PFII/2013/EGM                            Original: English              UNITED NATIONS                                     NATIONS UNIES 

 

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS Division for Social Policy and Development 

Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues  

INTERNATIONAL EXPERT GROUP MEETING Indigenous Youth: Identity, challenges and hope: Articles 14, 17, 21 and 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 

(New York, 29­31 January 2013)   

Paper Prepared by  

Matuna Rodgers Niwamanya   

  

Indigenous youth and Challenges

The present discourse, Indigenous youth identity, challenges and

hope with special reference to article 14, 17, 21 and 25 of

UNDRIP that has been called for is highly appreciable and the

Asia region is obliged for making youth involved in the process of

making this world a better place. The concept note was

discussed with youth organizations in Asia region and the report

is the outcome of various meets and workshop organized by

them. It is hence a very comprehensive report based on ground

reality and situation.

Every indigenous community usually has certain ceremony after

which a person who qualifies it enters the youth phase. Among

the Mundas of Jharkhand for example in India the ceremony of

tukui lutur1 is a must before one gets married. These types of

ceremonies are also followed in the African continent’s

indigenous communities. Therefore youth is an intermediary

phase between childhood and adulthood. During this phase the

youth also become politically active in their societies.

The definition of United Nations about youth seems to be

very pertinent and is congruous to the concept and definition

provided by the indigenous community. In brief The United

Nations, for statistical purposes, defines ‘youth’, as those persons

between the ages of 15 and 24 years2. Here we have made an

effort to discuss the major challenges citing examples that is

unusually confronted by the indigenous youths.

1. Land and youth: Change is an ongoing process that affects all

societies and culture. In this context it is but obvious that the

indigenous population will also undergo change. The wider

world should not expect the indigenous population to be half

naked, poorest of poor and people who are anti development.

This is not to mean that we are people who refrain from the

                                                        1 Roy, S.C, 1912. "The Mundas & Their Country", Crown  Publication, Ranchi 2 United Nations Educational  and Scientific and  Cultural Organisation 

forces of betterment and amelioration. What we intend to say is

that all the process of development should not be at the cost of

indigenous population’s land and resources. If at all it becomes

necessary to utilize our resources it should be strictly followed

under the article 3 of UNDRIP of free, prior and informed

consent and that too with a partnership of indigenous

population that is to be affected. We also insist that the process

of development should be in a sustainable way such that the bio

diversity of the area is not disturbed aggressively.

2. Language and Identity: Language is the wheel of culture of any

community. It is also a very important marker of indigenous

feature. Each indigenous community has a distinct language

and this is different from main stream language. The language

carries various significant features of that particular

community. It is the language that posses the uniqueness of an

indigenous community. The greatest challenge to indigenous

language has been the blind persuasion of foreign culture since

the colonization days. The colonization augmented the affinity to

foreign culture and language and this has endangered the

indigenous language. It has also been estimated that every two

weeks a language disappears and the most recent example was

from the Great Andamanes of Andaman Nicobar islands in India

where the last speaker Boa Senior of the Bo language died in

20103.

Good Practices

In India, 2 indigenous languages were recognized under 8th

schedule of Indian constitution by the government lately namely

Santhali and Bodo. There are some IP’s who are being

successful in making their languages recognized. One of the

best example of preservation promotion of indigenous language

is from the Dumri block, where a school known Loor dippa of

Jharkhand, India where the medium of instruction is entirely in                                                         3   http://www.andamanese.net/BoaSr_Obituary.html 

indigenous language Kurukh (Mother Tongue of Oraon IPs) and

English. Here the indigenous youth learn to balance between

native community and wider world.

3. Educational pattern: There are 2 major issues with the

educational pattern. First of all, majority of educational

institutions including government never promote the use of

indigenous language. This is directly and adversely affecting the

indigenous language and learning skills of indigenous youth.

