Introduction

Abstract

Once, twice, or three times a year, indigenous peoples from all corners of the world convene in the buildings of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva or New York. On the morning of the first day, we see them queuing in a long line for registration. Some are there for the first time, looking bewildered, while others are old-timers looking forward to meeting old friends, and hugging and greeting each other. There is a murmuring of people speaking Spanish, English, French, Russian, or other languages that you guess must be local languages from Africa, Asia, the Americas, or the Arctic. Any participant’s first experience of the United Nations is rather confusing, and I still recall all the things I had to learn at my first meeting in Geneva in 1989: remembering all the new faces introduced to me; learning the rules and traditions of the United Nations; participating in all kinds of side events to the official meeting; learning about and trying to remember who represents which indigenous organization or nation; and so on. Today, more than 20 years later and dozens and dozens of meetings behind me, I am still fascinated by these events and I have come to know many of the participants, some of whom I consider my friends. For close to 18 years I, as a nonindigenous person myself, was an active participant in these meetings, representing an international nongovernmental organization (NGO), the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), and, for the last three years, as a researcher from the University of Copenhagen.