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International IDEA’s side event on “Enhancing Political Participation of Indigenous Peoples and the Post-2015 Development Agenda”. New York, 20 April 2015

April 17, 2015

The Office of the Permanent Observer for International IDEA to the UN and IDEA’s Democracy and Diversity Team will host a side event on “Enhancing Political Participation of Indigenous Peoples and the Post-2015 Development Agenda” in the framework of the 14th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The event will take place on Monday, 20 April 2015 from 13:15 to 14:30 (EST), in New York.

Chaired by Massimo Tommasoli, Permanent Observer for International IDEA to the UN, the panel will feature Joan Carling, Secretary General of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and a current member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Alicia del Águila, PhD in Social Sciences from the National University of San Marcos (Peru), Carl Soderbergh from Minority Rights Groups International (UK), and Sylvia Kokunda from the Batwa Development Programme (Uganda).

The panel will discuss strategies for the political empowerment and inclusion of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes and identify key issues to be considered in the elaboration of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In particular, panelists will address the following questions:

  • What mechanisms and strategies have been used to enhance political participation of indigenous peoples, which – if any - of these have succeeded and why?
  • Are any sub-groups (women, young people, LGBTI peoples, smaller indigenous communities) left behind? What measures can be taken to overcome intersectional discrimination?
  • To what extent do positive action measures result in indigenous peoples’ higher representation in democratic governance structures? Does the election of indigenous representatives translate into influence in decision making and policy outcomes?
  • What are the challenges in achieving political inclusion of indigenous peoples and how can they be addressed in the Post-2015 Development Agenda?
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