INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE WORLD 🛑🪶🔥♨️

       "INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE WORLD" 

                                🛑🪶🔥♨️

There are 476 million Indigenous people around the world and spread across more than 90 countries. They belong to more than 5,000 different Indigenous peoples and speak more than 4,000 languages. Indigenous people represent about 5% of the world’s population. The vast majority of them – 70% – live in Asia.

Although they have different customs and cultures, they face the same harsh realities: eviction from their ancestral lands, being denied the opportunity to express their culture, physical attacks and treatment as second-class citizens.

Indigenous peoples are often marginalized and face discrimination in countries’ legal systems, leaving them even more vulnerable to violence and abuse. Indigenous human rights defenders who speak out face intimidation and violence, often supported by the state. In addition, individuals may be physically attacked and killed just for belonging to an Indigenous people.

Peaceful efforts by Indigenous Peoples to maintain their cultural identity or exercise control over their traditional lands, which are often rich in resources and biodiversity, have led to accusations of treason or terrorism.

Discrimination is the reason why Indigenous peoples make up 15% of the world’s extreme poor. Globally, they also suffer higher rates of landlessness, malnutrition and internal displacement than other groups.

Amnesty International has worked to defend the rights of Indigenous peoples in all regions of the world and demands that states apply and develop urgently needed laws to protect their lands, cultures and livelihoods.

📌 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The Bayaka, also known as Aka tribe are a nomadic Mbenga pygmy hunter gatherer tribe found in the south western jungles of The Central African Republic.

There are 476 million Indigenous people around the world and spread across more than 90 countries. They belong to more than 5,000 different Indigenous peoples and speak more than 4,000 languages. Indigenous people represent about 5% of the world’s population. The vast majority of them – 70% – live in Asia.

Although they have different customs and cultures, they face the same harsh realities: eviction from their ancestral lands, being denied the opportunity to express their culture, physical attacks and treatment as second-class citizens.

Indigenous peoples are often marginalized and face discrimination in countries’ legal systems, leaving them even more vulnerable to violence and abuse. Indigenous human rights defenders who speak out face intimidation and violence, often supported by the state. In addition, individuals may be physically attacked and killed just for belonging to an Indigenous people.

Peaceful efforts by Indigenous Peoples to maintain their cultural identity or exercise control over their traditional lands, which are often rich in resources and biodiversity, have led to accusations of treason or terrorism.

Discrimination is the reason why Indigenous peoples make up 15% of the world’s extreme poor. Globally, they also suffer higher rates of landlessness, malnutrition and internal displacement than other groups.

An indigenous person stands in the thick foliage of the Amazon. They are wearing a yellow feather crown, an armband with long red and orange feathers and are holding a bow and some arrows. 

Gabriel Uchida

Key Facts

476M

476 million people in more than 90 countries identify themselves as Indigenous Peoples

5K

5000 different Indigenous Peoples in the world

1/3

1/3 of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people are Indigenous Peoples

70%

70% of Indigenous Peoples live in Asia

Who are Indigenous Peoples?

Indigenous Peoples can be identified according to certain characteristics:

Most importantly, they self-identify as Indigenous peoples

There is a historical link with those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived

They have a strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources

They have distinct social, economic or political systems

They have a distinct language, culture and beliefs

They are marginalized and discriminated against by the state

They maintain and develop their ancestral environments and systems as distinct peoples

Each of these characteristics may be more or less important depending on the situation. Indigenous Peoples are also known as First Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, or Native Peoples. In some countries there are specific terms such as Adivasis (India) or Janajatis (Nepal).

Indigenous Peoples have a special relationship with the land on which they have lived for generations, sometimes for tens of thousands of years. They possess crucial knowledge about how to manage natural resources sustainably and act as guardians or custodians of the land for the next generation. Losing their land means a loss of identity.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is the central body within the UN system which deals with Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. 

📌 Indigenous land right

Indigenous Peoples’ land ownership rights are recognized under international law. States cannot relocate Indigenous Peoples without their free, prior and informed consent and without offering them adequate compensation.

The land that Indigenous Peoples live on is home to over 80% of our planet’s biodiversity and rich in natural resources, such as oil, gas, timber and minerals. However these lands are routinely appropriated, sold, leased or simply plundered and polluted by governments and private companies.

Many Indigenous Peoples have been uprooted from their land due to discriminatory policies or armed conflict. Indigenous land rights activists face violence and even murder when they seek to defend their lands.

Human rights abuses related to their land rights and culture, have prompted growing numbers of Indigenous Peoples to leave their traditional lands for towns and cities. Cut off from resources and traditions vital to their welfare and survival, many Indigenous Peoples face even greater marginalization, poverty, disease and violence – and sometimes, extinction as a people.

📌 What is the situation for       Indigenous women and children?

From India to Peru, Indigenous women have higher rates of maternal mortality, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and are more likely to suffer violence.

Indigenous women are less likely to use health care facilities when pregnant because of discrimination and mistreatment; and so, they are more likely to die giving birth. For example, in Panama and Russia, Indigenous women are about six times more likely to die in childbirth than women from the non-Indigenous population. The birth rate for Amerindian adolescent girls is twice that of the general Guyanese population. In Kenya, Maasai women are twice as likely to have had no antenatal care, and in Namibia, San women are ten times more likely to give birth without skilled attendance.

In a horrifying violation of their human rights, more than 2,000 poor Indigenous and campesino women were allegedly sterilized without their consent by state authorities in Peru in the 1990s. On 22 January 2014, the Public Prosecutors office in Lima closed their case and denied them justice.

In some countries, Indigenous women suffer disproportionately from domestic violence as they bear the brunt of frustration and anger, resulting from deep-seated discrimination affecting the wider community.

Indigenous children are also vulnerable to abuse. In southern Africa, the children of the San, and other Indigenous peoples find it hard to access education. In south-east Asia, most women and girls trafficked across state borders are from Indigenous communities.

📌 Protecting Indigenous cultures

Indigenous peoples face exclusion and discrimination just because they identify as members of Indigenous groups. Discrimination impacts their everyday life, it restricts their rights to education, health care and housing.

All across the world, Indigenous peoples’ life expectancy is up to 20 years lower compared to non-Indigenous people.

Indigenous peoples often rank highest for prison inmates, illiteracy and unemployment. Globally, they suffer higher rates of poverty, landlessness, malnutrition and internal displacement.

Happy reading 🫂

Warmly,

Chathu 😘❤️