Dimapur, December 5 (MExN): A public meeting on December 5 held at Lambung, Chandel in Manipur by the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) to deliberate on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has expressed concern over what it termed as “slow and uncommitted attitude of the Government of India over the ongoing peace talks”. It was pointed out that this demonstrated the “utter lack of political will which is a primary condition for any progressive steps to be taken for an honourable solution”. The participants, including many organizations from the Naga Hills also expressed concern over the “prevailing condition of frustration among the Nagas” saying that this needs to be addressed immediately by all sections of the Nagas. The participants called upon the Government of India to respect the UN Declaration to which it is a party and also “the Nagas in general who have given so much in giving birth to the declaration”. The participants felt that the “declaration is a document which both the parties (sitting at the negotiating table) respects and hence, should be used as a reference if not as a framework in settling the political talks”.
According to a press note issued by S. Phamhring Convener NPMHR (Manipur Sector), the participants also protested over the various programs and projects that are going on without the “free, prior and informed consent” of the local communities. “These are of serious concern as often, indigenous knowledge is not respected. Be it art forms, artifacts, folk stories, medicinal or conservation knowledge, leading to either bio-piracy or misrepresentation of the concerned people(s), which is used as an instrument of discrimination, exploitation and oppression”, it stated. The gathering therefore, also called upon all communities to be vigilant on such matters and warned any agencies (be it government of private) that any such engagement without free, prior and informed consent would be termed illegal by the community.
The meeting also protested over the laws and policies that were undermining “the protective mechanism and means that are recognized in the statutory law on their land and resources. The recent being the backdoor method of taking over of forest under the “new definition on forest” which nullifies the existing protective laws”.
The participants affirmed that despite “all these sophisticated tactics used by the Government or actors such as the Supreme Court or private agencies, the communities would struggle against such forces for the realization of our vision and goal”. The meeting concluded that any activities in “our Ancestral Domain would have to be carried respecting the principle of self-determination and free, prior and informed consent”.
