United Nations: Criticizing the governments for "sidestepping" and "ignoring" their interests in the quest for development, indigenous people from across the world, including India, have demanded steps for maintaining biodiversity in the areas inhabited by them as also their culture, lifestyle and livelihood.

During the two-week meeting of the Forum for Indigenous people which ended today, over 3000 delegates gave vent to their grievances including governments taking over their lands and ignoring their "legitimate" interests.

The theme for the this year's session was climate change which, they said, affects them most and called for association of the forum with international negotiations to mitigate the effects of changing weather patterns.

A summary of the panel discussion was made available by the United Nations.

Speaking on behalf of the Indian Mundari Literary Council Meenkashi Munda said migration had plagued many communities, and the government had failed to act effectively to address the causes which include lack of education and employment.

As a result, there were cases of young women returning home from employment pregnant, she said, adding that there was also a growing threat of AIDS and cases of child labourers.

The Forum, she said, should maintain a directory of groups dealing with migration issues, or a directory of names of employees to keep track of workers who migrated for employment.
Source : PTI