Nia Tero - 2021 Annual Report - Report - Page 7
INTRODUCTION
NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP
In 2014, when I began my work as the
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, there were
only a few hundred determined
Indigenous leaders working at the
global level to elevate an awareness of
the threats facing Indigenous
peoples, and the urgency for action.
Today, some eight years later, these threats
continue. In fact, this past year, over 100
Indigenous leaders were murdered defending
their home territories from outsiders seeking
to continue colonization.
Today however, the number of Indigenous
leaders working at global, regional, and national
levels has expanded. Now there are hundreds, if
not thousands of Indigenous leaders, including
Indigenous youth, demanding recognition of
individual and collective rights; protection of
cultural heritage; respect for their territorial,
land, and resource rights; decolonization of
education and respect for the right to
self-determination; as well as direct access to
the financial resources needed to achieve all of
this and more. And they are not alone. Allies
have arrived to support our efforts.
One of our great allies is Nia Tero, an
organization that I am proud to serve as
Chairperson. Our team of Advisors, staff, and
Board represents a diversity of cultures and
peoples with great skills, relationships, and
wisdom committed to doing whatever it takes
for our Indigenous partners to have their
rights—articulated in the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples—respected,
protected, and fulfilled.
I am delighted with the progress that Nia Tero
has made in their work during the past year,
despite the continued harshness of the
COVID-19 pandemic. In the annual report that
follows, you will be exposed to the exceptional
work of our young organization. Please study
the following pages carefully, and please join us
in our efforts to support Indigenous peoples in
their determined efforts to fight for their rights;
retain and transmit their cultures, knowledge
and values; and sustain the deep wisdom of
their cultures and the vibrant health of their
vast, globally significant, territories.
Vicky Tauli-Corpuz
INTRODUCTION - NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP |
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