Violations of the right to equal access to justice (no access to collective legal aid and thus courtroom legal representation) and FPIC (non-presence of the Indigenous community at an information meeting taken as consent by business) have affected Jijnjevaerie sameby (Indigenous Sámi community) in the situation of external business-proposed and -advocated windmills on traditional reindeer herding and sameby land.

The disturbances of windmills affect the movement of animals and thus the overall composition of nature in the areas they are located and further restrict traditional land use that is already so affected by settlement and encroaching 'development'.

Sámi journalist Inga Marja Steinfjell at Sameradion (Sámi Radio) interviewed IOSDE's Director India Reed Bowers on her reaction to the news of the sameby's lack of legal aid and attorney representation (including in the courtroom) due to finances and the structure of the legal aid system in Sweden and Sápmi on the Swedish side, as well as the situation of external business-claimed sameby consent.

Sameradion article and interview clip here: Kritiserar Sverige för bristande rättshjälp

Dear Friends,

IOSDE has endorsed the following petition concerning heavily militarization within Ukhrul District Headquarters, Manipur and its surrounding areas. Please share this petition and its news with your networks far and wide. The original document on the letterhead of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) can be viewed, shared and downloaded from here: Petition for the withdrawal of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and restoration of normalcy in Ukhrul District Headquarters, Manipur (India) and the accompanying Annex here: Annex- Timeline for Petition for the withdrawal of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and restoration of normalcy in Ukhrul District Headquarters, Manipur (India) and its surrounding areas. Text of petition and endorsements as follow:

NPMHR
Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights
K.N. Sekhose Building, Jail Colony,
Kohima: 797001, Nagaland
Website: www.npmhr.org

AIPP
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact
An organization of indigenous peoples' movements in Asia

To,
The Home Minister,
Government of India,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi, 110001

Subject: Petition for the withdrawal of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and restoration of normalcy in Ukhrul District Headquarters, Manipur (India) and its surrounding areas.

Honorable Sir,

We are deeply concerned with the continued suspension of freedom of movement and association in and around Ukhrul town with the imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (S.144 CrPC) since the 13th of July 2014. The whole of Ukhrul District Headquarters and its surrounding areas is heavily militarized with the deployment of hundreds of Manipur Police Commando (MPC) and Indian Reserved Battalion (IRB) since the unfortunate killing of Mr. Ngalangzar Malue, a member of the Autonomous District Council (ADC).

Sir, we would like to draw your attention to the facts of the events that led to the protest against the Government of Manipur (see annex I for details):

• On 12th July, the local civil society organizations conducted an on the spot investigation of the killing of Mr. Ngalangzar Malue at Finch Corner, Ukhrul District, Manipur followed by assessment of the situation and subsequently communicated to Naga civil society organisations of no imminent threat of public unrest resulting from the incident. Naga civil society organizations condemned the killing as senseless and hurting the sentiments of the people.
• On 13th July (before daylight), Government of Manipur (GoM) raided the public liaison office of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and arrested 8 cadres who were present in the office. On the same day, Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code (S. 144 CrPC) was imposed in the district Headquarters.
• No organisation or individual has claimed the killing till date.
• The GoM has been sending state armed forces wave after wave without providing any justification to the public.
• Naga civil society organizations have protested against the undemocratic action of the GoM and submitted several memorandums to both the state and central authorities.
  

Sir, the suspension of freedom of movement and association based on the “apprehension of public nuisance and disturbance of public tranquility” is utterly baseless and arbitrary in this particular case. It amounts to penalizing the public in order to provoke them and create a volatile situation motivated by vested political interests. The civil society organizations are important institutions of any democratic society and has carried out their rightful duty in condemning the killing and assessing the situation for preemptive measures of any perceived social unrest following the incident. We are dismayed that the authorities have completely ignored the plea for restoration of normalcy and for providing substantial facts for the imposition of S.144 CrPC as required by law. This clearly proves that there exist no such circumstances under which S.144 CrPC can be imposed. Further, sending in more armed forces into the area is deepening the distrust and hurt caused by the action of the GoM which amount to waging psychological warfare against the people.

