Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The 25th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) brought together over 1,000 participants to discuss key issues facing Indigenous Peoples globally, including health disparities and environmental impacts. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described Indigenous Peoples as crucial guardians of nature and biodiversity, emphasizing their vital role in climate action.
Although Indigenous Peoples comprise six per cent of the world's population, they make up nearly 19 per cent of those living in extreme poverty. Discrimination, marginalisation, and exclusion contribute to major health inequities, such as shorter life expectancy, higher rates of chronic illness, and alarming suicide statistics. Factors like mercury contamination and climate change from the degradation of their lands, territories, and waters further worsen these health disparities.
Aluki Kotierk, Inuit leader from Canada and chair of the forum, stressed that health and well-being for Indigenous Peoples mean more than just physical and mental health. She explained that wellbeing is deeply connected to culture, spirituality, languages, lands, and environment. She called for decolonizing health systems to include holistic, self-determined approaches to health reflecting Indigenous perspectives.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock highlighted how land loss, displacement, and marginalisation expose Indigenous communities to health risks linked to conflict, loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, destruction of sacred sites, and disruption of cultural traditions. The Secretary-General emphasized that Indigenous rights are inseparable from their territories, languages, cultures, and ecosystems, with harm to one aspect affecting all others.