A representative group of ten Taiwanese Aborigines leaves today for Geneva to participate in the 18th session on the Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
Because China has thwarted Taiwan's participation in the past, the group is taking a low-key approach to its plans of attending, in the hopes of joining the meeting and informing the world about the disadvantaged situation of Taiwanese Aborigines.
"We just hope to learn about international standards for indigenous human rights for the sake of improving the rights of Taiwanese Aboriginals," said a participant who declined to be named.
The principle theme of this years meeting, sponsored by the UN, is "Indigenous children and youth," and runs from July 24 to 28.
The UN began its first formal work on indigenous people in 1982 with the establishment of this working group, which has been undertaken by the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights and is considered the most important non-governmental organization for indigenous people in the world.
According to the UN, the Working Group has a twofold mandate: to review developments pertaining to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, and to give attention to the evolution of international standards concerning indigenous rights.
The General Assembly of the Working Group proclaimed the period 1995-2004 as the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People and called upon all nations, the UN and NGOs to contribute to improvements in the daily living conditions of indigenous people under the theme "Indigenous people: partnership in action."
Taiwanese Aborigines from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan have attended this meeting since 1988.
Council of Aboriginal Affairs (CAA) Chairman Yohani Isqaqavut (尤哈尼), who is also a pastor in the Presbyterian Church, has attended this meeting on behalf of the Church since 1991.
But he will not participate this year due to his taking up of a governmental position.
"This Working Group is an NGO meeting and is very important to Aborigines all over the world," said Yohani. "Taiwanese Aborigines have to join."
"I would never allow CAA officials to participate and thereby cause difficulties to the NGO representatives," he emphasized.
Taiwan's group was blocked from the assembly because of China's objections in 1997, which has made follow-up annual participation more difficult.
Since then, the General Assembly has ruled that the name Taiwan should not be allowed in the meeting, which meant Taiwanese Aborigines could only join in through the Asian Indigenous People's Pact.
The organization is an umbrella federation comprising many Aboriginal NGOs from Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Yohani said Taiwanese Aborigines could acquire the most up to date information on indigenous rights from the meeting, which would be referred to and used to pressure Taiwan's government to improve the situation of Taiwanese Aborigines.
This year's principal theme is "Indigenous children and youth," which will be discussed along with the other usual issues such as land, education, health, labor and discrimination.
Taiwan's representative group plans to make three reports to the meeting over the situation of indigenous children and youth, indigenous rights and labor in Taiwan.
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