International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2018

Instituted by the United Nations in 1994, the Day memorialises the rights of all people to live according to the customs and traditions of their origins, with particular focus on the 370 million members of indigenous people living in 90 countries of the world and representing 15% of the world population while remaining 15% of the world’s poor.

The UN document is intended to “incarnate the global consensus on the rights of indigenous peoples, and to establish a framework of minimal norms for their survival, dignity and well-being.” In the last ten years – the UN reports – the Declaration has had several successes at different international level, national and regional levels, but there continues to be a gap between the formal recognition of the indigenous peoples and that actualization of politics on the ground.