9 August: International Day of the World's Indigenous People

The United Nations General Assembly in 1990 proclaimed 1993 as the International Year for the World's Indigenous People. Four years later, the 94th Session of the UN General Assembly, decided to set the observation for the International Day of the World's Indigenous People on 9 August (resolution 49/214 of 23 December). The date marks the day of the first meeting, of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, held in 1982.

During the International Year for the World's Indigenous People, in order to strengthen international cooperation for solving problems faced by indigenous people in areas such as human rights, environment, development, education and health, the Assembly proclaimed the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, starting on 10 December, 1994 (resolution 48/163). The main theme of the Decade is "Indigenous people: Partnership in action."

During the recently held Third session of indigenous peoples (read article in this update) the theme of the fourth session, to be celebrated next year, was set under the title "Millennium Development Goals and Indigenous Peoples", emphasizing on the goals related to the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and the achievement of universal primary education.

For more information on the events to be carried out during this day by the various UN agencies please click here.