Indigenous peoples discuss means for conflict resolution

 By PAULINE FAN
© Earth Times News Service
http://www.earthtimes.org/dec/cultureindigenouspeopledec24_00.htm


MANILA--"The past is always ahead of us," goes an old Maori saying. Moana
Jackson, an indigenous person from Aotearoa (New Zealand), explained that in
the Maori worldview, "the past is not found in days gone by, but in the days
that sit in front of us."

He was delivering the opening address at the International Conference on
Conflict Resolution, Peace Building, Sustainable Development and Indigenous
People, held in Manila, Philippines from December 6 to 8. Stressing the
importance of indigenous peoples' collective memory, he told participants
not to lose sight of the historic origins from which conflicts emerge, and
urged them to reclaim indigenous ways of identifying and resolving conflict.

"Conflict is a reality in which many indigenous communities find themselves
today," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Executive Director of Tebtebba and an
indigenous person from the Cordillera region of the Philippines.
"Dispossessed and marginalized, indigenous peoples are often left with no
option but to take up arms to defend their basic human rights to survival
and livelihood."

Few conflicts involving indigenous communities have found their way to peace
negotiations, and even those that have are not being resolved effectively.
"Most peace negotiations with indigenous communities have only dealt with
surface issues. The roots of conflict are seldom addressed and remain hidden
only to re-emerge at a later time," said Corpuz.

Ninety indigenous people from all over the world, as well as 25
representatives of nongovernmental organizations, United Nations bodies and
donor agencies, gathered at the Manila conference to reassert their right to
self-determination, share their diverse experiences of conflict and peace
building, revalidate indigenous methods of conflict resolution, and
strengthen the indigenous peoples' movement worldwide. The conference was
organized by the Tebtebba Foundation, an international policy research and
education center for indigenous peoples based in the Philippines. Indigenous
participants traveled to the Philippines to attend the three-day conference
all the way from Burma, Canada, Colombia, Greenland, Guatemala, India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Palestine, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Solomon Islands and South
Africa.

The conference was divided into eight panel discussions with a total of
nearly 50 speakers. Panels focused on issues such as land and resource
rights, liberation movements, post-conflict reconstruction, and indigenous
definitions of conflict and conflict resolution. After the panels, regional
and thematic workshops were held to facilitate regional strategizing
sessions and to allow for deeper discussion of issues such as peace
negotiations, self-determination and globalization.

Several panelists explored the historical roots of conflict involving
indigenous peoples, paying particular attention to colonization. During the
colonial era, many indigenous communities suffered a long, painful process
of alienation from their ancestral lands and resources, as well as from
their cultural identities and worldviews.

Cecil Le Fleur, a member of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordination
Committee, spoke of how of colonialism in South Africa had stripped tribal
and local communities of their dignity and turned them into "colored people"
, with no claims to the rich resources of the land. He explained how racism
served to justify systematic and sustained violence against, and
exploitation of, indigenous and local communities.

In post-colonial nation states, the deep sense of cultural identity that
indigenous people carry within themselves is sometimes seen as a threat to
national integrity. Participants from the conflict-torn Indonesian provinces
of Aceh, Kalimantan, Maluku, and West Papua, told of how the rigid defense
of Indonesia's national integrity led to the forceful suppression of local
identities and cultures. They all criticized the Indonesian government's
hard-line approach to ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, and called
for the full recognition of their right to self determination as well as an
end to state violence.

Self-determination was a central theme at the conference. There was a
general reaffirmation of Article 3 of the Draft United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that indigenous peoples
have the right to "freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development." During the panel on
self-determination, participants stressed that this right necessarily
includes the right to practice indigenous methods of conflict resolution,
and to revitalize indigenous institutions and decision-making bodies.

Viktor Kaiseipo, a West Papuan who works with the Pacific Concerns Resource
Center commented that, in pursuing their right to self-determination,
indigenous people must consciously undergo a process of liberation,
individually and collectively. "We must understand who we are and know our
history, in order to liberate ourselves from things that have been imposed
on us, by past and present oppressors," he said.

During the workshops, many participants expressed frustration with national
development frameworks that fail to take into account the specific rights,
needs and aspirations of indigenous peoples. According to export-oriented
development models have led to projects such as land conversion schemes in
which indigenous territories are acquired and transformed into plantations
for cash crops and other commodities. In addition, the rapid spread of
consumerist and individualistic culture threatens to weaken the communal
values of indigenous communities. There was a consensus among conference
participants that development cannot be 'sustainable' if it seizes or
destroys indigenous peoples' territories, deprives them of their own means
of subsistence, and erodes their cultural values.

Joji Carino, of the World Commission on Dams, described processes of
"development aggression", where large-scale development projects such as
dams, as well as primary resource extraction schemes, displace entire
communities and destroy their resource-base. She pointed to the concept of
"free and prior informed consent" as an emerging standard for indigenous
peoples, which asserts the right of indigenous communities to reject
development projects that would harm their lifestyles.

The conference also addressed new challenges faced by indigenous peoples in
the present era of globalization. Many indigenous communities are being
threatened by the increased activity of transnational corporations (TNCs) on
indigenous territories, as national economic barriers are eliminated to
allow the freer movement of goods, services, investment and finance.
Activities such as mining, logging and oil drilling lead to the large-scale
destruction of indigenous peoples' land, privatization of their resources,
further denial of their rights, and loss of their traditional livelihoods.

More and more indigenous communities are coming into direct conflict with
TNCs. An example is the non-violent resistance of the U'wa people against
Occidental Petroleum Company, which plans to drill for crude oil in the
ancestral lands of the U'wa, without the consent of the community. During
the panel on land rights, Roberto Perez Guiterrez delivered an intense
account of the U'wa struggle, in which he explained: "The problems we face
are not a matter of law or constitution, but a matter of political will. The
government prioritizes big money from foreign companies over the fundamental
rights of our people."

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was identified as one of the key
institutions shaping the globalization process, and there was much concern
over the implications of WTO agreements for indigenous peoples. Of
particular concern was the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs) Agreement, which provides avenues for the patenting of indigenous
peoples' genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

The conference concluded with the drafting of the Manila Declaration, which
states that efforts to resolve conflict and build peace "must weave together
the threads of equality, justice, participatory democracy, and recognition
and respect for the rights of all peoples and cultures" and implies
"establishing intercultural relationships which facilitate peaceful
coexistence within a framework of plurality and mutual respect."

The Declaration states: "When others speak of respect for political,
economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, they need to
respect our forms of organization, our spirituality and cosmo-vision, and
our mechanisms and methods of conflict resolution."

It asserts the right of indigenous peoples to "reclaim the space and secure
the respect needed to resolve conflict, build peace and develop the
treasures of Mother Earth in a sustainable way that both reflects ancient
traditions and the right of indigenous people to develop in the ways they
feel are appropriate."

The Manila Conference highlighted the common struggle of indigenous
communities worldwide. At the closing of the conference, participants vowed
to strive in solidarity for a future in which they are able to realize their
rights, needs and aspirations as self-determining people. They also resolved
to strengthen indigenous peoples' networks worldwide and forge alliances
with non-indigenous individuals, civil groups and international bodies.


SEE ALSO OUR "INDIGENOUS CENTERS FOR TEACHING PEACE"