State authorities have also been trying to take the issue out of context by arguing that Manipur does not come under ceasefire coverage area signed between the Central Government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM). However, the imposition of S.144 CrPC has no relationship with the ceasefire or the peace talks. We do not see any reason in the GoM dragging in the issue of ceasefire and peace talks in this context. The issue of peace process should be dealt with at the appropriate level in a democratic manner even if there are disagreements within the government setup. S.144 is a specific law under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 and therefore its application is specific and in accordance with the rule of law, requires providing reasonable material facts of imminent threat (that exists) to public order or tranquility. It is a tool to provide security to the general public and should not be used as a tool for repression of the general public.

Sir, the suspension of freedom of movement and association for more than a month, contrary to the fundamental rights of citizens without any justification is arbitrary and is a matter of serious concern. It is causing harm to the social, economic and mental health of the people in and around Ukhrul District Headquarters.

We the undersigned organizations and individuals appeal to your good office to intervene and uphold the fundamental rights and freedoms based on the state's human rights obligations under national and international laws, and democratic principles and values.

We highly value your position and capacity to address the situation in Ukhrul District, Manipur in consistence with human rights and democratic principles.

With this great sense of urgency, we urge your intervention to address the following demands:

• Revoke Section 144 of CrPC from in and around Ukhrul District, Manipur.
• Withdraw all the Manipur Police Commando (MPC) and Indian Reserved Battalion (IRB) that is stationed in and around Ukhrul District, Manipur.
• Urge the Governments of Manipur to apologize to the people of Ukhrul District, Manipur for its arbitrary actions and causing social trauma.
  

Thank you for your kind attention!

Respectfully yours,

1. Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR)
2. Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Thailand
3. Jaringan Orang Asal Se Malaysia (JOAS), Malaysia
4. Kirat Youth Society, Nepal
5. NGO- Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NGO-FONIN), Nepal
6. Nepal Kirat Kulung Bhasa Sanskriti Utthan Sang, Nepal
7. Cambodia Indigenous Youth Association (CIYA), Cambodia
8. Kalipunanng MgaKatutubong Mamamayanng Pilipinas (KAMP)/ National Alliance of Indigenous Peoples Organizations in the Philippines, Philippines
9. Peoples Unity Young Society, Nepal
10. Active Society Nepal, Nepal
11. Montañosa Research & Development Center, Inc. (MRDC), Philippines
12. Indigenous Community Support Organization (ICSO), Cambodia
13. African Indigenous People Network (AIPN), Africa
14. Foundation Batwa Rwanda, Rwanda
15. Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), Philippines
16. Incomindios Switzerland
17. Centre for Sustainable Development in Mountainous Areas (CSDM), Vietnam
18. Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights, Philippines
19. Lawyers Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP), Nepal
20. International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Denmark
21. Kachin Peace Network (KPN), Myanmar
22. PEREMPUAN AMAN, Indonesia
23. TARA-Ping Pu Organization - Taiwan/China
24. Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples (IKAP), Thailand
25. International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE), Sweden
26. Cordillera Women's Education Action Research Center (CWEARC), Philippines
27. Innabuyog, Alliance of Indigenous Women's Organizations in the Cordillera Region, Philippines
28. BAI, National Network of Indigenous Women's Organizations in the Philippines.

Individuals
1. Thomas Jalong, Jaringan Orang Asal Se Malaysia (JOAS), Malaysia
2. Makiko Kimura, Shimin Gaikou Centre, Japan
3. William Nicholas Gomes, United Kingdom
4. Ripan Chakma, Trinamul Unnayan Sangstha, Bangladesh
5. Romba Marannu Sombolinggi, Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara-Toraja, Indonesia
6. Sari Miettinen, Director, Incomindios Switzerland Switzerland
7. Julius Caesar Daguitan, Secretary General, Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network (APIYN), Asia
8. Marifel Macalanda, Coordinator, Cordillera Youth Center (CYC), Philippines
9. India Reed Bowers, International Human Rights and Criminal Law Consultant, Sweden

See attached Annex containing accompanying Timeline.

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters,

IOSDE is currently preparing for travel to Geneva for the United Nations’ CERD (International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination) Committee review of the United States of America. For this the 85th Session of CERD, a fine-pointed focus is at hand for IOSDE:  zeroing in on the Right to Self-Determination and discrimination therein. This year IOSDE is promoting equal participation at UN CERD for Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, a federally-unrecognized tribe, with emphasis on the discriminatory nature of the top-down, currently-under-review US Federal Recognition system re tribal status and benefits and hindrances therein. Discriminatory, top-down State-controlled Indigenous and Tribal recognition systems are not only a violation of the fundamental Right to Self-Determination, but create issues of Access to Justice and many other Human and Indigenous Rights violations, including, such as in the case of the Winnemem Wintu, the desecration of Sacred Sites, endangerment of and damage to the health and well-being of women, and threatening and creating blockages to the continuation of traditional culture-based Indigenous leadership, healing and religions.

