Global Indigenous Youth Present Recommendations for Preventing Suicide and Self-Harm

Indigenous youth leaders of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus spoke about the plague of suicide and self-harm that afflicts young people in indigenous communities and their recommendations for ending this endemic problem. On 11 May 2016, the 15^th UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) held a special discussion on indigenous youth focusing on self-harm and suicide at UN Headquarters in New York. This special discussion, coinciding with the theme on “Indigenous Peoples: Conflict, Peace and Resolution,” follows up on a 2015 recommendation made during the 14^th UNPFII to address this issue.

The Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmed Alhendawi, spoke of the need to focus on helping indigenous youth overcome marginalization, a loss of cultural identity and inter-generational traumas that lead to higher rates of youth self-harm and suicide in indigenous communities. Mr. Alhendawi pointed to a number of communities in wealthy countries where youth in indigenous communities face extremely high rates of suicide and mental illness compared to youth in non-indigenous communities. He urged the UN and Member States to engage and listen to indigenous youth leaders on the needs of their communities and what they can offer to non-indigenous society. Access to education and opportunities are crucial in ending suicide epidemics in indigenous communities.

Indigenous youth leaders of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus also voiced their concerns about their marginalization from non-indigenous societies and offered their solutions and best practices for overcoming this problem.

The Global Indigenous Youth Caucus called for the right to be educated in their culture and to have their culture appropriately reflected in non-indigenous education and public information efforts. They also called for a decolonization of education systems that force indigenous youth to relinquish their culture, language and identities. Furthermore, the Youth Caucus called on UN agencies to work with Member States in implementing this education agenda for capacity building and empowerment of indigenous youth, enabling them to improve the social development of their communities.

To learn more about the 15th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, please click here and follow the live webcast from http://webtv.un.org.

Source & Copyright: UNDESA

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