2007). 3. UNICEF was furthermore instrumental in the design of General Comment No. 11 on Indigenous Children and their Rights under the Convention, released by the CRC Committee in 2009 by among other things, facilitating consultations with indigenous representatives. 4. UNICEF’s organisational plan, the Medium-Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) Investing in Children: the UNICEF contribution to poverty reduction and the Millennium Agenda (2006-2013), clearly recognizes that: “In some countries, the children of indigenous populations tend to be disproportionately deprived of basic services. UNICEF’s cooperation will seek to benefit these children as a matter of priority, where needed”.1 The MTSP intends to go beyond support to specific programmes and projects to tackling the root causes of discrimination and exclusion against indigenous children through the enhancement of relevant public policies. It identifies five focus areas that guide UNICEF’s efforts in asserting the rights of children in general and indigenous children in particular: (1) Young child survival and development; (2) Basic education and gender equality; (3) HIV, AIDS 1 UNICEF medium term strategic plan 2006-2009. Investing in children: the UNICEF contribution to poverty reduction and the Millennium Summit Agenda. (E/ICEF/2005/11) 11 July 2005, para. 107. 8 Advance unedited version and children; (4) Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse and; (5) Policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights.2 5. UNICEF’s work on indigenous issues forms part of the equity-based approach to its programmes and policies, which seeks to understand and address the root causes of inequity so that all children, particularly