wfn.org | Gathering of Indigenous Peoples

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     PRESS RELEASE      FOR IMMEDIATE USE      23 MAY 1996

       BREAKTHROUGH CONSULTATION FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

In an unprecedented event, with which the World Council of
Churches (WCC) was closely associated, the largest global
gathering of Indigenous People ever to be held in Britain took
place in London (6-16 May 1996).  Forty-five Indigenous
representatives, from Indigenous nations and communities around
the world concerned with mining, formed an alliance to plan a
coordinated response to the increasing encroachment on their
lands by multinational mining companies.

Sharon Venne, representing the Dene Nation in Canada, said at a
Press Conference held at the House of Commons: "The consultation
was a breakthrough for Indigenous Peoples in that we are now
setting our own agenda.  Our agenda is not being set by
governments or multinationals.  We are not merely having to react
to what they have said or done.  We are setting the agenda
ourselves."

Participants identified ten 'HotSpots' where Indigenous Peoples
are fighting the destruction of their cultures and their nations.

Mikhail Todyshev representing the Shors People said, "In recent
times, seven Indigenous nations have disappeared from our lands
in Russia.  Who knows or cares about them?"

Venne continued: "We now have formed an Indigenous international
communications network, something we have never had before.  In
the past we have always had information after an event or after
the mining multinationals have began their work.  Now we are more
prepared for quick and efficient distribution of information
before things happen."

For more than thirty years, mining has been singled out by
Indigenous communities as one of the most destructive forces with
which they have to contend.  Indigenous Peoples and their
territory form an inseparable unity; mining threatens this unity
by denying land rights, invading cultural domains, usurping
essential resources, and degrading the quality of soil, air and,
above all, water - on which Indigenous Peoples depend for their
survival.  Indigenous women, particularly, are prime victims,
e.g. from both uranium mining, and mercury, used for gold
extraction, which damage the reproductive system.  They also
suffer from the destruction of food-gathering habitats and the
blight of male-dominated mining towns.

The world mining industry has become disproportionately dependent
on exploiting Indigenous Peoples' territory:

*	well over half the world's uranium has, since 1940, come
from their lands;

 *	by 2010 AD, about half the global copper and gold supply
will come from Indigenous Peoples' territories.

The consultation originated with a call from Australian
Aboriginal people during a WCC visit in 1993.  "We need a
conference to share information with Indigenous Peoples fighting
the same companies all over the world," they said.

This month's consultation was the result, and the WCC supported
Indigenous Peoples as they planned and brought together the 45
Indigenous campaigners from North America, Australia, Latin
America, Russia, Scandinavia, Asia and Africa.  The WCC welcomes
the opportunity to move beyond statements of solidarity to
practical support for concrete action by Indigenous Peoples. 
Support for this consultation also came from a number of churches
and partner agencies and from the Danish and Norwegian
governments. 

A copy of the Declaration issued by the Consultation and the list
of 'HotSpots' are available from Rev. Bob Scott, WCC Programme to
Combat Racism (+41.22.791.6289).

                                                                      

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually
all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a
member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest
governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every
seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.