Mr. Leo van der Vlist, president of the Netherlands Centre for Indigenous People (NCIV), an NGO supporting the promotion and the protection of Indigenous people’s rights world-wide, presented in a parallel session of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations on Tuesday 19th of July 2005 its most recent project: Speaking for Earth. Speaking4Earth is an international campaign to support indigenous peoples’ struggle for their land and life and to promote their vision that it is necessary to care for the earth for future generations.

This project was initiated in 2004, the year of the end of the first United Nations Decade for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, during a gathering that took place at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

A website was created in order to set up a network of partners (Indigenous peoples’ organizations and supporting NGOs), a way to involve more participants by giving them the possibility to engage themselves remaining behind their screen. This website principally aims to be a platform for urgent action, indigenous news and inspiration, as well as a forum for discussion. It is a way to show indigenous cultural diversity and to offer them a voice, a manner to fill the need to empower global indigenous people, and increase media attention and pressure on governments.

Mr. Van der Vlist explained also that Speaking4earth was a platform for a photo project with the involvement of the photojournalist Geert van Kesteren. The final objective is the publication of a book that would illustrate the visit of seven indigenous people. In the meantime, pictures will be available on the website as one goes along. He then cited the example of the first photo story on Ogiek people in Kenya and gave the floor to Mr. Kanyinke Sena, an Ogiek lawyer from the Ogiek Cultural Initiative Programme. Mr. Sena founded Ogiek Rural Integral Projects (ORIP), the first official organization in Kenya that stood for the rights of the Ogiek, who live in the Mau forest.

Mr. Van der Vlist finally mentioned the future options, which could include art, poetry, music or food for earth.
www.speaking4earth.com