Educationists also affirm that when something is taught in

mother tongue, the learner is able to associate the concepts in a

better and quicker manner. There are countries in Asia like

Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines who have

government policies on the use of mother tongue at primary

level in the schools but it becomes difficult for the schools to

implement the inclusion of traditional practices in their

curriculum because of the lack of skills and capacity of the

teachers to teach the indigenous language and culture because

majority of the teachers belong to the non indigenous

community. Under such circumstances the indigenous children

and youth are at loser ends since the teacher and the taught are

of different cultures in majority of schools4.

Secondly, the curriculum at schools is also not pro to

indigenous culture and history. It has been noticed that the

schools seldom include the factors such as the glorious history

of tribal heroes, the unique way of indigenous life, highly

adaptive cultural practices, sustainable and cordial relationship

with nature and mother earth etc. which may have induced a

sense of pride and confidence among the learning indigenous

youths. In many countries of Asia the higher education is a

costly affair and hence it is not affordable. In many case the

educational institution are located far from the villages due to

difficult and inaccessible geographical location and the case of                                                         4 Asia Preparatory meeting on UN mechanism, Baguio, Philippines, 2011 

Philippines stands a good example. Among the challenges faced

by the indigenous youth in the Philippines is on the accessibility

of quality and affordable education. In the Cordillera, 4 out of

the 7 State Universities and Colleges (SUC’s) recently increased

their tuition fees in June 2012 due to the limited education

budget provided by the Philippine Government. This is also the

case in Mindanao and other regions of the Philippines most of

which are IP territories. These challenges result in poor

performance of indigenous youth both at school and college

level. There are increased number of dropout and low

attendance5.

4. Migration- Migration and displacement also lead to loss of

language and culture. There are those who migrate to the urban

areas or other place in order to seek better opportunities while

others are forced to migrate due to loss of their lands and

resources. In either case there is loss of culture and language

due to settlement in a new or alien environment. In India the

emerging trend of recent migration of tribal youth to

metropolitan areas, like Delhi, is causing a sudden break from

the tradition at a very vulnerable age. The process of migration

is a compulsion for many but they are themselves conscious

about the upcoming plight. It is not that the tribals are not

aware about the traumas they may face when they are in the

metropolitan world but unfortunately they have but few options.

They have seen many young girls returning to their native place

as unmarried mother, this in turn also affect the position of

other females who are migrants and diminish the possibility of

their successful marriage. It was essential to study this new

phenomenon to understand its cause and socio-cultural effects

before it is too late and the indigenous culture is put to

jeopardy.

                                                        5 Asia Preparatory meeting on UN mechanism, 2011 

5. Issue of development- Dams, mining and land grabbing.

Indigenous communities are largely seen and assumed as

people who are anti-development. It is pertinent here to mention

that indigenous populations are NOT against development but

are definitely against development at the cost of their land and

natural resources. Development related displacement is not

unknown to the indigenous peoples of India, Burma, Malaysia,

Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia etc6. In India there

is no official figure for displacements due to development

projects. It is estimated that at least 60 million people have

been displaced by development projects across the country

since 19477. The example of forceful eviction and involuntary

relocation of villagers affected by Mapithel dam in Manipur and

the Oil Exploration and Drilling in Tamenglong,

Churachandpur, Jiribam in Manipur is a violation of article 25

of UNDRIP. Recently in 2012, the state of Jharkhand the

government forcefully claimed the indigenous land of Nagri

Block that is highly productive agriculturally in the name of

setting up of Indian Institute of Management. There was a huge

protest and one of the indigenous activists Mrs. Dayamani Barla

was put behind bars for more than 55 days and the hearing of

which was deliberately delayed. This violation was never heard

by the government and even the protest by the indigenous

community was not effective and there were many calamities

during the entire struggle.

