The United Nations General Assembly celebrated the 11th annual International Day of the World's Indigenous People on August 9 commemorating the recently proclaimed Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, which aims to strengthen international collaboration on a range of indigenous issues by implementing action-based projects and by increasing foreign assistance to tribal communities.
"On this International Day of the World's Indigenous People, we rejoice in the richness of indigenous cultures and the special contributions they make to the human family," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan provided in a message, as reported by the United Nations. "We also recall the tremendous challenges which so many indigenous peoples face, ranging from unacceptable levels of poverty and disease to dispossession, discrimination and denial of basic human rights." The UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Geneva first met on August 9 in 1982.
