By Holy See Mission
Statement by H.E. Archbishop Celestino Migliore
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nationsto the Second Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
on Agenda Item 4 (f) Mandated Area: EducationNew York, 21 May 2003Mr. Chairman,
As the United Nations
celebrates the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People,
the Holy
See welcomes the decision of the Permanent Forum to choose "Indigenous
Children and Youth" as the theme for its Second Session. The
establishment of
this Permanent Forum, which held its historic first session in May
2002, has
put this important topic in its rightful place on the international
agenda.
My delegation is confident that the debate and deliberations on this
topic
will help strengthen the bonds of international solidarity in
protecting the
identity and rights of indigenous people.
Mr. Chairman,
The Convention on the Rights of
the Child, to which the Holy See is a party, is the first
international human
rights treaty to recognize indigenous children as a group of
rights-holders,
and specifically identifies indigenous people as a group which suffers
from
discrimination in relation to most of the rights enshrined within.
Article 30
of the Convention reaffirms in particular the right of indigenous
people to
enjoy their own culture, stating that an indigenous child "shall
not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her
group,
to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her
own
religion, or to use his or her own language." Similarly, articles 17
and 29
explicitly refer to the rights of all children to education and
information.
The general principles of the Convention enjoin, inter alia,
non-discrimination (art. 2), the best interests of the child (art. 3),
and the
right to life, survival and development (art. 6).
Despite
various international commitments, children remain especially vulnerable
to
violations of the right to education, and for indigenous children and
youth this
challenge is compounded by racism, xenophobia and related intolerances
that
continue to affect them on the basis of their own cultural specificities
and
uniqueness. Yet, the right to education forms the foundation for the
enjoyment
of many other human rights and is a necessary component for achieving
the
Millennium Development Goals such as poverty alleviation. In fact, the
Dakar
Framework for Action states that "Education
is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development
and
peace and stability within and among countries."
Mr. Chairman,
The right to education concerns
not only matters of access, but also of ensuring content which can
empower
indigenous children for their future. In this regard, the international
community should recognize and respect the primary responsibility of the
indigenous family as the basic unit of their own society to educate
their
children from infancy to adolescence, in their own language and
according to
their own cultures and values, based on effective indigenous
pedagogies. Access
to education should comprise, wherever appropriate, alternative learning
structures, expanded vocational training and innovative methods aimed at
increasing practical and professional skills of indigenous youth.
For every indigenous child, an
education based on core spiritual, moral and ethical values is an
indispensable
tool for his or her own integral development. In the absence of these,
indigenous children risk losing the rich diversity of their traditions
in the
midst of an all-encompassing globalized culture. On their part, the
indigenous
people must test and reject false values that would tarnish a truly
human way of
life, and embrace only noble and befitting values that would help them
to mold a
future in their own distinctive way, according to their own indigenous
heritage. In seeking to protect the right to education of indigenous
children
and youth, the international community can effectively provide support
for the
efforts of indigenous communities to defend their heritage and
identity.
Mr. Chairman,
Children and young people are
"precious
members of the human family, for they embody its hopes, its expectations
and its
potential" (Message of Pope John Paul II for the World Day of Peace
1996, No.
9). The challenge facing individuals and organizations, indeed the
entire
international community, is to ensure that indigenous children and youth
are not
robbed of their present and their future, but are given the possibility
of
growing up in peace, happiness and freedom. Then, they too will become
peacemakers, builders of a promising world of fraternity, harmony and
solidarity.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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