“This August 9, International Day of Indigenous Peoples, we must demand indigenous peoples’ inclusion, participation, and approval in the constitution of a system with social and economic benefits for all.
That is why the 2021 theme is ““Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract.” But, what does it mean?
A social contract is an unwritten agreement that societies make to cooperate for social and economic benefits. In many countries, where indigenous peoples were driven from their lands, their cultures and languages denigrated and their people marginalized from political and economic activities, they were never included in the social contract to begin with. The social contract was made among the dominant populations.” – Shared from United Nations
Did you know?
- More than 86% of indigenous peoples globally work in the informal economy, compared to 66% for their non-indigenous counterparts.
- Indigenous peoples are nearly three times as likely to be living in extreme poverty compared to their non-indigenous counterparts.
- Globally, 47% of all indigenous peoples in employment have no education, compared to 17% of their non-indigenous counterparts. This gap is even wider for women.