International Day of Indigenous Peoples | 10 Aug 2019

International day of indigenous people is observed on August 9 every year, in order to raise awareness of the needs of indigenous people. The first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations was held in Geneva in 1982.

  • The theme of 2019 is Indigenous People’s Languages in view of 2019 being marked as the International Year of Indigenous Languages by the United Nations.

International Day of Indigenous Peoples in India

  • On International day of indigenous people, the Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) has launched a new programme ‘Leather Mission’.
  • It has distributed as many as 50 leather kits and 350 Bee-Boxes with live bee colonies in tribal-dominated village in Sirohi district of Rajasthan, one of the aspirational districts in India identified by the NITI Aayog.

Indigenous people

  • They are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment.
  • They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.
  • The indigenous people in the world make up less than 5 percent of the total population, but fall in the 15 percent of the poorest, according to the UN website. They represent as many as 5,000 different cultures.

International Year of Indigenous Languages

  • Languages play a crucially important role in the daily lives of all people. They are pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, peace building and sustainable development, through ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.
    • However, despite their immense value, languages around the world continue to disappear at an alarming rate due to a variety of factors. Many of them are indigenous languages.
  • Indigenous languages in particular are a significant factor in a wide range of other indigenous issues, notably education, scientific and technological development, the biosphere and the environment, freedom of expression, employment and social inclusion.
  • The International Year of Indigenous Languages is a United Nations observance in 2019. It aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.

Source: TH,UN