The United Nations (UN’s) International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (IDWIP) is annually celebrated on 09th August across the world to highlight the role of indigenous people and the importance of preserving their rights, communities and knowledge they gathered and passed down over centuries.
- Theme of IDWIP 2022- “The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.”
- The day is also known as World Tribal day.
i.The main focus was to work on the issues related to education, culture, economic and social development, environment, and health of these communities.
ii.2022 marks the beginning of a new decade for the indigenous community, the celebration of the Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022 – 2032.
Note-
In 2019 the UN celebrated the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
Background:
i.On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution A/RES/49/214 and decided to observe International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples annually on 9th August every year.
- The first International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was observed on 9th August 1995.
Why August 9th?
On 9 August 1982, the first Working Group on Indigenous Populations on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was formed by the United Nations following the UN meeting in Geneva.
Related UN observance-
- 1993 was announced as the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People.
- The UNGA declared 10 December, 1994, as the start of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
- Decade of the World’s Indigenous People 1994 -2004
- Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People 2005–2014
Significance:
i.The Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) will host a virtual session on 9 August 2022 to discuss the theme-“The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge”
ii.They have also invited indigenous peoples, member states, UN entities, civil society and the general public to join the virtual session where the current scenario of the world’s indigenous communities will be presented.
iii.The virtual commemoration will include an interactive dialogue segment with invited speakers, moderated by Ms Rosemary Lane, Acting Chief of the Indigenous Peoples Development Branch – Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Indigenous People:
i.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are an estimated 476 million indigenous peoples in the world living across 90 countries.
ii.They make up less than 5 % of the world’s population but account for 15% of the poorest. They speak the majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.