In 2010, indigenous peoples in Indonesia continued to

experience various forms of coercion, discrimination and

exploitation of their lands, territories and resources while the

state’s claim to and control over land and natural resources in

indigenous territories is still ongoing. It is ironic that, on one

hand, the government has committed itself to reducing carbon

                                                        6 The Indigenous World, IWGIA, 2006, 2011, 2012 7 The Indigenous World, (page 356), IWGIA, 2012 

emissions by 60% in 2012 while, on the other, it continues to

issue policies and regulations in the name of development that

not only trigger the exploitation and destruction of natural

resources but also threaten indigenous lands, territories and

resources8. In 2011, Indonesian society was haunted by more

than 1,000 cases of agrarian conflicts, leading to deprivation of

indigenous peoples’ territories in almost every province. In the

course of these conflicts, several indigenous communities were

deprived of their territories. HuMa, an Indonesian NGO working

for law reforms concerning natural resources, noted 108

conflicts, Sawit Watch, an NGO committed to social justice for

farmers, workers and indigenous peoples, 663 conflicts and the

Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) 163 conflicts, while

AMAN recorded 130 agrarian conflicts. These conflicts often

involved violations of indigenous human rights, mainly

committed by police and other security forces9.

In Sumatra, a state-owned plantation company, PTPN II,

has occupied the lands of the indigenous peoples of Rakyat

Penunggu in four of North Sumatra’s districts (Deli Serdang,

Medan, Binjai and Langkat). Indigenous land covering more

than 350,000 hectares has been converted into oil palm and

sugar cane plantations. Indigenous peoples in these regions

have experienced various forms of harassment from the

company and police officials10.

On 16 October 2011, on the orders of the state-owned

logging company Perhutani Lumajang, dozens of people

destroyed and burnt down the homes of the Tenggers in the

village of Kandang Tepus, Senduro district, East Java. The

forest management said that the Tenggers were guilty of

                                                        8 The indigenous world, (page 275), 2012 9 The indigenous world, (page281‐282), IWGIA , 2012 10 The indigenous world, (276), 2011 

encroaching on the forest, illegal logging activities and

inhabiting 60 hectares of land in the protected forest11.

The planned construction of 16 dams in Sabah and 23 in

Sarawak continues despite the protests and demands of the

affected indigenous communities. These dams were planned

without consulting the affected communities in advance, let

alone fulfilling the duty to obtain the free, prior and informed

consent (FPIC) of the indigenous peoples on whose lands these

dams would be built12.

6. Land and youth- A new paradigm. Land is life for any tribal or

indigenous community. It is not a commodity for them from

where they earn their secondary living. It is but a primary

source of their living and it is the land that signifies their

identity, their culture, their world views, rituals and almost

everything. Land is a decisive marker of ethnic identity. All

villagers in Cambodia no matter if they have land dispute or

not, express their closest bond to the land they have

traditionally cultivated. They cannot imagine leaving

agricultural cultivation as it is their traditional livelihood and

the literal ground base of their community. Loss of land,

restricted access to land and insecurity over land issues is

eroding a once sustainable livelihood to its foundations, while

the indigenous groups feel that they have not sufficient

alternatives to compensate. Fear is huge amongst them that the

expulsion from their land will lead them to economic

impoverishment at an unknown level. One Phnong elder

describe the importance of land to them with the following

metaphor:

                                                        11 The indigenous world, (284), 2012 12 The indigenous world, (283), 2011 

“Not cultivating the chamkar is like a car without

gasoline”13

It is here imperative to discuss that the contemporary youths

are at the cross roads of development. On one hand they are

experiencing the forces of modernization and urbanization and

on the other hand they are also very much associated with the

indigenous culture and indigenous way of life. Under such

circumstances the identity of indigenous youth is also under

question because of these processes of change. It is indigenous

youth who will have to strike a balance between which part of

factors of modernization has to be assimilated and integrated

and which part they have to strictly adhere and preserve. The

indigenous youth should strictly adhere to the traditional

factors of indigenous way of life and then also assimilate the

knowledge of technological advancement.

