Indigenous Leaders adopt Declaration and Plan of Action at Parallel Summit

The Third Indigenous Leaders' Summit of the Americas (3rd ILSA), was held in Panama City, Republic of Panama, on April 14-15, 2009 under the theme “Implementing the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas for Present and Future Generations”. The 3rd ILSA was part of the activities held within the framework of the Fifth Summit of the Americas and was aimed at providing an enhanced opportunity for representatives of the indigenous peoples of the hemisphere to participate in and contribute to the Summits of the Americas Process. This meeting brought together around 120 participants from throughout the Americas, making a special effort to include full participation by women, youth and elder indigenous leaders, to deliberate on and articulate indigenous perspectives on a range of policy topics related to the work of the OAS and the themes of the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The 3rd ILSA also advanced the policy dialogues initiated during the first two Indigenous Summits held in the framework of the Summits of the Americas, and focused on strategies to implement of previous Indigenous Summit Declarations and Plans of Actions.

The event was organized by the 3rd ILSA Planning Committee, composed of representatives from South, Central and North America and the Caribbean lead by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), with the support of the OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat and financial support provided by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the US State Department, and the Government of Spain.

The results of the 3rd ILSA were shared with the Governments of the 34 OAS Member States and the Declaration of the 3rd ILSA and Plan of Action were presented by a delegation of six indigenous leaders during the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in the Dialogue held between Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Indigenous Peoples. For more information, please visit: www.summit-americas.org/cs_meet.html.

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