A/75/185 Cultural impact 74. The pandemic is causing irreparable cultural loss as indigenous elders, who are the guardians of indigenous culture, traditions, spirituality and language (amid rapid globalization), are at high risk of fatality because of their age and pre-existing medical conditions. The loss of elders also represents a loss of role models and teachers, as well as caretakers in multigenerational households. 75. The suspension of cultural, spiritual and religious activities due to confinement and social distancing measures has had serious impacts on indigenous communities. The cancellation of winter solstice celebrations was, for some Mapuche communities, unprecedented and a lost opportunity to express and transmit their culture to the younger generation to preserve it against the cultural tide of the dominant society. 110 State directives regarding the management of dead bodies have had an impact on the exercise of traditional funeral rituals in various regions. 111 76. Indigenous peoples fear the impacts of the COVID pandemic on the public allocation of funds and priorities, including to support cultural life and also in terms of environmental protection. Support for the intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge and social structures of indigenous peoples must re main a priority for the survival of indigenous peoples after the crisis. 112 Impact on self-governance 77. Where State authorities did not recognize indigenous self-governance, community cohesion and rapid decision-making was in some cases impeded by State enforcement of physical distancing measures. Reports from Latin America and Africa indicate that community meeting activities were greatly affected, making such communities unable to take decisions or participate in the consideration of proposed measures to address the pandemic. For cultural or practical reasons, online meetings may not have been possible for some communities. 113 Education 78. Globally, shifts to online or otherwise remote education have created particular challenges for indigenous peoples and deepened the more general digital divide between indigenous and non-indigenous segments of society, 114 including due to high Internet access costs and usually low or non-existent network reliability or speeds. Some communities in Latin America and Asia used mobile phones to receive and send homework, implying the existence of hard-to-cover phone credit expenses. Communities without computer equipment were left with no other educational alternative for their children. 115 The closure of classrooms also meant for certain indigenous children that they no longer benefited from school food programmes. In Mexico, however, the National Institute for Indigenous Peoples provided food packages to recipients of the food programme for indigenous children, (Casas y Comedores de la Niñez Indígena) when the operation of school canteens was suspended. 116 Globally, the crisis has shown the limitations linked to the lack of control indigenous peoples have over their educational systems. __________________ 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 20/27 Submission by ENDEPA. Submissions by Rede Pró-Yanomami e Ye’kwana and the Tebtebba Foundation. Submission by the Sami Parliament of Sweden. Joint submission by Minority Rights Group International and partners and submission by ENDEPA. Submission by the Navajo Nation. Submission by Oxfam International. Submission by Mexico. 20-09737