UN Report paints grim picture of conditions for world's Indigenous Peoples

UN report paints starkly grim picture of conditions of world’s Indigenous Peoples
http://www.unobserver.com

Photo: Guatemala Health Care Project

2010-01-14 The world’s 370 million Indigenous Peoples suffer from disproportionately, often exponentially, higher rates of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuses, the first ever United Nations study on the issue reported today, stressing that self-determination and land rights are vital for their survival.Startling figures contained in The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples include: MORE http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33484&Cr=indigenous&Cr1 The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/sowip.html UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii
"True, the white man brought great change. But the varied fruits of his civilization, though highly colored and inviting, are sickening and deadening. And if it be the part of civilization to maim, rob, and thwart, then what is progress? I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.... " -- Chief Luther Standing Bear, in his 1933 autobiography