Tara/M3 and Shell Raised at UN Forum

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Friday May 09, 2008 13:05 by TaraWatch info at tarawatch dot org

Tara at Seventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The Hill of Tara/ M3 motorway and the Shell refinery were raised at the Seventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by Margaret Connolly of Retrieve Foundation on April 19 2008.

The Hill of Tara / M3 and Shell developments were raised at the Seventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by Margaret Connolly of Retrieve Foundation on April 19 2008

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

(PressZoom - 09-05-2008) - Hearing from delegates on the multiple ways in which their respective countries had failed to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, despite having supported its adoption, members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discussed today how the body could be more effective in encouraging implementation.

Noting that infrastructure projects financed by European Union member countries continued to force indigenous peoples from their homelands, while European mining companies devastated the environment, the Chair of the European Parliament called on the European Union to develop a normative framework for dealing with such issues in a way that respected human rights. It should also develop the capacity to mediate between indigenous communities and State authorities that were in conflict.

MARGARET CONNOLLY, speaking for the Retrieve Foundation, said that, so far in Ireland, there was no dialogue about the rights of indigenous peoples. Instead, the desecration of indigenous lands and sacred areas continued, namely the Hill of Tara and surrounding areas. There had been no prior consultation with the indigenous community about Shell Oil’s exploration of those lands. In the absence of indigenous spiritual guidance, conferred by traditional rites-of-passage ceremonies, indigenous youth were experiencing high levels of depression, addiction and suicide. The Irish Government must inform its indigenous peoples of its commitment to the Declaration.

MORE INFORMATION:

Press release from forum:
http://presszoom.com/story_144717.html

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/

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Retrieve Foundation
(a cross border group running programmes on Women Healing Women, etc
Ait na Macalla, Templetown, Carrlingford, Co Louth
Tel 042 937 66 73
EMail retrieveeire@eircom.net