UN affirms Indigenous Peoples are NOT equal to all other peoples

Those who are supposed to protect us are precesiely the ones that limit us.

The United Nations appears to have failed in its ability to adopt a declaration that would protect and promote the human rights of Indigenous Peoples.

You can read the statement from the Indigenous Peoples Caucus in New York below:

UN affirms Indigenous Peoples are not equal to all other Peoples

The Indigenous Caucus is shocked and outraged by the actions of the United Nations, who today failed to adopt the most important international instrument for the promotion and protection of human rights for Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which represents more than 20 years of work within the UN, constitutes the minimum standards for their survival, dignity and well-being.

The newly created UN Human Rights Council, which is the premier international body to deal with human rights, adopted the Declaration in June of this year. The Declaration was one of the substantial achievements of the Council. However, it was delivered a huge blow today by African States, most of whom had chosen not to participate throughout this standard-setting process. Africa took the lead in blocking the adoption of the Declaration, which strategy was supported and encouraged by New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States.

It is clear that these actions are a politicization of human rights that show complete disregard for the ongoing human rights abuses suffered by Indigenous Peoples. This betrayal and injustice severely impacts 370 million Indigenous people in all regions of the world, who are among the most marginalized and vulnerable.

On May 24, 2002, Secretary General Kofi Annan, had proclaimed that the world's Indigenous Peoples "have a home at the United Nations"
However, today's vote by opposing States clearly demonstrates that this is not the case.

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Indigenous Peoples Caucus
At UN Headquarters, New York

Children's Voices: Creative Paths to Learning

We completed the film for UNICEF Uganda this week. I am very pleased with it. The interface for the dvd is shown here. The film is called Children's Voices:Creative Paths to Learning'. It is a great film, with an apt title, as songs devised and sung by the children are used as the background music for the film. We produced two versions, a full film (just over 20 minutes long) and a short film (about ten minutes long) along with some discussion points.

It was a gruelling couple of weeks, but it was a good to do the field and face to face work in such a short space of time and then also edit and complete the film as well. It was less than a month and half for the entire project. Not bad, considering part of the editing process involved ensuring the film was on track with UNICEF in Kampala. We had to find easy ways for them to view the project online and give feedback and comments, Thank you Youtube. And of course Melvyn, my editor.

You can watch the whole film in parts in my youtube site. See link at the side of how to get there.





My recent project with UNICEF Uganda used creative media and participatory techniques in Karamoja. One of the aims of the project was to test the methodology and see if creative media can be used in Primary schools in Uganda to improve learning outcomes, especially among girls. I worked with members from the Girls Education Movement (GEM). The GEM members facilitated the workshops with the children.

You can read more about the launch of GEM in Uganda in October 2001 on the UNICEF website by following the url below:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_10450.html

It was a real pleasure to work with the people from GEM. They were committed and intelligent young people, who provided excellent role models to the children in the schools.

UNICEF-Uganda: Using Creative Media in Abim, Karamoja

I have just been working on a test project with UNICEF Uganda, in Abim district in Karamoja in northeastern Uganda. I trained a group of Girls Education Movement (GEM) members in basic audio-visual technology and then they in turn trained some children and young people from two primary schools in Abim District, Karamoja in northeastern Uganda. We worked with the children to film, record and dramatise issues of importance to them around schooling, village life and girls traditional roles in society. One of the aims of the project is to see how involving children at risk from dropping out in creative methodology can improve learning outcomes in schools.

We learnt alot about the situation facing children in this remote area of Uganda, and we were also surprised and encouraged by the real enthusiasm we received from the children, but also the local community and district officials.

It is hoped that this project can be refined and rolled out to enable children's active participation in improving education in Uganda.

To see some more pictures you can check out my Flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35387190@N00/), and watch for further films and updates on my website (www.vanishingrites.com).