What is new at IPACC?

IPACC's Chairperson Vital Bambanze, named as new African specialist to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Burundian Senator and Chair of IPACC, Mr Vital Bambanze has been named to a three year mandate on the UN Expert Mechanisms on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This role will assist in the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the African continent.

Bambanze joins Mr Kanyinke Paul Sena of Kenya who takes up his seat for a three year mandate on the UN Permananent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Ms Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, indigenous peoples' representative to the UN Environment Programme's Major Groups.

In 2011, IPACC is focussing on two major advocacy campaigns:

Climate change and biodiversity

The 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be coming to Durban, South Africa in November / December 2011. IPACC is focussing on lobbying African states to put climate adaptation at the top of the agenda. IPACC will be hosting workshops and side-events on human and natural adaptation, looking to bridge the gap between science and indigenous knowledge systems.

IPACC will also continue to lobby for stronger rights monitoring mechanisms associated with carbon sequestration and market-related mechanisms for mitigation (conserving carbon in plants and soil), known as REDD+.

Also on environmental issues, IPACC will continue its efforts to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples living in or around Protected Areas. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Programme of Work on Protected Areas requires national governments to assess the social impacts of conservation, and ensure participation, good governance and equitable benefit sharing. IPACC is working with the IUCN and other NGOs to ensure indigenous peoples have a role to play in national Protected Areas policy and practices.

Human Rights capacity building

IPACC is launching a new programme to help build the capacity of member organisations to submit 'shadow' reports on the human rights and civil rights of indigenous peoples in Africa. The focus in 2011-2012 is on reporting to the UN Universal Periodic Review, and closer cooperation with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Additional capacity building work is being done in relation to representing indigenous peoples of Africa in the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

During 2011, IPACC is hosting the Secretariat for the UN Major Group on Indigenous Peoples, coordinated by Ms Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim; IPACC's has nominated two representatives to the communication for the Global Forest Coalition, Ms Jeniffeer Koinante (Kenya) and Ms Sada Albachir (Niger); IPACC continues to liase with the International Land Committee, coordinated by Mr Vital Bambanze; and IPACC hosts the Secretariat of the IUCN Theme on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas.

IPACC's mission

IPACC's purpose is to unite diverse community based indigenous peoples' organisations into a network and alliance for effective advocacy. IPACC's elected Executive Committee is dedicated to the co-ordination of advocacy strategy and activities which promote the rights and voices of indigenous peoples at national, sub-regional, African and international levels.

IPACC promotes recognition of and respect for indigenous peoples in Africa; promotes participation of indigenous African peoples in United Nations' events and other international forums, and strengthens leadership and organisational capacity of indigenous civil society in Africa.

IPACC supports contact visits between indigenous peoples and inter-country cooperation and training. IPACC also conducts pilot projects related to the inter-generational transmission of traditional knowledge of biodiversity; sustainable livelihoods and equitable access and use of natural resources; participatory landscape mapping; the assessment and certification of tradtional knowledge of tracking; and innovative approaches to fighting poverty.

IPACC works in partnership with the Technical Centre for Agricultural Cooperation with Rural Areas (CTA EU-ACP); Cybertracker Foundation; African Biodiversity Network; the Pan-African Climate Justice Network; the SA Climate Action Network, the Documentation Centre for Indigenous Peoples (DoCIP), Conservation International, WWF International, Indigenous Information Network, Wildlife Conservation Society, the Global Diversity Foundation, Nederlands Centrum voor Inheemse Volke, and UNESCO's working group on Education for Sustainable Development. IPACC is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and host of the Secretariat for the Theme on Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas.

IPACC is accredited with the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Environment Programme, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Educational Scientific, Cultural and Communications Organisation (UNESCO). IPACC has observer status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. IPACC is in strategic cooperation with the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Who is indigenous in Africa?

The rights of indigenous peoples in Africa have been formally recognised by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2003, and then approved by the African States with the passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the General Assembly in 2007. Still, there is some confusion about the meaning of the term and still some resistance by certain civil servants and diplomats who have not followed the evolution of these rights standards.

In January 2010, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has adopted the most progressive legislation on the continent, recognising indigenous peoples in alignment with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2010, Central African Republic became the first African country to ratify the ILO Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal communities. Also in 2010, Kenya overturned centuries of colonial law by recognising the land rights of indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples in its new Constitution. Burundi provides constitutional protection to indigenous peoples and allows them a fixed number of seats in Parliament. South Africa and Namibia both have process underway to recognise the rights of indigenous peoples, and Morocco has created a Royal Commission dealing with indigenous Amazigh language, culture and education.

Peoples claiming to be ‘indigenous’ in Africa are mostly those who have been living by hunting and gathering or by transhumant (migratory nomadic) pastoralism. These are distinct peoples who's economies and cultures are different from the national dominant cultures. They are reliant on the sustainable use natural resources. Their cultures are closely linked to the special environmental conditions under which they have survived - for example deserts, oases, mountain territories, savannah drylands and equatorial rainforests.

The legal concept of 'indigenous' rights in Africa is a new one but is being integrated into Africa constitutions and case law. All Africans are 'indigenous' in the literal sense of the word. The rise of an organised civil society claiming rights as indigenous peoples is tied to major economic and environmental changes in Africa which are putting nomadic, transhumant, hunting and herding peoples at risk.

The main risk for indigenous peoples is land alienation and the loss of biodiversity caused by agricultural settlers and extractive industries such as logging and mining. Climate change is also amplifying these problems, reducing the capacity of ecosystems to support rural communities.

Colonialism entrenched the power of agricultural elite within the State structure. The State in Africa often works in concert with international capital and multinational corporations to alienate valuable natural resources which place both biodiversity and cultural diversity in jeopardy.

IPACC recognises that all Africans should enjoy equal rights and respect. All of Africa’s diversity is to be valued. Particular communities, due to historical and environmental circumstances, have found themselves outside the state-system and underrepresented in governance. These ‘first-peoples’ or ‘autochthonous peoples’ have associated themselves with the United Nations’ standards on the rights of indigenous peoples. This is not to deny other Africans their status; it is to emphasise that affirmative recognition is necessary for hunter-gatherers and herding peoples to ensure their survival. IPACC uses the language of the CBD to note the common interests of indigenous and local communities .

IPACC's value system has developed through years of dialogue between indigenous leaders. IPACC emphasises the important link between biological diversity and cultural diversity, and the fundamental role that natural resource users have in conservation and wildlife management. IPACC operates within the framework of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, affirming the integrity of the state while assuring that democracy is only alive when all peoples have the right of self-determination and to play an active role in natural resource management and good governance.

IPACC affirms three core principles: participation of indigenous peoples in decision making, pluralism in African economies that allow for sustainable hunting and gathering, nomadic pastoralism, fishing and other non-agricultural activities in arid, semi arid and humid forest areas, partnership between indigenous peoples, their respective States and the private sector to find sustainable and mutually acceptable solutions to challenges of the environment, quality of life and good governance.

In November 2003, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted a report of its working group recognising that there are indigenous peoples in Africa whose rights are being violated. In September 2007, all but three African states voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Three states abstained and non-voted against. In 2007, the ACHPR advised the African Union that supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would be in harmony with the African Charter.