Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is a regional organization of indigenous movements of Asia committed to promote and defend indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights in general by strengthening the solidarity and cooperation of indigenous organizations and communities in Asia.

AIPP has five strategic programmes for consolidated approach on raising awareness, building capacities and for policy advocacy and lobby work for the rights and recognition of indigenous peoples in Asia. The Environment Programme of the AIPP coordinates thematic research, development and advocacy work on climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity and indigenous knowledge among indigenous peoples and their networks at national, regional and international levels.

International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), on 15 January 2012 has written a letter to the Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Sinawatra regarding forced relocation of indigenous Karen peoples from Kaeng Krachan National Park leading to violation of their human rights. The letter states the harrassment of Karen villagers had been going for some time that came to a severe situation in May, June and July 2011, when many houses of the villagers and their rice stores were burned and money, jewelery, fishing and agricultural tools were stolen by a group composed of National Park wardens and military forces.

Introduction

In December 2010, after years of negotiations, an agreement on REDD was finally reached at the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico. Indigenous representatives worked hard to get the rights and concerns of indigeno us peoples included in the agreement and they were successful. The references to indigenous peoples and their rights in this agreement are not as strong as they would have liked them to be, but at least they were included. And the agreement also refers of the UNDRIP, even though only in the Annex.

If you have already gone through and studied the first community guide “What is REDD?”, you will be familiar with the REDD agreement, and you will remember that the crucial paragraph is number 72, in which country Parties (that means governments) are requested to ensure “the full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, inter alia, indigenous peoples and local communities” when developing and implementing their national strategies or action plans on REDD.