Friday, August 04, 2006
More Harm than Good
In April 2000, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution to establish the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Three months later the UN Economic and Social Council endorsed the resolution and created the Permanent Forum as a high level advisory body to ECOSOC. The first meeting of the Forum was held in 2002.
At the May 2005 convening of the Permanent Forum, 1500 indigenous representatives gathered at UN Headquarters to focus on the Millenium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and to emphasize the need for development models needed by indigenous people. As one of these delegates observed, "the model of material wealth propagated by modern economies is not a model that can work in indigenous settings; it tends to bring more harm than good."
At the May 2005 convening of the Permanent Forum, 1500 indigenous representatives gathered at UN Headquarters to focus on the Millenium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and to emphasize the need for development models needed by indigenous people. As one of these delegates observed, "the model of material wealth propagated by modern economies is not a model that can work in indigenous settings; it tends to bring more harm than good."