IOSDE has been very active this past Spring and Summer of 2014, and further updates per-action/activity will be provided soon! From continuing to provide private and confidential assistance and consultation by request, to public attendance at the UN PFII (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) in May and inter-organization unity, such as with the Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples Director Angela Mooney D’Arcy, to participation at UN EMRIP (United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) in July with a special focus, advocacy and intervention within the theme of Access to Justice, to participation in Solidarity activities in militarized Indigenous regions in Mindanao, Philippines leading to honorings of diversity and traditional leadership, acknowledgment murderous loss and thus investigation, documentation and soon-to-be follow-up legal briefs and collaborations for justice, rights and peace, and to the now participation at UN CERD as mentioned above, IOSDE is busy working to make the world a better place in care and collaboration with many wonderful activists, leaders, doers and persons and our family of change continues to grow and flourish. All of this could not be done without the bold leadership of those fair and good peoples and persons around the world who are speaking and acting for and within their own peoples, communities, tribes, groups and organizations and the brave believers.  I look forward to highlighting these activities past and present more here in IOSDE's blog in the near future!

For now, a big Thank You to all of the amazing change-makers and truth-holders and -seekers working in unity.

More to come!

In peace and solidarity,

India Reed Bowers, B.A. LL.M
Founder & Director IOSDE

It's International Women's Day, and as the director if IOSDE I would personally like to share with you the United Nations’ publication Indicators to measure violence against women, a report of the 2007 Expert Group Meeting, which can be found at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/IndicatorsVAW/IndicatorsVAW_EGM_report.pdf.

I share this not in expectation that its tools, definitions or even reasonings directly provide a fit for all groups, Peoples, Tribes, States or Nations, but, rather, as an example for what can be done. A starting point. An inspiration. All groups, Peoples, Tribes, States and Nations, or any other entities, can consider how to become more technically aware, as social systems, of the violence occurring against women within their own system domains. The process of determining, as in the U.N. Indicators document, what kinds of violence, how much violence, violence at the hands and/or minds of who, and the roots of the violence, can be done in both in culturally appropriate ways and creatively. Individuals also have the right to claim this concrete awareness of prevalence from their systems and social and political groupings, as support by the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the U.N. General Assembly. There is no need for violence against women, or violence in general, to be silenced and stigmatized. There will be a day when it is easier to address, talk about and heal the stigma against talking about violence, and this starts with acknowledging it and becoming aware of and honest about its social prevalence and that, in fact, violence is everywhere, and that that is what we must address.

Rights Movements have, historically, inspired one another, despite, so to speak, their differences, where all share the common goal of better conditions of life for oppressed humans. For example, the United States Civil Rights Movement coexisted historically with the Women’s Rights movement, which coexisted with the Abolition Movement against slavery, and the Civil Rights Movement deeply influenced the American Indian and Indigenous Rights Movements. And as we come closer to our goals in one Rights, National or Peoples' Movement at times, it is important to not forget the rest, so as to further avoid the phenomenon of the inequality of the structure of oppressor and oppressed. Legal inferiority and forced dependency of the oppressed on the dominant needs to be continually and genuinely compared and contrasted between cultural and socio-political groups as well as genders, so as to better understand how all Rights-based movements can continue to work, or expand upon working, together, as well as how to create genuine models of change and improved and/or revitalized systems.

Concerning gender-based forced dependency and legal discrimination, Kenneth Karst wrote in 1974, "It is ... the right to be treated as one who is free to make independent choices … that is undermined by the legal rules symbolizing a woman's dependency." (Karst, Kenneth, "A Discrimination So Trivial: A Note on Law and the Symbolism of Women's Dependency”, Los Angeles Bar Bulletin, Vol. 49, No. 22: October 1974). This issue of the freedom to make independent (or fair and collaborative) choices as a woman, versus being forced to be dependent due to rules and customs, directly parallels the striving for legal and political Self-Determination of Peoples, Tribes and Nations versus an unequal dependency on the State as non-State socio-political entities (or other forms of unequal external dependency, such as in business, if Statehood is the chosen form of Self-Determination). Too often money with strings attached and fears of retaliation are what hold women, groups, Peoples, Tribes and Nations back from striving for greater independence while maintaining a need and/or desire for non-violence.

