While criticism of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples has been expressed here and elsewhere, the September 22-23, 2014 gathering to take place at UN Headquarters in New York is not one to be ignored.
As reported by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, regional preparatory meetings are taking place throughout 2013. For indigenous governments in Canada and the US, the North American Indigenous Peoples’ Preparatory Meeting will be held on February 28 through March 1, 2013 at Sycuan Resort, Kumeyaay Nation, El Cajon, California.
Following that regional preparatory meeting near San Diego, a Global Preparatory Indigenous Peoples’ Conference is scheduled for June 8-13, 2013 in Alta, Norway, in order to consolidate strategies and priorities for the World Conference in 2014.
Detailed background on the conference is available in the January 30, 2013 report from the Center for World Indigenous Studies Good Government Research Group. For activist scholars, the forty-year history of UN developments leading up to the world conference, contained in this report, is well-worth the $15 annual subscription to the George Manuel Library.