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Indigenous Leaders Discuss Health, Violence, and AI at UN Forum's 25th Session
Indigenous leaders at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discussed ongoing crises of violence against land defenders and digital extractivism from AI technologies. The session focused on health in conflict contexts, highlighting data on killings and recommendations for data sovereignty. Speakers called for stronger land rights protections and ethical AI frameworks.
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Indigenous leaders confronted crises of territorial violence and digital extractivism at the United Nations this week. The 25th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues occurred with the theme 'Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ Health in the context of conflict'.
Grist reported that Indigenous land defenders are being killed and criminalized at alarming rates, while AI systems scrape traditional knowledge without consent, and Indigenous women face escalating rates of violence.
In 2023, 31 percent of human rights defenders killed worldwide were Indigenous or working on Indigenous rights, despite making up only five percent of the global population. Albert K. Barume, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, said in an introductory statement at Wednesday’s session: 'There is a crisis Indigenous people are currently experiencing, and it’s because many Indigenous peoples are killed, many are under arrest, many live in hiding.
' Grist reported that the forum provides a critical platform for communities to tackle systemic inequities together. Claire Charters, from Ngāti Whakaue and an expert in Indigenous global affairs, said: 'That is a very empowering thing. ' Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, who is Mbororo and the former chair of the forum, said in a statement in Wednesday’s session: 'The violence against Indigenous peoples happens so often.
' According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel region in north-central Africa has seen the rapid expansion of militant jihadist groups focusing on the pastoral sector. ' In 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called for urgent action in land rights cases for Western Shoshone, Native Hawaiian, Gwich’in, and Anishinaabe peoples. Albert K.
