Group wants Switzerland to sign ILO convention on indigenous peoples

A group lobbying for the rights of indigenous peoples called on the Swiss government on Monday to ratify the International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal People’s Convention.

A group lobbying for the rights of indigenous peoples called on the Swiss government on Monday to ratify the International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal People’s Convention.

The Swiss working group for the protection of indigenous peoples, backed by a Social Democrat member of the House of Representatives, said the government should follow the 13 states that had already ratified the 1989 convention.

The convention calls for respect and the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indians, Aborigines in Australia and Maoris in New Zealand.

The convention calls on signatory nations to promote the “full realisation of the social, economic and cultural rights (of indigenous peoples) with respect for their social and cultural identity, their customs and traditions and their institutions.”

The Swiss lobby group told a news conference in the Swiss capital Berne that many of the 5,000 indigenous peoples in 70 countries worldwide were still being discriminated against.

Many of those 300 million people were also victims of genocide, the group said.


From staff and wire reports.