INDIGENOUS PEOPLES • • • • • • • • • First language instruction for children; Freedom of association; Improvement of living and working conditions; Promotion and protection of the social, economic and cultural rights of indigenous and tribal peoples; Protection from forced dislocation; Provision of health and social services; Recognition of cultural and religious values, and customary laws; Recognition of traditional land rights (collective and individual aspects); Special educational programmes. Action required by governments • Coordinated action, e.g. a national agency to implement the provisions of the Convention and monitor compliance; • Special measures to protect these peoples – taking into account their cultural characteristics. When looking into the application of Convention No. 107, the Committee of Experts has drawn attention to the situation of indigenous peoples in most of the countries it has examined, including: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Iraq and Pakistan.34 The issues have included: forced labour, health, human rights abuses and land rights. The Committee of Experts urges all of the governments concerned to take the necessary measures to ensure conformity with the provisions of the Convention, and to persist in addressing problems faced by indigenous peoples until they are satisfactorily resolved. This contributes to the Committee’s efforts in trying to ensure that the living and working conditions of indigenous peoples are improved. For example: • Brazil: – In 1993, the Committee recalled: ‘that the situation of the Yanomami has been the subject of comments by the Committee for a number of years now, since their lands were invaded by thousands of independent gold miners (garimpeiros), bringing disease, environmental destruction and other problems into these previously isolated areas … The Committee urges the Government to take urgent measures to correct this situation, and to report in detail on the measures it has taken … In addition, the Committee is disturbed by persistent reports that forced labour is being imposed on Indians in connection with the presence of garimpeiros in these areas.’ 35 – In 1996, the Government of Brazil appeared before the Applications Committee. In its 1997 report, 20 referring to this discussion, the Committee of Experts: ‘deplore[d] the fact that the invasion of indigenous lands, and particularly the lands of the Yanomami, continues year after year, with the serious consequences that such invasions have on the health and survival of these peoples’.36 – In this respect, the Committee of Experts drew the attention of the Government to the impact of Decree No. 1775 of January 1996 on the lands of indigenous peoples. – In 1999, the Committee of Experts commented on the information provided by the Government on the above issues among others, and asked the Government ‘to keep it informed of the progress and effects of programmes to expel the garimpeiros from Yanomami territory in the future’. It also regretted the falling growth rate of the Yanomami and other indigenous populations (Ye’kuana Maiongong), and commented on the continuing exploitation of indigenous labour.37 – The Committee of Experts continues to monitor the Government’s application of the Convention. Convention No. 107 provides a valuable tool for protecting and promoting indigenous rights and should not be overlooked. Although criticized for its integrationist and out-dated approach, it contains many provisions which provide strong safeguards for indigenous peoples regarding education, health, human rights and land rights. It can therefore provide persuasive arguments for strengthening these rights in countries which have ratified this Convention. Convention No. 107 is in force in the following countries: Angola, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, India, Iraq, Malawi, Pakistan, Panama, Portugal, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia. Convention No. 107 has been automatically denounced as a result of ratification of Convention No. 169 by: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. As Convention No. 107 was revised in 1989 by Convention No. 169, it is not open for ratification. However, it remains valid and binding for those countries which have ratified it. For all other countries it is Convention No. 169 which is open for ratification. Reports on the implementation of Convention No. 107 were due from governments in 2000. The next reports will be due in 2005, 2010, 2015, etc., with the exception THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION: A HANDBOOK FOR MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES