Celebrating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2020

10 September 2020
Access to information / Ethnic minorities and indigenous people
Cambodia / COVID-19 / International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples / Open Data

The United Nations has declared 9 August to be International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Every year, events and activities around the world celebrate indigenous peoples (IPs), their cultures, beliefs and traditions. It is also a day to reflect and raise awareness about the struggles that derive from the vulnerable situation of many indigenous communities.

The theme for 2020 is COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience, focusing on how the preservation and promotion of their traditional knowledge and practices can be leveraged during the current global crisis. The current scenario shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges faced by indigenous groups around the world. The limited access to internet and communication tools, together with generalized low levels of education, especially among communities in remote areas, has limited their access to information and awareness about the virus and its preventive measures. Mobility restrictions can have hindered their economic activity – often in the informal sector – deteriorating their health, nutrition and education.

A group photo of ODC and key Indigenous Peoples (IPs) CSOs and indigenous communities from 8 provinces during the training workshop on data collection and digitization on 30 December 2019 in Siem Reap province

On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) joined the local and international community in celebrating indigenous peoples and highlighting the importance and diversity of these communities in Cambodia. ODC provided a wide range of open data and information relevant to indigenous peoples that seek to increase the public’s understanding of these populations and to empower communities and raise their voices. ODC’s Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples profile page contains an overview of the 24 different indigenous peoples’ groups in Cambodia and the legal framework that regulates their status.

Indigenous data, which covers data about IPs and their territories, is vital for indigenous communities to exercise their rights to self-determination and self-governance. It also enables them to defend their collective interests and to participate in decision-making processes, from which they are often excluded. However, the availability of such data remains limited and of low quality, resulting into a poor use and misrepresentation of IPs interests and their agendas.

The indigenous data ecosystem must ensure that IPs are its primary beneficiaries and secure indigenous data sovereignty (IDS). This requires improving the availability of data – with more accurate, complete and reliable information – and ensuring that the data ecosystem is responsive to IPs. However, the current open data standards embedded in the FAIR principles – promoting find-able, accessible, interoperable and reusable data – are inadequate to mainstream IPs needs and concerns. Seeking to ensure the IDS, the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance integrate IPs inherent rights and needs into the indigenous data ecosystem:

Collective benefit, to ensure that IPs benefit from the data
Authority to control, which recognize IPs rights and interests in data and ensure their authority to control it
Responsibility, which requires users of indigenous data to be accountable and share how data supports indigenous communities
Ethics, placing IPs rights and well-being at the center of the data ecosystem

As underlined in Article 31 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures”. Indigenous data can enable IPs communities to share their knowledge, cooperate, raise shared concerns and secure their rights to control their territories and resources.

Cambodia is home to one of the richest and most diverse ecosystems in Southeast Asia but the economic activities that are currently generating more income for the country have a strong environmental impact, including heavy exploitation of resources, conversion of forests, pollution and land degradation. All these developments are translated into an increasing pressure on the livelihoods of indigenous communities. Several topics among ODC’s 17 topic pages, such as Land, Environment and Natural Resources and Extractive Industries, provide an overview of the impact of recent developments and emerging issues.

Economic land concessions (ELCs) are a key issue faced by indigenous communities as they are highly dependent on natural resources for food, water, shelter, medicine and income. ODC publishes information about communal land, including the procedures for securing it and obtaining collective land titles. ODC also produces interactive maps that allow users to easily locate indigenous peoples’ areas, registered indigenous communal land and self-identification of indigenous communities.

As ODC continues to compile and generate accessible, reliable and up-to-date open data, we want to encourage further collaboration and action to protect indigenous peoples communities and their cultures as well as their rights and livelihoods.

The background to this International Day: In its resolution 49/214 from 23 December 1994, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly established 9 August as the annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a date that corresponds to the inaugural session of the UN’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982.