This year, Cambodia marks the celebration 17th of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, under the theme: leaving no one behind: Indigenous Peoples and the call for a new social contract.
Since 2013, indigenous communities in Cambodia have organized the event in their respective communities and used this event as a platform to manifesting their cultural traditions, and raising their voices regarding their concerns and issues facing their lives.
Annually, the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Prime Minister issues key messages to mark the event, and the Ministry of Rural Development organizes it with the participation of CSOs, and the local communities.
Indigenous people in Mondulkiri Province express frustration with the French court’s dismissal of their previous lawsuit against Bolloré and ordered them to pay a fine of over 20,000 euros to the parent company.
The disappointment comes after a court in Paris, France, on July 2 dismissed a lawsuit filed by an indigenous group in Mondulkiri Province and ordered more than 20,000 euro payments to the French Bolloré.
In 2019, nine indigenous representatives sued in a French court after filing a lawsuit in 2015 against Bolloré, a major donor to three companies, including Coviphama, Varanasi and Setheikola, but the three companies sold shares to Socfin.
In a statement issued by the Bunong community of Mondulkiri Province on July 14, 2021, 97 families called the decision of the Nanterre court in Paris “unfair and unacceptable.”
Indigenous groups said in a statement that they could not accept the French court’s ruling that the Bunongs in Busra had no right to occupy the land under Cambodia’s laws. They call such arguments in violation of Cambodian land law and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
According to the statement, Bolloré, the current owner of Socfin in Cambodia, has invested in rubber plantations on the plantations and spiritual forests of the indigenous people of Bunong from 2008 to the present.
The same source claimed that after receiving the investment right, the company cleared the forest, the spiritual forests, taboo forests, and the daily food source of the indigenous people without settling compensation for them.
In addition to the forest clearing, 15 communities have been sued in court and some are still in custody because the company has sued them after they protested against the clearing of land and the forest on which they depend.
Mondulkiri Indigenous Community Network Land and Forestry Human Rights Coordinator Kreung Tola said they and their lawyers had already appealed Nanterre’s decision to the Court of Appeal, hoping that the supreme court will help find justice for them.
“We hope that the Court of Appeal in France will judge, refer to indigenous-related laws and consider international law,” he said. So we will receive fair because our people are definitely victimized; we are the real owners of the land, not like the French court we are not the people living in Busra commune, Pichreda district, Mondulkiri. So we can not accept their rejection.”
ADHOC Community Empowerment Program Officer Pen Bunnar considers the French court’s decision to be unfair to indigenous peoples. On the other hand, the factors that lead to indigenous peoples suffering like this, he said, are because the government provides economic land concessions to companies without studying the impact on the people.
“That’s right,” he said. Each concession must have an impact study! And it is clear that our leaders have said not to trade rubber trees for the dense forest, so we see that it is contrary to the government’s commitment to providing economic concessions not to affect dense forest and semi-dense forest, especially indigenous areas, forest land, and burial areas! “And it not only affects the forest, but it also affects the ancestral traditions that they have preserved for years.”
Mr. Pen Bunnar urged the Cambodian government to study, research and address the impact on the people before deciding to grant land concessions to any company to develop so that people do not suffer further.
About 1,000 Bunong ethnic minority families in Mondulkiri province are crying for justice after their shelters were demolished by environment officials, alleging they were living on state land, even though the families say they have been living there for generations.
Each year, 9 August commemorates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It is celebrated around the world and marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982.
As part of the commemoration, the Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch – Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues/DISD/DESA is organizing a virtual event. Indigenous Peoples, Member States, UN entities, civil society, and the general public are all invited.
The 2021 commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples will focus on the theme “Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract” to be held on Monday, 9 August from 9 am to 11 am (EST). Information on registration will be shared soon.
Background
More than 70 per cent of the world’s population is living in countries with rising income and wealth inequality, including indigenous peoples who already face high rates of poverty and acute socio-economic disadvantages. High levels of inequality are generally associated with institutional instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime and lack of access to justice, education and health services. For indigenous peoples, poverty and gross inequities tend to generate intense social tensions and conflicts.
Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions and reducing inequality are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The whole of society — not only governments but also social activists, indigenous peoples, women, academia, scientists — all have a role to play in building and redesigning a new social contract that serves the interest of “We, the peoples”, as per the preamble of the United Nations Charter.
Indigenous peoples’ right to participate in decision-making is a key component in achieving reconciliation between indigenous peoples and States. Therefore, a new social contract must combat the legacy of exclusion and marginalization affecting indigenous peoples — through their meaningful and effective participation and the obtainment of their free, prior and informed consent. Consequently, it will lead to meeting the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the effects of growing inequalities and promoted discussion on the urgent need to rethink a new social contract. A new common sense that will work for all peoples and the planet. It has created a unique opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world – one based on genuine and inclusive participation and partnership that fosters equal opportunities for all and respects the rights, dignity and freedoms of all.
For the many indigenous peoples disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 worldwide, plans to build back better and rethink social contracts must include listening to their voices, needs and concerns, obtaining their free, prior and informed consent, and include the collective and individual rights of indigenous peoples recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Format of the virtual event
The 2021 commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples will feature an interactive discussion with two speakers on the distinct elements to be considered when building and redesigning a new social contract for indigenous peoples – where indigenous peoples’ own forms of governance and ways of life must be respected and based on their free, prior and informed consent and genuine and inclusive participation and partnership.
