UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Tribal chiefs from Canada to Peru and beyond on Thursday sought to get the grievances of indigenous people heard at the United Nations and said they were even shut out of a upcoming conference on racism.
Honoring the Seventh International Day of the World's Indigenous People, more than 700 activists, many of them from the United States, celebrated their cultures in spiritual rituals. They discussed ways to protect themselves from discrimination, economic exploitation and environmental degradation.
``It's a constant uphill battle just to get into the room where so-called consultations are taking place,'' said Dr. Ted Moses, a Cree chief from Quebec, Canada, about preparations for the U.N. conference against racism in Durban, South Africa, this month.
By next May, indigenous organizations will have their own U.N. forum, which goes beyond a traditional advocacy group and becomes a subsidiary of the U.N. Economic and Social Council. Eight of its members will be chosen by governments and another eight by indigenous organizations.
Marcial Arias of Panama's Kuna Indians said he hoped the forum would allow indigenous people to be included in a variety of treaties and U.N. conferences.
``We are not even mentioned in the Kyoto treaty'' on global warming he said, noting the destruction of the environment was an issue most indigenous groups took seriously.
He told a news conference he was the only indigenous person attending a U.N. forestry panel, even though deforestation affects millions of indigenous people.
Moses, in an address to the gathering, singled out the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome as a prime example of how U.N. bodies had been excluding indigenous peoples from their agendas.
``In our experience we are often excluded because of preconceived notions about our interests and capabilities,'' he said, among them economic and financial issues.
``We are also excluded as proponents of academic and research projects. Instead we are seen as the subjects of such projects,'' he said.
A high point of the gathering was a peace pipe ceremony by Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota tribe in South Dakota, called Sioux by whites, that included prayer and incense from an abalone shell. Wearing a regal feathered headdress, he is the 19th generation to keep the white buffalo calf peace pipe.
The human rights group Amnesty International in a report to mark the occasion said indigenous people continued to be the victims of killings and disappearances in the Americas.
Intimidation, harassment and violent attacks were frequent occurrences in a number of countries, such as Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela,'' Amnesty said.
``Violence and threats against indigenous populations often take place in the context of disputes relating to the lands they live on and to the exploitation, by national and multinational companies,'' it said.
``In many countries in the Americas, indigenous people constitute the most marginalized and dispossessed sector of society, and are the victims of prejudice and discrimination,'' Amnesty added.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Jose Antonio Salvador, a Mayan priest from Guatamala, kisses the hand of Chief Looking Horse of the Lakota tribe in South Dakota, after presenting him with a blanket at a ceremony honoring indigenous peoples Thursday, Aug. 9, 2001, at United Nations headquarters. Tribal chiefs from across the Americas were meeting to discuss ways to protect themselves from land exploitation and human rights abuses, and criticized the U.N. for excluding them from an upcoming conference on racism. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)