The Partnership on Indigenous Peoples

We are peoples of hunters and gatherers. And like other indigenous peoples all over the world, we have had to adjust to a way of life, or maybe rather have been coerced to a way of life, that is brutally alien to our culture and traditions

Onsdag d. 4. september 2002
Edward Geisler
Emnekreds: Grønlands historie, Internationale spørgsmål, Kultur og samfund, Oprindelige folk, Politik, Rigsfællesskab og selvstyre.

ATAGU - Debat: The Partnership on Indigenous Peoples Baggrund: Grønlands historie, Internationale spørgsmål, Kultur og samfund, Oprindelige folk, Politik 2002, Rigsfællesskab og selvstyre
 
 

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The Partnership on Indigenous Peoples
Direktoratet for Miljø og Natur,Edward Geisler
Atagu den 4. september 2002       Landsstyremedlem Edward Geisler var hovedtaler, da Danmark og Grønland under et såkaldt side event i forbindelse med Verdenstopmødet i Johannesburg lancerede et Partnerskab om oprindelige folks rettigheder og bæredygtig udvikling. Partnerskabet sigter på at fremme oprindelige folks kapacitet til at få indflydelse på beslutninger om bæredygtig udvikling. Samtidig vil partnerskabet fremme viden om oprindelige folks rettigheder og prioriteter i nationale regeringer og internationale udviklingsorganisationer.

Welcome address by The Honorable Minister for Health and the Environment, Mr. Edward Geisler on the launching event for The Partnership on Indigenous Peoples, Rights and Sustainable Development.
Sunday, September 1, 2002.
WSSD
Johannesburg.
On behalf of the Governments of Denmark and Greenland, I am pleased to welcome you to this launch event on a new partnership on indigenous rights and sustainable development. I am very honored to see that though you all have very busy schedules have chosen to come here to day.

I just arrived here in South Africa this morning. This is my first time in Africa. I am very excited. For us kallaallit, Inuit of Greenland, Africa is very special and exotic. Maybe because Africa and Greenland are extreme opposites. But we also have a lot of things in common, and this is especially true for indigenous African peoples like the Khoi-San on whose ancestral lands this World Summit is being held. We are peoples of hunters and gatherers. And like other indigenous peoples all over the world, we have had to adjust to a way of life, or maybe rather have been coerced to a way of life, that is brutally alien to our culture and traditions.    
"Vi er et folk af jægere og samlere. Og som andre oprindelige folk over hele jorden, har vi været nødt til at tilpasse os til en livsform, eller måske snarere - er blevet tvunget til en livsform som er brutalt fremmedartet for vores kultur og traditioner"
      Time is more than ripe for us as indigenous peoples to claim space within a modern development context where we do not have to denounce and give up our cultural heritage and identity. I believe, that we by engaging in this partnership, are reaffirming to ourselves and the world at large, that indigenous peoples indeed have a vital role for sustainable development.

Once again a warm welcome to all of you. Qamuuna pisumik tamassi tikilluangaaritsi.

"Vi har været nødt til at tilpasse os til en livsform, eller måske snarere
- er blevet tvunget til en livsform som er brutalt fremmedartet for vores kultur og traditioner"
(Børn alene på farten i en kabinebåd, Nanortalik august 1998)