Statements & Urgent Appeals

Nepal: Police must refrain from using unnecessary force against peaceful demonstrations of Kathmandu’s road expansion affected communities For immediate release 7 September 2017 Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) calls on Nepal Police to refrain from using unnecessary force against peaceful demonstrations of communities affected by road expansion in Kathmandu. Dozens of demonstrators, including at least two women, were injured on Tuesday after police baton-charged and booted them during a rally of the affected communities. AIPP condemns the high-handedness of the police at the rally and urges the Nepalese authorities to uphold the right to peaceful assembly and rule of law in ...

A historic win for human rights AIPP congratulates its first Secretary General, Luingam Luithui, upon his victory for the restoration of his fundamental right to citizenship after 22-year of ordeal  29 August 2017 Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) marks the Delhi High Court order to affirm the fundamental citizenship right of Luingam Luithui, a prominent Naga human rights advocate, as a historic victory for human rights in India. Along with Luithui, the Court on 24 August has finally ordered the restoration of Indian citizenship of his wife, Peingamla. The Court has ruled that it is due to the unconstitutional acts ...

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Thai authorities to immediately drop all charges against academics and participants who attended a recent conference in Chiang Mai, and to uphold academic freedom in line with Thailand’s human rights obligations. This week, Professor (in Thai, Ajarn) Chayan Vaddhanaphuti and five other academics have been asked to report to police for actions related to the 13th International Conference on Thai Studies, held from 15 to 18 July, 2017 in Chiang Mai. Prof. Chayan and the others are being charged with violating the Head of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. ...

9th August 2017 This year, the 13th of September 2017 will mark the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the UN General Assembly. Further, the year 2017 is also an auspiciously year for Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) as it is its 25th Anniversary. Over the past 25 years, alongside many other indigenous communities in Asia, AIPP has come together to discuss, propagate, and assert our own agenda towards: our inherent right to self-determination and self-governance; our human rights and customary laws; the control of our lands, territories ...

25 July 2017 Chiang Mai, Thailand Two indigenous communities in Stung Treng province that for years have been defying the construction of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam now face the immediate prospect of having their homes flooded as the gates are closed.  To make matters worse, they are now threatened with forced eviction from the remainder of their lands that is not expected to be flooded.  Their indigenous brothers and sisters have demanded that all threats to evict them be called off. On 15 July, the first of the dam’s ten gates was closed.  By now, six have been ...

10th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 10 – 14 July 2017 13 July 2017 (Day 4) Agenda Item no. 9: Future work of the Expert Mechanism, including focus on next annual study Statement of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and Asia Caucus As recognised in the Expert Mechanism’s draft report on the Ten years of the implementation of the UNDRIP, the rise in the number of indigenous human rights defenders who die every year while attempting to defend their rights under the Declaration has indeed been alarming. Indigenous peoples in Asia and across the globe are ...

10th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 10 – 14 July 2017 Agenda Item 6: Ten years of the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: good practices and lessons learned Statement of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and Asia Caucus Thank you, Ms. Chairperson. It’s been a decade since the adoption of the UNDRIP in 2007. In the global arena, the awareness and discussion regarding indigenous peoples’ rights and issues have increased. International and regional human rights mechanisms and other bodies have made significant progress in applying the UNDRIP as reflected ...

10th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 10 – 14 July 2017 Agenda Item no. 4: Study and advice on good practices and challenges in business and in access to financial services by indigenous peoples Statement of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) We thank the Expert Mechanism for sharing their draft on the study and emphasising on day one that it is still open for inputs.  We would then like to turn the attention of the Expert Mechanism to the salient points raised in AIPP’s submission that were missed in the draft study as well as ...

10th Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 10 – 14 July 2017 Agenda Item 7: Indigenous peoples’ participation in the United Nations system Statement of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and Asia Caucus Ms. Chairperson, In follow up to the Outcome Document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, we welcome the constructive and open informal dialogue between States and indigenous peoples on the possible measures necessary to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant UN bodies on issues affecting them during the 70th and 71st session of the General Assembly. We also highly appreciate the ...

Public Statement New York, 10 July 2017 – Fifteen indigenous peoples’ representatives from various Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Malaysia are participating in the HLPF this year taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York from 10 to 19 July 2017 under the theme “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world”. They are among the 2000-plus participants from various sectors, including governments, private sector and civil society. “We recognize the potentials of the SDGs in addressing the issues of sustainability and inclusion of those who are at the furthest end of the social spectrum and also ...