7. Relationship with elder indigenous mentors & participation

in decision making process- it has been observed during

several youth meets conducted in Philippines, Indonesia, and

India that youth are generally kept at margin and there is a

clear cut demarcation between the elderly indigenous mentors

and the budding youth leaders. It is but obvious that the youths

are the future of any community, state or a nation. Among

indigenous communities since there has been a vogue of

gerontocracy where the elders are chiefly the decision makers,

youths are many times left behind only to the role of execution

of orders. This forbids the youths from capacity building. Here it

is highly recommended that since the Contemporary Indigenous

youths are more aware about the technological advancement

they are having a fair awareness about their rights and

privileges. Indigenous youth population can now be a great

                                                        13 Chhim, Kristina. ILO/CAS Indigenous and Tribal peoples and Poverty Reduction Strategies in Cambodia, Geneva, International Labour Office, 2005 

support to the elderly indigenous working group or activists. In

this way the youths are projecting a major support in fighting

for the rights and in this sense it becomes pertinent for the

youths to call for participation in decision making and other

process concerning indigenous communities.

One of the good practices is from the case study of Yolngu

Tribe. A program initiated by Indigenous elders of a minority

community is in Northeast Arnhem Land by six women of the

Yolngu tribe provides an example. The women came together to

help the youth of the community, many of whom have low self

confidence and a lack of interest in the Yolngu culture.

Substance abuse, drug addiction, teen suicide and TV and

video-induced apathy are widespread among the youth in the

community. After much discussion the women decided on a

holistic plan of action that emphasized cooperation and

reconciliation. They believed in two-way education: Aboriginal

and non-Aboriginal. And it was the Aboriginal education that

was not given priority by the government. The women wanted to

teach the youth about their Yolngu tradition so “that people are

proud of who they are and where they come from”14

Good practices: Youth Dormitories or youth center also known

as house of learning is central to the Naga way of living in

North-East India. Unfortunately because of advent of

Christianity and modern forms of education it is becoming thing

of past, but the good thing is some of the NGOs are attempting

to teach the children through the traditional system in

partnership with Sarva Sikksha Abhiyan i.e education for all

and it is here that the Indigenous children learn weaving,

farming and other vocational courses.15

                                                        14 McIntosh, ‘Global Youth Culture and Youth Identity’, Case study: Elders of The Yolngu Tribe, 2002 15  Bijoy, C.R.  Gopalakrishnan, Shankar. Khanna,  Shomona. 2010. India and The Rights of Indigenous peoples, (page137), AIPP, New Delhi  

8. Domestic worker

A number of adverse cases of young women domestic

worker have been reported from countries like India,

Philippines, Nepal, and Bangladesh. In India alone the number

of domestic worker is more than 2 lakh16 and of which mostly

hail from the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, West

Bengal, and Assam. they out-migrate from their villages in

search of better livelihood especially to the metro cities of India.

The absence of any legislation to protect these women workers

is in gross violation of the United Nations Declaration on the

Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Domestic work in India is the

most unrecognized and disorganized. According to an estimate,

in Delhi alone there are more than a hundred thousand young

women from tribal communities. These domestic workers do the

most menial and arduous tasks, have impossible long hours

with no benefits of social security, no security of employment,

no wage raise, no paid leave or medical facilities. They are

excluded from labour laws. They are abused in various ways

especially in the form of long hours of work, bad or no pay, ill

treatment, physical and sexual harassment and even murder.

According to a study 90% of households prefer to hire young

tribal women domestic workers because they are submissive,

simple and hardworking. However, they are denied right to

liberty, right to security, right to privacy, access to health

services, right to self determination, right to return to own

community, right to representation and right to be heard17 .

There are more than 1600 cases of denial of wage payment after

work, misbehavior with the domestic worker, missing, cheating;

                                                        16 Rough data given  by Domestic Workers Forum, Chetanalaya, New Delhi 17 Joint Statement of 3 Organisations on the agenda item 3‐ violence against indigenous women and girls in terms of article 22 (2) of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples in Eastern India, UNPFII, New York.  2012  

sexual harassment, work without payment etc. that have been

filed by the domestic workers forum in the year 2011-201218.

Good practices: On 16 June 2011, the International Labour

Conference of the International Labour Organization adopted

the Convention concerning decent work for domestic workers,

which is also referred to as the Domestic Workers Convention,

2011 (No. 189), ILO 189. Mauritius and Philippines has already

ratified. This good practices should followed by other member

state of United Nations.

