Indigenous Peoples Protest UNFCCC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        7 December 2007

Indigenous Peoples Protest UNFCCC
Indigenous Peoples shut out of Climate Change Negotiations

Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia- Indigenous peoples representing regions
from around the world protested outside the climate negotiations
today wearing symbolic gags that read UNFCCC, the acronym of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, symbolizing
their systematic exclusion from the UN meeting.

Yesterday a delegation of indigenous peoples was forcibly barred from
entering the meeting between UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer
and civil society representatives, despite the fact that the
indigenous delegation was invited to attend.  This act is
representative of the systematic exclusion of indigenous peoples in
the UNFCCC process.

  "There is no seat or name plate for indigenous peoples in the
plenary, nor for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues, the highest level body in the United Nations that addresses
indigenous peoples rights," stated Hubertus Samangun, the Focal Point
of the Indigenous Peoples delegation to the UNFCCC and the Focal
Point for English Speaking Indigenous Peoples of the Global Forest
Coalition.

"Indigenous peoples are not only marginalized from the discussion,
but there is virtually no mention of indigenous peoples in the more
that 5 million words of UNFCCC documents," argued Alfred Ilenre of
the Edo People of Nigeria.

This is occurring despite the fact that indigenous peoples are
suffering the most from climate change and climate change mitigation
projects that directly impact their lands.

Indigenous peoples are here in Bali to denounce the false solutions
to climate change proposed by the United Nations such as carbon
trading, agrofuels and so-called "avoided deforestation" that
devastate their lands and cause human rights violations.

"This process has become nothing but developed countries avoiding
their responsibilities to cut emissions and pushing the
responsibility onto developing countries," stated Fiu Mata'ese
Elisara-Laula, of the O Le Siosiomaga Society of Samoa.  "Projects
like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing
countries) sound very nice but they are trashing our indigenous
lands.  People are being relocated and even killed; my own people
will soon be under water.  That's why I call the money from the
projects blood money," he added.

Marcial Arias of the Kuna People of Panama reminded the international
community that indigenous peoples' right to participate was
recognized in the Earth Summit in 1992 and reaffirmed this year. "On
September 13th of this year, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [1]
which enshrines the fundamental human rights of indigenous peoples to
their lands, territories and environment. It is precisely these
rights recognized by the UN itself that the UNFCCC is violating," he
explained.

Contact:        Hubertus Samangun, Indigenous Focal Point to the
UNFCCC (Bahasa, English) 0813-1077-8918
        Orin Langelle, Global Forest Coalition Media Coordinator
0813-3895-9742 (English)
        (photos available upon request)

Notes:

[1]   http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html

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Top right:  Hubertus Samangun, Indigenous Focal Point to the UNFCCC
and Global Forest Coalition representative explains to the media how
he and a delegation of indigenous peoples were forcibly blocked from
attending a meeting with the UNFCCC executive secretary on Nov 6.
Photo: Langelle/ GJEP