CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

Working Group to Prepare the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

MEETING

      The President of the Working group to Prepare the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has the pleasure of inviting the representatives of Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS) and representatives of indigenous peoples of the Americas, to the Special Session of the Working group, which will take place on February 24-28, 2003 at the OAS headquarters in Washington D.C.

      The Special Session is in compliance with Resolution 1851 adopted at the General Assembly of the OAS, which took place in Barbados in June 2002. It is worth pointing out that this meeting will employ the same methodology as the Special Session in March 2002. 

The President of the Working Group hopes for full and open participation from representatives of States and indigenous peoples, in order to make significant progress on the deliberations aimed at approving a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The President of the Working Group would like to call upon States as well as indigenous groups to make the greatest effort to ensure that representatives of indigenous groups participate in this meeting.

An important step in this process was the establishment of the Specific Fund in May of 2002 to support the preparation of an American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (RES.CP 817). The purpose of the Fund is to provide transportation and stipends to representatives of indigenous peoples or organizations so that they may participate in the Special Sessions of the Working Group. I invite States, public, private, national and international entities to  financial support to the Fund. 

Given the financial limitations of the Fund we recommend that applications be forwarded to the Specific Fund by those indigenous organizations that have no other sources of funding and would otherwise be unable to fund the participation of their representatives. Attached please find an application form. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2003.

For additional information please consult the OAS Web site (www.oas.org) or contact Ana Peña, First Secretary at the Permanent Misión of Peru, at the following email addresses: apena@rree.gob.pe or anapena@yahoo.com. 

                                                            Washington D.C., 21 de noviembre de 2002