Rescue operation of Geraldine a Filipino lady. It was brought

out to the notice of APIYN India chapter that a Filipino woman

was under house arrest at the City of Chandigarh. She married

an Indian Sikh youth with a promising life but all was dismay

and she was later rescued by the Joint efforts of APYIN, Naga

Peoples Movement for Human rights last year in 2012 and

Human rights organization from Chandigarh.

Recommendation: Collective representation is essential for the

promotion and protection of workers' rights. We urge the

Permanent Forum to initiate a study to ascertain the plight of

the tribal women domestic workers in view of facilitating

legislation in conformity with ILO 169, ILO 189 and other

Human Rights and Indigenous Rights mechanisms to address

the issues of women workers from the Indigenous communities.

9. Militarisation- The human rights situation of indigenous

peoples in Asia pacific region continues as grave, with

indigenous youths suffering enormously, as most nation states

failed to recognize the inherent rights of indigenous peoples,

especially the right to self determination. Indigenous peoples

effort for political control over their land, territory and resources

and reacted by states with heavy militarization, justifying it with

political jargons, including ‘state sovereignty’ and ‘national

security’, best exemplified in situations like cordillera in                                                         18 Data given by ‘Domestic Workers Forum’, Chetanalaya, New Delhi 

Philippines, karen, Chin, Mon states in Burma, west Guinea,

West Papua in Indonesia, Manipur, Nagaland in India,

Chittagong hill tract in Bangladesh and Nepal in south Asia.

The militarization process in south Asia is also associated with

imposition of extra legal legislation, sanctioning institutionalized

climate of impunity, where justice is perennially denied.

In Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) in Bangladesh, the

Bangladesh military forces and Bengali settlers has been

committing a horrible legacy of violence, rape, loot, murder,

sacrilege of religion and forcible occupation of Jumma peoples'

land and property.

In West Papua, since transfer of colony to Indonesian

administration the Indonesian military has taken control over

natural resources in West Papua, this has resulted in many

illegal activities; illegal logging, illegal fishing, even illegal

prostitution is a project with full backing by Indonesia military.

Indigenous peoples in the Philippines, indigenous youths

were targeted to extra judicial execution, torture, rape and other

forms of violations. Youth organizers are being harassed by the

military and their offices put under surveillance. The

militarization process has also destroyed the cultural, historic

and environment legacy of indigenous lands and resources. The

land and resources, source of survival and sustenance of

indigenous peoples and youth has been destroyed and are being

thrown into the perennial cycle of violence. Youths are bound to

take up armed rebellion.19

Recommendation:

1. Urge Upon UNPFII to call upon all States to end impunity by

prosecuting all military personnel involved in blatant human

rights violations in Nepal, Burma, West Papua in Indonesia ,

                                                        19 Statement given by Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network at 6th Session of United Nations UNPFII. 2007, New York on Agenda Item 5: Human Rights 

India 's NE States of Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Nagaland etc,

Chittagong Hill Tract ( Bangladesh ), Philippines (Cordillera,

Mindanao).

2. That the Permanent Forum conduct a study on impact of

Militarization on Indigenous Peoples and especially on youths

and children with due identification and impacts of emergency

or special laws, decrees and orders that facilitate full scale and

free militarization and utilization of indigenous peoples lands,

territories, and resources, and its multidimensional impacts on

indigenous peoples. Calls upon States to repeal all Emergency,

extra legal, draconian laws, decrees and orders imposed

3. Collective representation is essential for the promotion and

protection of workers' rights. We urge the Permanent Forum to

initiate a study to ascertain the plight of the tribal women

domestic workers in view of facilitating legislation in conformity

with ILO 169, ILO 189 and other Human Rights and Indigenous

Rights mechanisms to address the issues of women workers

from the Indigenous communities.

4. We would like to request the UNPFII to urge upon the

Government of India to implement the provisions of, UN

Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples and to ensure

that indigenous Right to Self Determination and their right over

their land and resources are full respected in accordance with

the. UN ' Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

5. The indigenous youths would like to affirm our request and call

upon all members of the permanent forum to recommend to all

states, intergovernmental organizations, united nations

agencies and indigenous peoples organization to support the

efforts and initiatives of indigenous youths to build solidarity to

empower and consolidate capacity to enable us to contribute

constructively in the indigenous peoples movement for asserting

our rights to a self determined future.

Acronyms

APIYN-Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network

AMAN- Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara

FPIC-Free Prior and Inform consent

SUC-State Universities and Colleges

ICITP- Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples

IPRA- Indigenous People’s Rights Act

IPs- Indigenous peoples

ILO –International Labour Organisation

UNDRIP- United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous

peoples

References:

Asia Preparatory meeting on UN mechanism, Baguio, Philippines,

2011

Bijoy, C.R. Gopalakrishnan, Shankar. Khanna, Shomona. 2010. India

and The Rights of Indigenous peoples, (page137), AIPP, New

Delhi

Chhim, Kristina. ILO/CAS Indigenous and Tribal peoples and Poverty

Reduction Stategies in Cambodia, International Labour Office,

Geneva, 2005

Roy, S.C. 1912, The Mundas and Their Country, crown Publication,

Ranchi, India

Statement by ICITP-NE Zone on Indigenous peoples and their right to

education at 19th session of UN-WGIP

Statement by Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network on Agenda Item

4 (B)-Environment, UNPFII, 2003, New York

Statement by Center for Organisation Research and Education on

Agenda Item 4 (F) at UNPFII, Education, 2003, New York

Joint statement by ICITP, ICITP-NE zone on special theme of

Territories, Land and resources at UNPFII, 2007, New York

Statement by Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network on Agenda Item

5: Human Rights at 6th Session of United Nations UNPFII, 2007, New

York

The Indigenous World, IWGIA, 2006

The Indigenous World, IWGIA, 2011

The Indigenous World, IWGIA, 2012

1.   

1 

 

INDIGENOUS YOUTH IN AFRICA

Who are the indigenous peoples in Africa?

As per the conceptualization of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and

international mechanisms dealing with indigenous peoples’ rights, indigenous peoples in Africa are generally

understood as nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists and hunter/gatherers who live in situations of

marginalization and discrimination. (See the “Report of the African Commission’s Working Group of Experts

on Indigenous Populations/Communities”, 2005).

freedom to liberate the youth mind lies in the democratic power instilled in their mind regardless of their back ground 

;their historic weakness or power but on their willingness to feel the change needed for their society to rise like a sun 

and set their goal on hope of people in the community who have goals written on the stars shinning from our hope to 

the horizon of opportunities we call challenges because of luck of proper guidance i love you UN mother of democracy 

freedom and the worlds hope to the dreams of indigenous youth 

The folks of reality begin from deep down the basement of our struggles to set our lives free, the light in our memories 

get switched on like a moon in the desert and soon flourish the entire work of our hands, the truth is every journey we 

walk is the result of this struggle we set to set free our communities, every work done is the manifestation of the power 

of how well and big we let it grow, its growth has no limitation just as a super natural feeling of a well  drawn master 

piece of   the paradise, however  the power  to  let  it grow  lies on  the same plane as much as  the     forces   to make  it 

stunted so we should  let this not at any single time meet with the fears  we have for the future because these fears eat 

it at a higher rate more than the fires on the Amazon 

Hope is risen no mater the below challenges faced

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE INDIGENOUS YOUTH IN AFRICA Lack of legislation regarding indigenous youth

The situation of indigenous youth in Africa is extremely serious. The level of bad governance, corruption,

impunity, violent conflict and poverty is in general very high on the African continent, and indigenous peoples

are among the groups suffering the most. Only few African countries have so far recognized the existence of

indigenous peoples. However, this situation is gradually improving and several central African countries now

recognize the existence of indigenous peoples in their countries. Countries such as Uganda, Kenya and

Namibia are also gradually opening up. However, widespread lack of recognition persists in all other parts of

Africa.

