Below is a statement delivered by Ms. Mary Simolo Simat, IPACC Chairperson, at a Declaration Rally held opposite the UN Headquarters in New York on 14 May 2007, within the framework of the Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, held from 14-25 May 2007 in New York.

Speaker: Ms. Mary Simolo Simat

Statement delivered by Ms. Mary Simolo Simat, IPACC Chairperson, at a Declaration Rally held opposite the UN Headquarters in New York on 14 May 2007

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is our great honour to greet you in the name of the IPs of Africa – the hunter-gatherers, the nomadic pastoralists, the peoples of arid lands, tropical forests and oases.

It is our joy that the UN Council on Human Rights adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in June 2006. The Declaration is the first international normative instrument to create standards on the rights of IPs.

The process of drafting the Declaration has had a major positive effect on Africa and on the UN itself. Fifteen years ago, very few IPs had formal organisations and associations. Now there are over 150 members of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee in 20 countries, who are active at community level and connected to the United Nations mechanism.

In 2003, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights studied the issue of IPs. It did this, precisely because of the attention given by the UN to our issues during the First International Decade on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The African Commission ruled in 2003 that there are IPs in Africa – as recognised in international standards and mechanisms. It further went on to recognise the rights of self-determination and our collective rights. In this way, Africa is ahead of most of the planet on recognising innovations in human rights.

Furthermore, we recognise that we, as IPs, have also changed the life of the UN. There was a time when States believed they could sit alone here in New York and make decisions about Africa. The process of negotiating the Declaration brought many diverse voices together in the UN, to discuss in partnership with our governments, how we would find solutions to the great challenges of our time: land security, food security, cultural and biological diversity, poverty, AIDS and human rights.

The future of the planet relies on all of us drawing on our diversity of cultures, on our wisdom and faith systems, our intellectual and cultural resources to find solutions where we can all live in dignity and peace. The Declaration and the creation of the Permanent Forum have made the UN more legitimate in the eyes of people living in the tropical rainforest, the Sahara desert, the Kalahari and in the Rift Valley. We recognise that we are part of the UN process and the family of humanity.

We call on all Member States of the UN to embrace the final step in adopting the Declaration. We call on African States to bring this Declaration home and to celebrate it with us with the fresh milk of camels, the roast meat of antelopes and the dancing and singing of our many peoples from Morocco to South Africa. This Declaration gives hope to the World.

Bado mapambano – the struggle continues – Amandla!”