On July 23, 2015 the World Bank Group (WBG) held a side event in the margins of the Eighth Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (IPs), at the United Nations in Geneva, with a briefing on the WBG's Global Dialogue with IPs.
The main presenter- WBG's Global Adviser for Indigenous Peoples - Luis Felipe Duchicela - offered an update on the outcomes of the dialogue process between the Bank Group and IPs, which started in early 2013 and culminated with high level meetings in Washington D.C., on April 13-15, 2015. He shared that the WBG is now preparing an Action Plan to follow up on the conclusions and recommendations from those meetings. Joined by a distinguished panel: Aleksey Tsykarev, Chair of the Eighth Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples Rights, Albert K. Barume, African Representative to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), and Rodion Sulyandziga, Director, Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, the discussion highlighted that there is a need for governments to enhance the engagement process with IPs, and that the WBG is in a good position to support this process.
In order to foster a true sustainable development for IPs, the panel remarked, a true and effective participation of IPs in planning, decision-making and implementation of programs and projects is needed.
Ending the session, experts, IPs representatives and representatives from international organizations engaged in an open Q & A raising interesting questions and comments around their own experience, what is required, and what role the WBG can play.
