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 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Are they on the brink of extinction?
NCW Foreign Affairs
Committee Seminar March 2007
at
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
The Chairman of NCW’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Lois
Hainsworth, opened the seminar with a reminder that 2004
had been the last year of the “United Nations’
International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples”
and that the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples had been adopted in June 2006 during the inaugural
session of the Human Rights Council. In December 2004 a
conference was held at the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical
Medicine, when it became clear that little had been
achieved in meeting the Decade’s objective of
strengthening international cooperation for the solution
of problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as
human rights, the environment, development, education and
health. Speakers were Carolyn Stephens, Clive
Nettleton, John Porter and Stephanie Clark. Last year Dr
Stephens and Ruth Willis spoke to the Foreign Affairs
Committee about these problems. Hence this seminar, the
full report of which we hope will reach a wider audience
and result in a resolution being put to the UK Government
to sign and ratify the Declaration.
Clive Nettleton, former Director of Health Unlimited, said
that there was a need to identify the tribes, how many
there were, the land they occupy and their cultural
distinctions. They often occupied very wealthy land, with
forestry or mining potential. It was thought that there
were 370 million people involved, many of them in
different parts of China. A key issue is their health:
the care extended to them is lower than to other peoples,
the largest differences being in the poorest countries. In
some regions, indigenous peoples are simply unrecognised
and uncounted. He mentioned that Canada had the best
record for improved health services for their indigenous
tribes.
During a presentation on the relocation of the Basarwa
(San people) from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR),
Dawn Parr, Communications Director from the Botswana High
Commission in London explained the changes which had taken
place in the way of life of the Basarwa. They had begun
to hunt wildlife commercially depleting the game from the
Reserve, were almost totally dependant on Government for
food and water and wanted to develop settlements and
agriculture within the land designated for the protection
of wildlife. Following a Fact Finding Mission, the
Government offered relocation to the small number who
remained in the CKGR, giving them the opportunity to
find new land to settle and providing compensation.
Although the majority of those who relocated are enjoying
the benefits of the new village and the services which
have been provided, 200 took the Government to court to
win the right to return. The case has been completed with
the ruling that they may return but without any services.
Negotiations continue to try and resolve the continuing
disagreements.
Dora Napolitan
with four other students from the LSHTM, went to the
Peruvian Amazon to study the health situation of the
indigenous people which they found to be poor. She
described the historical past when invaders had brought
illnesses which killed many people because they had no
immunity; their survival of the 19th century rubber boom
with epidemics and slave labour; and increasing pressure
as traders came to search for tropical hard wood, petrol
and gas, with the use of guns. The indigenous people
retreated up to the head waters of the rivers, although it
was harder to survive there. She gave examples of their
suffering and exploitation.
Dr Carolyn Stephens, Senior Lecturer LSHTM,
gave many examples of the lives led by indigenous people
who are gentle and unworldly. They have a close
relationship with the land and use it and their forests
for medicines. For years they have been guardians of
their environment and its herbal medicines – and have
their own concepts of health, physical and mental.
One of Dr Stephens’ aims is to ensure that indigenous
people’s voices are heard and that policy makers and
health professionals support them to achieve equity and
their survival. They have peaceful ways of resolving
conflicts – but now there are the drug gangs and soldiers.
Lois Hainsworth, Chair Foreign Affairs
Policy Committee | 
