14 February 2024
Bilbao Campus
The University of Deusto, through its Human Rights Institute, will gather various experts in human rights and indigenous peoples' rights on 14, 15, and 16 February. These experts include representatives from the United Nations, NGOs, indigenous leaders, and academics, among others. The aim of this gathering is to brainstorm measures and proposals to enhance the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations human rights treaty bodies.
This seminar will be held as part of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Training Programme offered by the University of Deusto's Human Rights Institute, in collaboration with two renowned international organisations, IPRI (Indigenous Peoples' Rights International) and IWGIA (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs), as well as with the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation
Keynote speakers include internationally acclaimed figures such as James Anaya, a US lawyer of Apache and Purépecha descent appointed in 2008 as the "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples," and environmentalist and indigenous activist Joan Carling, who received the "Champions of the Earth" award from the United Nations Environment Programme in 2018 for her work as an environmentalist and human rights advocate. Other notable participants include Lola García from IWGIA and Patricia Borraz from IPRI.
Information about the speakers
Joan Carling, a human rights defender of indigenous peoples, has served as the Secretary-General of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and chaired the Cordillera Peoples Alliance in the Philippines. She has contributed to activities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and REDD+, and from 2014 to 2016, she was a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Carling has authored and edited various publications on human rights, climate change, forest conservation, sustainable development, and indigenous women's issues. Due to her activism in defending indigenous peoples' rights, Carling has faced criminalisation by the Philippine government authorities.
James Anaya, a professor of International Law at the University of Colorado Law School, served as the Dean of Colorado Law School from 2016 to 2021. He has advised various organisations and government agencies in different countries on issues related to the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples and has represented indigenous communities from various parts of Central and North America in land demarcation cases before international courts. Anaya was the lawyer for the Sumo (Mayangna) community in the case brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and later before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, known as the "Awas Tingni vs. Nicaragua" case, obtaining the first favourable judgment from this court regarding indigenous peoples' property rights to their ancestral lands.
Lola García-Alix, a sociologist with a degree from the Complutense University of Madrid, has research experience at the Institute of Cultural Sociology in Copenhagen. Currently, she serves as an advisor and coordinator on global governance issues at IWGIA, with a career spanning over 25 years advocating for the recognition of indigenous peoples' rights globally and in the field of international human rights instruments for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples' rights. Her work involves monitoring United Nations human rights mechanisms related to indigenous peoples, including the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the United Nations Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Finally, Patricia Borraz, a historian and master's graduate in international cooperation, is the founder of the organisation Almáciga and has experience related to the United Nations system and multilateral negotiations in various NGOs and indigenous organisations. From 2014 to 2020, she was a member of the working team of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.
