Indigenous denounced discrimination at COP 16

International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change

Press Release

The new negotiating text tabled by the AWG- LCA Chair omits reference to the rights of indigenous peoples in the Shared Vision

The International Forum on Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change meeting in Cancun, has considered the new negotiating text on shared vision presented today by the Chair of the AWG-LCA in the plenary meeting and declares the following:

1. We express our profound dismay and concern for the exclusion of any reference to human rights, and in particular to the rights of indigenous peoples, women, children, migrants and other sectors in vulnerable situations, in the shared vision chapter of the new negotiating text.

2. We believe that the lack of reference to human rights in the shared vision chapter of a document so important for the global process to combat climate change is unthinkable and incomprehensible, representing a step backward from the previous version, where there were specific reference to international human rights instruments, including the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, approved by the United Nations itself.

3. Moreover, the omission or lack of reference to human rights, and in particular to the rights of indigenous peoples, is difficult to justify since the same document contains some references to these rights in chapters C and D in the text presented today.

Cancun, December 4, 2010