Indigenous Youth Participate in Ibero-American Conference

Indigenous youth from across the Americas will participate in the First Meeting of High Authorities of Ibero America with Indigenous Peoples, representing their communities before international officials from at least 20 nations Thursday.

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The meeting is one of a tri-series which began with the Subregional Meeting of Indigenous Peoples of Central America and Mexico in December before concentrating on the issues of South America’s native communities in the First Meeting of High Authorities of Ibero America with Indigenous Peoples.

The final conference will be held in the Ibero American Training Center of Cooperation in La Antigua Guatemala and take place over the course of two days. The meeting which will begin Thursday brings together some 250 indigenous and governmental representatives from around South America.

The conference will revolve around three central themes: the youth, women’s rights and safety, and indigenous people and governments. The objective of the international meeting is to provide a space where dialogue and experiences can be exchanged.

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Dali Angel, a youth coordinator with Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (Filac), said that until now “the issue of indigenous youths had never been included nor had their participation been encouraged in this process.’

The conference will discuss the needs of native networks as well as prepare for November’s XXVI Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government which will take place in Guatemala. This final meeting will be the first international summit which provides such a meaningful platform for the indigenous people and their causes according to participants.

This meeting was organized through support from Filac, the Spanish Cooperation, the Ford Foundation, KfW German development bank, the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), and the Chancellery of Guatemala.