August 10, 2015

International Day of Indigenous Peoples

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Yesterday was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It’s observed annually on August 9th, with the intention of highlighting human rights, environmental, health and education issues faced by indigenous peoples.

This year’s focus was on access to healthcare, which remains a significant issue. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "On this International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, I call on the international community to ensure that they are not left behind. To create a better, more equitable future, let us commit to do more to improve the health and well-being of indigenous peoples.”

The UN will also hold a special event in its New York headquarters today to address the health and well-being of indigenous peoples.

Ok, great, you might say, but who the heck actually counts as indigenous people, and why do they have problems accessing healthcare?

Indigenous people, under the UN’s description, are those people who have a set of specific rights protected by law based on their special historical ties to a territory. Many of the world’s indigenous peoples still maintain traditional ways of living, eschewing mainstream forms of society – for example, many engage in subsistence farming. As such, many indigenous communities live in isolated areas and have trouble accessing healthcare; indeed, many healthcare systems are not technically “aware” of the existence of such communities, since they are not recorded as individuals in the system. Furthermore, there are issues of discrimination in the service delivery, as well as a lack of education regarding healthcare in the communities themselves.

The International Business Times records some interesting facts about some other legal issues some indigenous communities face, including “traditional indigenous lands and territories contain around 80% of Earth's biodiversity, so indigenous peoples can play a crucial role in managing natural resources, according to IFAD.”

When discussing the need to extend rights and cultural awareness to indigenous peoples, claims of cultural destruction and appropriation are quick to surface: “how dare we disturb their way of life with our medicine!” Or, perhaps more commonly, a prejudice against the accommodation of such communities: “if they don’t want to live like us, why should we look after them?”

The point is, in short, different ways of living exist. It’s difficult to preserve certain ways of life when one is more aggressive and dominant than another. It’s also difficult to cultivate understanding amongst the dominant group. However, if we believe in social welfare and human rights, then our willingness to help should be apparent, not only in the access to resources, but also in our welcoming attitude; that’s to say, we can help promote education about health in indigenous communities, and at the same time, promote education in our communities about indigenous peoples too.

Image: Ethnic Tajik People, Reuters