If we are to work for political, legal, territorial and otherwise forms and visions of Self-Determination, we must also work for an end to all oppressions, and, in particular, oppression through forced dependency and/or violence against women as well as not only female or gender equality but the equality and highlighting, selecting, trusting and honoring of compassionate, non-competitive, inclusive and empathic female leadership. As Catharine Goodwin expresses in her essay on gender discrimination in clubs and organizations, “To be stamped as inferior or a nonparticipant is particularly painful in the context of a legal order that professes equality as a fundamental tenet.” ( Goodwin, Catharine M., “Challenging the Private Club: Sex Discrimination Plaintiffs Barred at theDoor”, Southwestern University Law Review, Vol. 13: 1982, p. 271, footnote 230). We must ask ourselves not only who is being left out in the building of the  Self-Determination process and achievement, but what qualities in such persons, what value systems, are being denied, destroyed, forgotten or excluded. We must both reclaim and create our own indicators for pain, exclusion and violence, internally within our social organizing systems- as States but also as groups, families, communities, Peoples, Tribes and Nations. And we cannot exclude women from this process or in having their own indicators of exclusion, as that is also a form of violence.

The U.N. Indicators document states:

“Gender-based violence against women is a form of discrimination and deeply rooted in power imbalances and structural relationships of inequality between women and men. Violence against women is a global phenomenon, occurring in every continent, country and culture. It harms families, impoverishes communities and reinforces other forms of inequality and violence throughout societies. A focus on the collection of data on violence against women remains essential. […] It is well established under international law that violence against women is a form of discrimination against women and a violation of human rights.” 

To this end, I encourage everyone to become curious about violence against women in their families, communities, workplaces, groups, Peoples, Tribes, Nations and States and more, and to think about how this is related to other oppressions being experienced, and what can, by uniquely you, be done about it.


India Reed Bowers, B.A. LL.M
Founder & Director IOSDE

With the kind support of IOSDE's Indiegogo campaign donors and other kind and supporting donors and organizers the "Indigenous Peoples and the World Trade Organization: Resisting Globalization, Asserting Self-Determination" workshop was held during the Peoples' Global Camp, 2-6 December 2013, parallel to the WTO 9th Ministerial Meeting in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.

IOSDE along with Indigenous organizations and representatives from around the world assisted in and presented at the event, which was organized by Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network (APIYN), Alyansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN), Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), Land is Life and the Committee on the Protection of Natural Reources in Manipur, and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA).

Below is the resulting, collaborative and signed version of the Indigenous Declaration (unsigned version available here) and a photo slide show of the week's events for your viewing!

A big Thank You to all supporters, organizers and fellow participants!

All interested Indigenous organizations and groups are welcome to contact us if you would also like to sign on to the Indigenous Declaration below.

Declaration: The World Trade Organization (WTO) and Indigenous Peoples: Resisting Globalization, Asserting Self-Determination 

We, the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth gathered here in Bali, Indonesia on 2-6 December 2013, organizing our own workshop and various events parallel to the World Trade Organization Ninth Ministerial Meeting (WTO MC9), hereby agreed to resist neoliberal globalization and assert our right to Self-Determination.

As Indigenous Peoples of the land and the waters, we have a close relationship to Mother Earth and nature. This relationship tells us that life on Mother Earth is in danger and coming to a time of great transformation. We are accepting the responsibility as the guardians of the earth, which has been designated by our respective Original Instructions woven into our cosmovisions, cultures, languages, and ways of life. We are telling the trade ministers of the world governments that we must all work together to create a new paradigm in global trade instruments and economic systems that fully recognizes the vital life-giving cycles, well-being and territorial integrity of Mother Earth.

We reaffirm our responsibilities to protect and defend our lands, water, territories, natural resources, culture and traditional knowledge, all of which are vital to the survival of all of humanity and for future generations. We will persevere in our struggle in reclaiming our inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples and for the well-being of Mother Earth. Until the right to self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and universal laws that recognize Mother Earth as a living being are observed and respected, genuine sustainable development will not be achieved.

We share a common history of colonization and globalization. For centuries, we experienced the colonisation of our lands, territories, air, ice, oceans and waters, mountains and forests. Colonialism institutionalized the oppression and exploitation of Indigenous Peoples up to the current era of globalization, exacerbated by the neoliberal impositions of multilateral trade agreements implemented over six decades through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. In its 9th Ministerial Conference, we believe that the WTO will only push for greater neoliberal policies on globalization, liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and denationalization that will consequently intensify the violation of our inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples and the multiple crises that humanity confronts today.