Guest Speakers
James Anaya has taught and written extensively on international human rights and issues concerning indigenous peoples. He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 2008 to 2014. Currently, he serves as Dean and Professor at the University of Colorado Law School at Boulder.
Dean Anaya has advised numerous indigenous and other organizations from several countries on matters of human rights and indigenous peoples, representing indigenous peoples’ groups from many parts of North and Central America in landmark cases before domestic and international tribunals, including the United States Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Among his noteworthy activities, he participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was the lead counsel for the indigenous parties in the case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the first time upheld indigenous land rights as a matter of international law.
Prior to becoming a full time law professor, he practiced law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, representing Native American peoples and other minority groups. Dean Anaya served on the law faculty at the University of Arizona from 1999 to 2016 and on the faculty of the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1999.
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, an Ecuadorian scholar, diplomat, has held many leadership positions within the Government of Ecuador, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense and Minister of Cultural and Natural Heritage. Furthermore, she was the first female ambassador and permanent representative of Ecuador to the United Nations offices in New York and in Geneva. Most recently, Ms. Espinosa served as President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the fourth woman in history and the first from Latin America and the Caribbean to preside over this body. Ms. Espinosa is currently member of the Strategic Committee of the Science Panel for the Amazon of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network; member of the international Lancet COVID-19 Commission; councilor of the World Future Council; member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee of the Generation Equality Forum; member of the Political Advisory Panel of the Universal Health Coverage 2030 Movement (UHC2030); fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS); member of the Group of Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion (GWL); and Goodwill Ambassador for the Latin American and Caribbean Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (FILAC).
Moderator
Ghazali Ohorella is an idealist and anteambulo for indigenous peoples. He is indigenous to the Alifuru People of Maluku, with an unshakeable belief in a bright future for all indigenous peoples of the world.
Mr. Ohorella works to give wings to indigenous peoples and their ideas, that is why everything he says and does is geared towards inspiring and empowering 476 million indigenous peoples so that they can do what inspires them. He uses his many years of experience in indigenous rights advocacy and high-level negotiations to open spaces and create an enabling environment for indigenous peoples at the international level that is built on the right to self-determination.
The draft for Mondulkiri’s tourism development master plan 2021-2035 received endorsement from the National Tourism Development Committee according to press release on June 29.
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has advised authorities in the capital and provinces to be attentive to solving the problems and addressing the concerns of the citizenry in their respective territories.
With commune elections one year away, Sar Kheng said, politicians may use any unsolved problems or disputes to build their own popularity and support at the expense of the current government.
The rare Asiatic golden cat has been detected in natural protected areas in the Kingdom’s northeastern province of Ratanakkiri.
Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said on June 28 that according to images collected by specialists, the cats were captured on automatic cameras in Ratanakkiri’s Virachey National Park.
Pheaktra said Virachey is an ASEAN national heritage park and is rich in biodiversity. The research team for the ministry’s Department of Conservation of the East Mekong River Area had placed cameras there from March to May and caught many images of rare animal species.
Australian miner Renaissance Minerals (Cambodia) Ltd on June 21 began the commercial operation of its $120 million Okvau Gold Project in the northeastern province of Mondulkiri, becoming the Kingdom’s first gold producer.
Located in the Okvau area in southwestern Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district, the mine’s processing plant was inaugurated by Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem.
Sem said the facility started processing ore from the mine, casting gold alloy bars and stamping its first dore bar on June 21. Construction of the plant and key infrastructure for the site began in mid-2020, he noted.
“The gold mining site and processing plant have the capacity to process nearly two million tonnes [of ore] a year,” he said.
Reportedly able to produce dore bars containing 90 per cent gold, Renaissance’s operation will be in compliance with recognised international standards.
An earlier report outlined an initial Life of Mine (LOM) of eight years, with an average of three tonnes of gold produced each year.
ASIAN elephants maintain a significant presence in the Kingdom, despite indications of very high extinction risk, according to Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra on July 2.
Also known by their scientific name Elephas maximus, the pachyderms have been classified as ‘endangered’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List since 1986.
Pheaktra pointed out that cameras in the Kingdom’s protected natural area have captured the giant mammals on numerous occasions, even calves.
“These calves are the hope of conservationists and environmentalists in Cambodia and the result of forest and habitat protection, as well as efforts to safeguard the Asian elephant,” Pheaktra said.
Asian elephants are the largest living land animal in Asia, with tusks that can grow as long as 1m, according to experts. They have five toes on each foot, but typically only have four nails on their back feet, though not without exception.
There are an estimated 400-600 elephants in the Kingdom, mainly concentrated in the Cardamom mountain range, the northern plateau of the Tonle Sap Lake and the eastern highlands of Mondulkiri province, which are rich in biodiversity, according to Pheaktra.
He said more than 70 elephants have been domesticated.
As a token of its commitment to protecting the dwindling population of the hulking animals, the Kingdom in 2005 created the Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group, he said.
And providing further evidence of devotion, Pheaktra noted that the 2020-2029 Action Plan for the Conservation of Asian Elephants was set up with a budget of around $40.5 million from the government, NGOs and development partners.
