UN Economic and Social Council, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Fifth Session<\/p>\n
For the first time in its five-year history, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today turned its attention to the plight of Africa\u2019s indigenous peoples, with speakers from the continent warning that, while world Governments looked on impassively, many of Africa\u2019s nomadic, agricultural, and hunting and gathering cultures were on the verge of extinction.<\/p>\n
Following two days during which indigenous and tribal peoples — from the Americas to Asia and the Pacific and from the Caribbean Islands to Arctic Russia — recounted their struggles to hold onto their cultures, traditional lands and natural resources, representatives of, and experts on, Africa\u2019s indigenous groups today said that they felt \u201cinvisible\u201d to the United Nations and spoke passionately about the Government neglect, discrimination, intimidation, slavery, and other violations of human, political and civil rights they faced.<\/p>\n