Thus, with our common problems, aspirations and struggles, we resolved to strengthen our unity as Indigenous Peoples and link our struggles with various democratic sectors and organizations worldwide until our right to self-determination and liberation is achieved.

The World Trade Organization and Violation of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

The WTO is the primary instrument of neoliberal globalization to further economic globalization especially in international trade. It aims to build a unitary system of trade relations of countries around the world governed by various agreements. WTO’s catchphrases of “borderless world”, “leveling the playing field” and “free market democracies”, involves the removal of restrictions or so-called trade barriers that hinder greater corporate profit. While the WTO binds the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to implement the neoliberal policies on trade of goods and services, the few capitalist countries on the other hand, protect their economies from these “free market” policies.

Several WTO Ministerials, such as the Doha Development Round in 2001, collapsed due to continuing disagreements over subsidies on agricultural products, market access, and special safeguard mechanisms, and massive Peoples’ protests. In its 9th Ministerial Conference, the WTO will make decisions on any of the multilateral trade related agreements such as the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS), and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and forge new multilateral agreements. The proposed agreement for the MC9 called the Bali Package will push for greater liberalization in agriculture, acceleration of LDCs in the WTO, and expedite trade facilitation through restructuring of GATT articles on imports-exports and trade costs. The Bali Package, along with post-Bali issues on International Technology Agreement (ITA) and Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), are labeled by developed countries as the solution to the stalled Doha Round to pursue intensified trade liberalization.

Indigenous Peoples, especially future generations, will be extremely affected by these decisions and agreements. For over 6 six decades now, since colonization, neoliberal policies have intensified the sufferings of the Indigenous Peoples. Our lands, territories and natural resources have been exploited by unsustainable development projects, such as mono-cultural chemically intensive plantations, extractive industries such as mining, oil drilling, hydro projects and other environmentally destructive “renewable” energy projects. Trade and investment liberalization have resulted in development aggression and plunder of our territories. We have been displaced from our Indigenous lands and territories. Our Indigenous knowledge, values and spirituality have been bastardized. And our rights to self-determination, to our own governance and own self-determined development have been violated. While defending our inherent and collective rights, we continue to suffer from militarization and State terrorism, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, assassination, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, criminalization of community resistance, harassment and vilification as “terrorists.” All of this has happened for the sake of globalization, and is bound to worsen as the WTO imposes more agreements and policies.

Our experiences show that the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions on import goods has led to the influx of foreign products in domestic markets. The AoA has unleashed agricultural liberalisation and imposed the importation of agricultural crops even if locally produced. It has forced many developing countries to favor transnational agricultural companies like Monsanto and compelled impoverished Indigenous Peoples to use high yielding varieties (HYV) seeds without being informed of the negative effects. The AoA pushes for commercial agricultural production, replacing traditional plant varieties with genetically altered species marketed by agriculture companies, and chemical-laden foods. The AoA eliminates the ability of Indigenous Peoples to produce culturally appropriate and sufficient food. Such trading system is detrimental to Indigenous Peoples’ food security, health and sustainability. It forces dependency to the capitalist market and weakens Indigenous Peoples’ ability to self-determined development and food sovereignty. The WTO demands reduction of subsidies on price support, while capitalist countries refuse to apply this in their own economies. This has damaged livelihoods resulting in bankruptcy of farmers including Indigenous Peoples, as they are unable to compete with subsidized and cheaper imports from abroad. States worsen this situation by failing to protect Indigenous Peoples’ sources of livelihood and food, land and resources.

Through our harmonious relations with nature as part of our spirituality, culture and beliefs, we maintain knowledge and practice of Indigenous medicines from medicinal plants and animals. We, however, are denied rights and control over our Indigenous medicines when these are taken over by big corporations as their intellectual property rights under WTO. Big pharmaceutical corporations race for patents to gain exclusive control for the production, marketing, distribution and sales of products derived from indigenous knowledge and practice. We are also alarmed that the WTO allows the patenting of life forms including extraction of genetic information under its TRIPS. These capitalist monsters treat Indigenous Peoples as valuable and vulnerable targets for medical research and experiments.

Trade agreements on services have further marginalized and impoverished us, with very limited access to basic social and health services, a situation worsened by government neglect and discrimination. Our right to quality and affordable education and health is further violated by GATS which allows foreign corporations to own and operate educational and health institutions leading to profit-oriented and corporate owned services that are available only to the few who have the means to pay. Education is designed to meet the needs and interests of the multinational corporations and the advanced capitalist countries above the social values and needs of Indigenous communities and national development of poor countries. As a result, the youth and the next generations’ futures are bleak and the survival of our Indigenous knowledge is in peril.

Globalisation has even destroyed our biological and cultural diversity, ecosystems, values and traditional knowledge that constitute our existence as humans and as Indigenous Peoples. It is the culprit of the climate crisis, which exacerbates the historical, political, and economic marginalisation of Indigenous Peoples. It puts Indigenous Peoples in a very vulnerable situation, notwithstanding the fact that Indigenous Peoples have contributed the least to the climate crisis.

The dominant world capitalist system under which the WTO and similar trade agreements operate is the culprit to the multiple crises that humanity confronts today. The neoliberal policies of globalization, liberalization, deregulation, privatization and denationalization are the root causes of the protracted economic, financial, political, and climatic crises that have put Indigenous Peoples in more oppressive and exploitative conditions and the planet on the brink of destruction. The WTO MC9 in its Bali Package is hell-bent on pushing and imposing more new deals that would intensify our misery ten-fold, as it demands the acceleration of neoliberal globalization for more profit to the few ruling elite of the advanced capitalist countries and their transnational corporations above the interest of Indigenous Peoples, humanity and Mother Earth. Clearly, the WTO advances the neoliberal globalization framework and violates all the rights of Peoples, including Indigenous Peoples and Nations, to self-determination, life and liberty. The WTO is an instrument that serves the primary interest of the multinational corporations and the few advanced capitalist countries to the detriment of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, humanity, Mother Earth and all life.

Ways Forward

We will persevere in our struggle to gain self-determination and autonomy. Until our right to self-determination is respected, genuine sustainable development will not be achieved.

We are united to oppose and reject the commodification, privatisation and plunder of nature, which includes the green economy, false- or market-based solutions including biodiversity and conservations offsets that put profit above humanity and the planet. We are in solidarity to resist neoliberal globalization. We are united to fight for our rights to self-determination and assert the future we want. We declare to Junk WTO, oppose new deals, and push for an alternative trade agenda appropriate to Indigenous Peoples.

We push for an alternative trade system appropriate for us. We do not just reject trade per se, but push for trade systems that respect and recognise our traditional economies and governance. We envision systems that promote solidarity, mutual cooperation and respect, based on the needs and development of our communities and empowerment of our people. We demand systems that underpin our inherent right to self-determination and our permanent sovereignty over our traditional lands, territories and resources, forests, water, and everything that sustains life for the future generations. We demand systems that reject, and call for the abolition of, all colonial, unequal, and neocolonial trade agreements such as the WTO and other similar trade agreements.

We will continue to strengthen our ranks and further develop and mobilize the capacities of the young generations and women in advancing our struggles against neoliberal globalization and its instruments like the WTO until its removal. We will link our struggles not only with Indigenous Peoples worldwide, but also with other Peoples’ movements, democratic and marginalized sectors and civil society organisations (CSOs) that have common goals and aspirations with that of Indigenous Peoples. We join the worldwide movement to Junk WTO and reject Neoliberal Globalization.

We commit to consolidate our efforts to engage the WTO and other multilateral, regional and bilateral trade syndicates/agreements, and we strongly oppose agreements forged without our knowledge, participation, and consent. In our engagement to these trade agreements, we shall bring to the forefront as main points of assertion our inherent right to self-determination, self-determined and sustainable development, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Alta Outcome Document and other declarations on our collective rights as Indigenous Peoples.

We shall strive to achieve gains that go beyond the mechanisms and opportunities in the UN, and of the benevolence of States and governments. Like in other international fora, processes and mechanisms, we shall create our own spaces asserting our rights to lands, territories, and self-determination.

We must take collective control of our natural resources based on the principles of people’s participation, gender equality, environmental and social justice, self-reliant and sustainable management systems and mindful of the needs of the whole of humanity while maintaining a deep respect, responsibility and recognition of the natural laws of Mother Earth and all creatures within. We must regain sovereignty over our lands and resources from multinational corporations and capitalist countries. We focus on building sustainable communities based on indigenous knowledge and peoples’ development, not on capitalist development. We must strive to promote and assert our sustainable ways of life, social and cultural values for the common good and the whole of society, collective interest over individual, service over profit, respect and care for nature and Mother Earth, including our viable solutions as opposed to false solutions to climate change.

