Madame Chair, distinguished members of the Permanent Forum,
delegates, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, and special guests,

Thank you for allowing IOM to take the floor for a second time
during this session to speak on the topic "urban indigenous peoples
and migration". We are pleased to see that this topic remains an
ongoing priority of the Permanent Forum. As predicted, in 2008 and
for the first time in history, half of the world population is
estimated to live in urban areas, with internal rural-urban
migration accounting for a varying but important proportion of this
urban growth. Increasingly, indigenous migrants are becoming a part
of this process, yet we do not have data on how many indigenous
peoples have moved to urban areas.

In general, when we speak of the migration process, including
urbanization, of indigenous peoples, it is often associated with a
number of negative experiences that may affect their indigenous
identity, belief systems, health, language and culture. Indeed,
their migration brings about specific peculiarities that are
different from that of other migrants. Our recent publication
Indigenous Routes: A Framework for Understanding Indigenous
Migration, posted on our local website http://www.un.int/iom,
discusses the many effects of migration and urbanization on the
lives of indigenous peoples, some of which we would like to
highlight here:

There are several pull factors for Indigenous peoples' migration
to urban areas including employment and educational opportunities,
improved access to health and housing services, and also increased
political participation, social recognition and visibility or other
benefits that may be lacking in their territories. However, they
may be faced with particular challenges in their migration. For
example, many indigenous peoples have a skill-set that is very
specific to their way of life - such as agriculture, herding,
fishing – sectors where employment in urban areas may be
difficult to find. Further, lack of formal education along with
linguistic and cultural barriers further hamper their access to
other employment opportunities in their areas of destination.
Together with weak labour laws, indigenous migrants may be subject
to exploitation, more so than other migrants. Alienation continues
to thrive when educational or health services are not
linguistically and culturally appropriate. With a combination of
these daunting factors it is no wonder that some indigenous
migrants in urban areas find themselves homeless or joining the
ranks of slum dwellers.

These are all of course devastating to indigenous migrants, and
it is evident that we need to find ways in which the migration and
urbanization of indigenous peoples do not become causes for loss of
indigenous languages, culture or identity, but rather meaningful
experiences. There are ways in which indigenous communities can use
and have used migration to their benefit through their culture and
unique way of life. The buoyancy of indigenous peoples to survive
many centuries should be seen as an advantage in their migration.
Indigenous diaspora organizations can provide assistance to their
home communities through remittances and knowledge transfer. They
can further provide much-needed support to new indigenous migrants
as well as advice and information to would-be indigenous migrants.
Indigenous experts have acknowledged that life in their territories
based only on subsistence agriculture is unfortunately no longer
possible, and indeed migration becomes a real opportunity for their
survival. In order for indigenous peoples to benefit most from
their urbanization, their migration should be based on a
well-informed choice, and be an orderly and humane process. We need
to discover and indigenous leaders need to discover how best to tap
into this resource.

Finally, Madame Chair, last year, with support from the
Government of Canada, an Expert Group Meeting was held in Santiago,
Chile on the topic of Urban Indigenous Peoples and Migration.
Recommendations from this meeting invited the Inter-Agency Support
Group to consider elaborating policy guidelines for government and
local authorities to assist in the development of public policies
related to the challenges faced by indigenous peoples in urban
areas. This effort is being led by UN-Habitat and IOM is
participating by bringing a migration perspective to the
development of this policy guide focusing on the areas of
employment and local economic development; education; health,
transition/settlement services; cultural and linguistic continuity,
identity and ethnic mobility; and human security particularly for
indigenous women and children. We hope these policy guidelines will
provide the necessary directions for all stakeholders invested in a
positive experience for indigenous peoples and their migration.

Thank you.