International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, on 9 August, seeks to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. The day also honours the accomplishments of indigenous peoples and their contributions in the fields of social and human rights and sustainable development.

The United Nations describes Indigenous peoples as “inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment”. There are approximately 476 million indigenous people living in some 90 countries across the globe and speaking more than two-thirds of the world's languages. However, the majority of these indigenous peoples still live in precarious circumstances. Poverty rates among indigenous peoples are considerably higher than any other social group – although these peoples only make up 5% of the global population, they account for 15% of the world's poorest people.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many existing inequalities that often disproportionately affect those already suffering from discrimination or financial insecurity. This disparity is significantly worse for indigenous peoples and clearly our social contract with these communities, among other things, needs to be revised. Too often indigenous peoples have been forced off their lands while their cultures and languages are denigrated and their people excluded from political and economic activities.

There have been efforts to address the inequalities still undermining indigenous peoples, notably through apologies, truth and reconciliation commissions and legislative and constitutional reforms. The Canadian government for instance, following a TRC from 2007 to 2015, committed itself to a “renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.” At the international level, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted and advisory bodies such as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues established. Despite the presence of these international instruments not everyone has joined the move to ensure that no one is left behind. This is why a new social contract must be formulated to express and promote the common good of all humanity.

Many of these peoples still live under the authority of central governments who control their lands, territories and resources. This despite having established their own political institutions that are participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follow the rule of law.

They must manage systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic activities often to their detriment. For example, Amnesty International notes that Indigenous women are more likely to die giving birth and less likely to use health care facilities when pregnant because of discrimination and mistreatment. In Panama and Russia, Indigenous women are about six times more likely to die in childbirth than other women. All across the world, they are over-represented among the destitute and under-represented among the socio-economic and political elites.

Indigenous peoples across the world are displaced by wars, land grabs and environmental disasters, and are dispossessed of their ancestral lands and deprived of their resources for survival—both physical and cultural. For example, the Sengwer people of Kenya have recently been forcibly expelled from the Embobut forest by the Kenya Forest Service under the false pretence that they were damaging the environment. Even when indigenous territories and lands are recognised, boundaries are often not adequately protected and natural resources are often exploited by external parties, and insecure land tenure drives conflict, environmental degradation and weak economic and social development. This threatens cultural survival and vital knowledge systems, both of which contribute to ecological integrity, biodiversity and environmental health, upon which we all depend. Although they constitute only 5% of the population, the World Bank estimates that Indigenous Peoples safeguard 80% of the world’s biodiversity.

The new social contract must be based on genuine involvement and partnership, with equal opportunities and respect for all people's rights, dignity and freedoms. The right of indigenous peoples to participate in decision-making is critical to fostering reconciliation between indigenous peoples and governments. This is why the theme of this year’s edition is ‘Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract’. The aim is to increase awareness and calls for indigenous peoples' inclusion, involvement and acceptance in the creation of a social system that benefits everyone equally.

This article was also published on News24 on International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, 9 August 2021.