2 

 

Apart from the Republic of Congo, where the Parliament on the 30th December 2010, adopted a law for the

promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, no countries in Africa have legislation that

provide for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights. This situation is thoroughly documented in the

research report made by the ILO, ACHPR and the University of Pretoria: “Overview Report of the Research

Project by the International Labour Organization and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

on the Constitutional and Legislative Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 24 African Countries”

(2009).

The Congolese law for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples is the first of its kind

in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent. Hopefully this

law will be a valuable tool for improving the situation of the indigenous peoples in the Congo and a source of

inspiration for other countries in Africa like Uganda to take similar initiatives.

Some promising developments are as follows: In Kenya a new constitution has been adopted which provides

for considerable decentralization and recognition of historically marginalized groups to which indigenous

peoples belong. A new national land policy has also been adopted in Kenya, which provides for collective land

rights and de-centralized land governance structures. However, still no explicit recognition of indigenous

peoples exists in Kenya. In Burundi, the constitution provides for special representation of the indigenous

Batwa people in the National Assembly and the Senate, an initiative that still lacks in other African Countries

like Uganda. In Cameroon, a draft law on Marginal Populations has been produced; however, this draft law

does not specifically recognize indigenous peoples nor address some of their key concerns. The Central

African Republic has recently, as the first country in Africa ratified the ILO Convention 169.

Lack of representation and participation of indigenous youth

Indigenous peoples in Africa are often poorly represented in decision-making bodies at both local and national

level and their participation in decision-making processes is very limited. The lack of representation and

participation makes it very difficult for indigenous peoples to advocate their cause and determine their own

future development. Most African states follow European-oriented modernization and development strategies

that completely disregard indigenous traditional African sectors, the important contributions of such sectors to

national economies and their need for supportive policies.

Discrimination against indigenous youth

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Indigenous youth in Africa are discriminated against by mainstream populations and looked down upon as

backward peoples. Many stereotypes prevail that describe them as “backward”, “uncivilized” and “primitive”

and as an embarrassment to modern African states. Such negative stereotyping legitimizes discrimination and

marginalization of indigenous peoples by institutions of governance and dominant groups. Students in schools

do not access the scholarships’ as other students from other tribes even if they score higher grades than them;

they are left to lag behind simply because nature has distributed them to the marginalized societies of

indigenous people, they fail to identify with their culture because it is regarded as the outdated way of life,

hence they get stigmatized

Indigenous land dispossession

The main problem faced by indigenous youth in Africa is land dispossession, which is caused by a number of

factors such as dominating development paradigms favouring settled agriculture over other modes of

production; establishment of national parks and conservation areas; natural resource extraction etc. The land

dispossession undermines indigenous peoples’ livelihood systems, leads to severe impoverishment and

threatens the continued existence of indigenous peoples. Legal frameworks promoting and protecting

indigenous peoples’ lands are very weak or non-existing, and policies are most often negatively biased against

indigenous peoples and tend to undermine rather than support their livelihoods. with AFRICA nature where by

the youth who are energetic and have the potential to till the land

Indigenous victims of violent conflicts

Indigenous peoples in Africa are often victims of violent conflicts. In eastern and western Africa there are

numerous violent conflicts between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers as well as inter-community

conflicts between pastoralists themselves. These conflicts are further exacerbated by effects of climate change

and increased competition over natural resources, and they lead to massive suffering, impoverishment and

displacements. In countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso the situation is extreme involving organized

massacres of entire villages. Indigenous peoples are also victims of abuses committed by the military and

armed militia groups.

Indigenous youth lack access to justice

Indigenous youth in Africa have limited access to justice and violations against their rights are often committed

with impunity. Cases of violations of indigenous youth’ rights are rarely investigated by the police,

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perpetrators are often not brought to justice, judicial systems are too expensive for indigenous youth and often

ineffective and negatively biased against indigenous youth, and indigenous youth thus have very limited

possibilities of redress. The failure of most court cases brought about by indigenous youth in Africa is an

indicator of this. (See for example the book by Albert Kwokwo Barume “Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples in

Africa”, IWGIA, 2010).

