A/HRC/54/52
closed as a result of the military coup and intensifying conflict, leaving Indigenous Peoples
with no access to education.94
47.
Militarization impacts on health services, as reported in West Papua, Indonesia.95 Data
indicates that health centres have their lowest coverage in conflict areas. It has been alleged
that security forces have overtaken health centres, “disrupting their ability to deliver health
services”. In Manipur, north-east India, civil society organizations have conducted clinical
assessments identifying a significance prevalence of mental health problems attributed to
militarization.96
48.
Dumping of hazardous wastes, particularly at military sites, leaves intergenerational
scars on Indigenous Peoples. Exposure to toxics presents short- and long-term effects on their
life and health. Decades of waste disposal on or near Indigenous land impacts on
interconnected waterways and food sources. Abandoned military facilities leave materials
including fuels, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals from heavy equipment, energy generators,
oil containers and even radioactive waste buried on site. 97
49.
In the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples face compounding threats from the thawing of
permafrost encapsulating layers of toxics underneath. Tons of toxic waste at Camp Century,
including polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive material, beneath the north-western
Greenland ice sheet, could be exposed owing to climate change and thawing ice.98 Equally
concerning are the accidents, leaks, training and disposal that led to per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substance contamination from United States and Japanese bases on the Ryukyu Islands in
Japan.99
50.
Militarization has occurred in the name of protecting economic, social and cultural
rights. In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, States introduced or
increased the presence of the military and the police in rural areas, treating the crisis as a
security issue instead of a public health one. Military and private security personnel in
Indigenous territories during the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented livelihood practices
and the harvesting of food. 100 In Brazil, the National Health-care Policy for Indigenous
Peoples and the entire management process of the Indigenous Health-care Subsystem is under
the coordination of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI). In the past years,
including during the pandemic, the direction of this body has been under the leadership of
the military.101
D.
The rights of Indigenous Peoples divided by cross-border armed
conflict and militarization
51.
As borders can often be sites of heavy militarization, article 36 of the Declaration
recognizes that Indigenous Peoples, especially those divided by international borders, have
“the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities
for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes” and that States are to take the
measures necessary “to facilitate the exercise and ensure implementation of this right”. That
right includes Indigenous Peoples’ right to trade in goods and services across borders. 102
Realizing that right to cross-border cooperation presupposes the right to freedom of
movement, an intrinsic part of the lives and cultures of some Indigenous Peoples.
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
12
Submission from the All Burma Indigenous Peoples Alliance.
Submission from Asia Justice and Rights.
Submission from United NGOs Mission Manipur, North East Development Forum, Imphal, Manipur.
A/77/183, para. 47.
Ibid., para. 50.
Ibid., para. 49. See also the submissions from the All Okinawa Council for Human Rights and the
Naha Association to Protect Citizens’ Lives.
A/75/185, para. 84; see also the submission from the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous
Peoples.
Submission from the Federal Public Defender’s Office of Brazil.
E/C.19/2015/9, para. 3.
GE.23-14759