While we continue to unite as Indigenous Peoples worldwide, we also uphold the spirit of international solidarity with other sectors, organizations, activists and genuine advocates of our issues. This solidarity advances our global campaign for Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination and liberation. Junk WTO! No New Deals!

Our Immediate Demands

As we conclude our workshop and events parallel to the WTO MC9, we state the following demands to the World Trade Organisation, the States and Corporations:

We demand for focus on new economies based on the principles of living in harmony with nature and governed by the absolute limits and boundaries of ecological sustainability, the carrying capacities of Mother Earth, and in recognition of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

We demand for a stop to the capitalism of nature. All economic frameworks and trade regimes that privatise and financialise the functions of nature through green economy initiatives must be halted. Mother Earth is the source of life which needs to be protected, not a resource to be exploited and commodified as a natural capital. We call for the halt of all policies controlling the reproductive capacity of Mother Earth through market-based mechanisms that allow for the quantification and commodification of the natural processes of Mother Earth being branded as ecosystem services.

We demand for the respect of Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights, such as but not limited to their traditional lands, territories, resources, free prior informed consent (FPIC), self-determination, culture and identity, and traditional management systems as enshrined in the UNDRIP and other international standards in negotiations and agreements. All trade agreements on investments, programs and projects affecting our lands, territories, communities, culture and identity without our FPIC must be immediately revoked and cancelled.

We demand for the repeal of all trade agreements affecting us without our meaningful, full and effective participation and FPIC. Likewise, we demand for Indigenous Peoples’ full and active participation in decision-making processes and discourses on trade and other matters affecting us at all levels. Our right to FPIC is fundamental, and thus we continue to assert that this must be respected. Nothing About Us, Without Us!

We demand for the full recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ inherent and inalienable right to self-determination and permanent sovereignty over our lands, territories, resources, air, ice, oceans, waters, mountains and forests.

We demand an end to the militarization of our communities, for States and corporations to be held accountable on human rights violations, and ensured justice to the victims and their families and communities who have experienced such atrocities.

Likewise, States should provide concrete support, such as appropriate technologies and funds, to help us develop for ourselves our own self-determined and sustainable development models ad methods.

Stop the theft and patenting of our traditional seeds, medicines, traditional knowledge, and our identity. Stop the commodification of our sacred culture for megatourism projects and other big businesses.

Stop the criminalization of community resistance and end the culture of impunity. Pull out State armed forces in Indigenous territories, and uphold the responsibility to provide basic social services to Indigenous communities.

Affirmed this 3rd day of December 2013, in Bali, Indonesia.

Signatories (initial list as of December 13, 2013)

International Organizations and Networks

• Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
• Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network (APIYN)
• Land is Life
• International Organisation for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE)
• International Presentation Association
• Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)
• Indigenous World Association
  

National and Sub-national Organizations and Networks

• Alyansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN), Indonesia
• Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), Indonesia
• Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), Philippines
• Committee for the Protection of Natural Resources-Manipur, Northeast India
• Center for Research and Advocacy-Manipur, Northeast India
• Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Northeast India
• Indigenous Women’s Forum for Northeast India (IWFNEI)
• Indigenous Women and Children Foundation, Northeast India
• Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), USA
• Mugal Indigenous Women’s Upliftment Institute, Nepal
• Initiative for Right View (IRV), Bangladesh
• Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP), Philippines
• BAI National Network of Indigenous Women in the Philippines
• Innabuyog-Gabriela, Philippines
• KALUMARAN, Philippines
• Cordillera Women’s Education Action and Research Center (CWEARC), Philippines
• Chiricahua Ndee Nee (Apache) Community Alliance, USA
• PROCESS Foundation Panay, Inc., Philippines
• Dharti Development Foundation Sindh Pakistan
• Pakistan Kissan Ittehad Sindh
• Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Nigeria
• Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Indonesia (ATKI)
• National Fisheries Solidarity Movement, Sri Lanka
• American Indian Movement – West, USA
• Yamasi People of the Guale Nation in southeast North America
• Pacific Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition (PIPEC) Aotearoa, New Zealand
• Neighborhood Community Network, India