In sum indigenous peoples in African suffer from severe neglect, dispossession and human rights violations,

and the general trend is that African states wish to assimilate them into dominant cultures and livelihoods.

However, the past 10 years have also witnessed a more organized and mobilized indigenous civil society that is

trying to make their voices heard and advocates their own cause. In Uganda for example, Let Us Save Uganda

(LUSU) and African International Christian Ministries (AICM) are local Civil Society Organisations

advocating for their cause.

Level of self-organization of the indigenous youth' movement

Compared to other regions of the world, the indigenous movement – and civil society as such - is still weak in

Africa, and indigenous organizations are still few and have low capacity. However, the situation is diverse and

varies from region to region and country to country.

Indigenous organizations in East Africa, and in particular in Kenya, have become stronger and more vocal, and

they have in collaboration with other sectors of civil society successfully managed to engage in issues of

concern to them such as constitutional and policy reforms. National networks are weak but a network of

pastoralists (Pastoralist Development Network of Kenya) and of hunter/gatherers and pastoralists (Pastoralists

and Hunter Gatherer Ethnic Minorities Network) exist. Indigenous organizations in Tanzania are fewer and

have in general less capacity than organizations in Kenya. However, there are two national indigenous peoples

umbrella organizations in Tanzania (PINGOs Forum and Tanzania Pastoralist and Hunter Gatherer

Organization), and organizations in Tanzania have in recent years tried to address human rights violations and

influence policy reform processes.

In Central Africa indigenous organizations are in general still small and weak. Some of the most well

functioning organizations are found in Burundi and Rwanda where organizations have carried out successful

sensitization and advocacy work. In countries such as the DRC, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Cameroon

and Gabon, indigenous organizations and support NGOs also exist and are to varying degrees engaged in

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advocacy and development work. In countries such as the Central African Republic and Chad indigenous

organizations are almost non-existing.

In West Africa, the discourse of indigenous peoples is in general not known or used. There are some pastoral

organizations and a regional pastoral network (Billital Maroobe); however, they are only to a limited degree

integrated in the African indigenous movement.

In southern Africa, the indigenous San organizations remain small and comparatively weak. There is, however,

a network of indigenous organizations in southern Africa (Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in

Southern Africa) that coordinates and represents the interests of indigenous San peoples throughout Southern

Africa.

The only existing pan African organization for indigenous peoples in Africa is the “Indigenous Peoples of

African Coordinating Committee” (IPACC) which has its secretariat in South Africa and which has member

organizations from all the regions of Africa.

Limited access to education

The indigenous youth more especially the girls are usually discriminated against for education, they are forced

into early marriages’, others are left at home to care for the young ones, work in gardens and the few lucky

ones are sent to trading centers for business where they are highly marginalized, raped and are also forced into

prostitution and enslavement

Limited access to health

The life of the indigenous youth is in danger regarding to health, the health care system is down, youth who are

forced to get married, die giving birth, and their children are malnourished as a result of either lack of

knowledge concerning proper diet or lack of the recommended nutritious food. There is high spread of

infectious diseases such malaria which is serious killer disease in addition to HIV AIDS, and the worst

scenario being that these people are denied equal access to the medication which is freely available to other

patients from other communities

The indigenous youth on top of being highly marginalized by the advantaged

, mordernised people who have taken it also to their daily way of life and

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Decided to cut short the hope embedded in the skills naturally given to

These innocent worlds source of power, in the name of helping them, these

Advantaged multiply their advantages on the expense of these people by

Promising the away out to the promised hope of their dreams but as away of

Life they are only used as a step to reap from their ‘misfortunate life’

A Living example of Amutwa who acted in movie name’ AFRICA UNITED’, whose hope

Was to have his well crafted message delivered into the entire AFRICAN

Continent for the betterment of the fellow youth, could not make it beyond

The dreams of commercial interest of the modern people and now has a story to

tell from riches to rugs simply because he is not only ascendant of the

BATWA but the entire community of indigenous people of the world