A discussion on the preparation of a world conference on indigenous peoples’ issues was held at the 6th session of the UNO expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples. This conference will be held in Septemer, 2014, in the format of the high-level plenary meeting of UNO General Assembly.
Central theme of this discussion was the final document of the Preparatory conference of indigenous peoples, which was adopted by all the regional delegations of the traditional lands of the Sami in Alta, Norway.
Global coordination group suggests countries and the UNO system to put this document in the basis of the final document of the World conference.
A member of the UNO Expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples Alexey Tsykarev opened the discussion and presented the Expert mechanism’s vision of the process of preparation of the conference.
According to his words, the World conference closes the Second international decade of indigenous peoples of the world, thus giving an opportunity to sum up the work of national committees of the Decade and to discuss the agenda for the period after 2015. A. Tsykarev believes that the year preceding the World conference may be a fortunate time to develop a dialog between different countries and indigenous peoples and to improve national legislation in the spirit of the Declaration.
The speaker invited representatives of indigenous peoples to participate in the 7th session of the Expert mechanism, which will be the last opportunity to discuss the preparation of the world conference at the UNO.
The Human Rights Council will hold a panel discussion on the preparation of the conference in September 2013. A preparatory meeting will take place in Mexico, in March 2014, and interactive hearings in New York will be held in May. Finno-Ugric peoples are involved in the preparatory process. The Chairman of the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric peoples Valery Markov and member of the Expert mechanism A. Tsykarev participated in the preparatory conference in Alta. Representatives of the Veps, Khanty, Nenets and Saami were also included in Russian delegation.