Indigenous peoples live across 90 countries. They speak the majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. Although they make up less than 5% of the world’s population, they account for 15% of the poorest. Throughout history, the rights if Indigenous peoples have been violated.
This year’s theme is “The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.” Indigenous women are caregivers, breadwinners, defenders of human rights, and are the keepers and transmitters of traditional knowledge. Despite this, they are often discriminated against, based on their gender, class, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
August 9th has been designated as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to help raise awareness of social injustices, to protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population, to honour their knowledge and resilience, and to acknowledge their contributions towards world issues such as the environment.