|
The right to participation for minorities may be facilitated in various ways. Minority CSOs could be engaged in a manner similar to that of other CSOs,43 including enabling minority women and men to participate in civil society consultations/committees; supporting the development of networks of minority CSOs; and encouraging governments to engage in dialogue with minorities on key issues. Theme groups on minorities could be created for CCA/UNDAF processes and UNCT CSO consultative institutions could include permanent representation from minority groups. Public policy discussions on issues that are of particular importance to minorities, such as discrimination, education, or local governance could be convened. Each of these actions helps minorities to participate in decision-making processes that affect their communities. The participation process may be slower and/or more costly when engaging minorities (e.g. because of translation costs, cultural processes of dialogue and decision-making), which could be factored into consultation planning.
 |
|
For indigenous peoples, the principle of free, prior and informed consent is a core component of their right to participation and to self-determination. The UNDG Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues provides a detailed discussion on how UNDP and other UN Agencies can play an instrumental role in supporting capacities to ensure participation and respect for the principle of free, prior and informed consent. |
|
 |
The UN Indigenous Peoples Advisory Committee of Kenya (UNIPACK) was one of the outputs of the 2004-2005 Human Rights Strengthening (HURIST) project focused on mainstreaming indigenous peoples’ rights in Kenya. An interim committee was established in consensus with indigenous representatives participating in the June-July 2004 HURIST pilot workshop in Kenya. The interim committee served for one year and was composed of nine indigenous peoples’ representatives and one UNDP representative. A long process of selecting the representatives to sit on UNIPACK was undertaken, including travel to eight sites for regional consultations with over 23 different indigenous and ethnic communities. Representatives were elected and groups were required to nominate candidates in a transparent process. The definition of ‘indigenous peoples’ for the purpose of UNIPACK was agreed with the communities to include pastoralists, hunter-gatherers and ethnic minorities.
UNIPACK served to:
1. Establish a mechanism for dialogue and information sharing amongst indigenous peoples, UNDP/UN system and relevant national actors, such as Government authorities and parliamentarians.
2. Provide strategic guidance on indigenous peoples’ concerns, principles and perspectives for UNDP country programming and related policy initiatives supported by UNDP and the UN system.
3. Promote stakeholder dialogues and initiatives with state and non-state actors including representatives from indigenous peoples’ organizations and CSOs that strengthen networks and raise awareness about influencing policy.
4. Provide space for mutual learning and understanding between indigenous
peoples and UNDP/UN staff.
UNIPACK successes:
- Some members of UNIPACK undertook advisory roles on other steering committees within UNDP programming, including the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Assisting Communities Together (ACT);
- The NHRI has now integrated consideration of indigenous peoples and minorities into its strategic planning process;
- UNIPACK can build UNDP’s capacity to support the Kenyan Government in new initiatives such as the proposed National Ethnic Race and Reconciliation Commission and forthcoming constitutional reform.
UNIPACK challenges:
- The concepts of ‘indigenous peoples’ and ‘minorities’ were not widely internalized in Kenya, which presented problems for the engagement of UNIPACK with government institutions and for accurately determining which groups constitute minorities and indigenous peoples and therefore eligible for participation with UNIPACK;
- The long-term sustainability of UNIPACK, created under HURIST, threatened by the reliance of the structure on UNDP core funding;
- There is some debate over whether to maintain UNIPACK as a distinct structure or to integrate minorities and indigenous peoples into the CSO Advisory Committee.
|
|
