NO S***, SHERLOCK!!! LET'S ALL THANK THE "GENIUSES" AT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FOR "STATING THE OBVIOUS."
Indigenous People Among World's Poorest 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/un_indigenous_forum By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 17, 1:22 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS - Indigenous people remain among the world's poorest and most marginalized and are often disproportionately victimized by the effects of armed conflict, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette told some 1,500 native leaders and activists.
Addressing Monday's opening session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Frechette urged indigenous people and the international community to draw up concrete plans "that would point the way toward measurable improved standards of living and greater respect for human rights."
The Permanent Forum, which will meet until May 27, is focusing on two key U.N. development goals — eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and achieving universal primary education. Achieving the goals will be high on the agenda at a summit of world leaders called by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in September.
Frechette said the forum was drawing "welcome attention to neglected issues" and playing a major role in forging new partnerships between indigenous peoples, governments and the U.N. system.
"Yet grave challenges persist," she said. "In many countries, indigenous people continue to be among the poorest and the most marginalized. Like other vulnerable people, indigenous communities are often disproportionately victimized by the effects of armed conflict, adding a destructive and deadly burden to already difficult struggles."
Mark Malloch Brown, chief of staff to Annan and outgoing head of the U.N. Development Program, said that if the world is to achieve the U.N. goals, "it needs to successfully confront the challenge of how to build inclusive, culturally diverse societies."
With some estimate putting the number of indigenous people at over 200 million in more than 70 countries, he said much more needs to be done to include indigenous peoples' organizations in efforts to alleviate poverty and improve education.
The United Nations must also ensure that indigenous peoples "are both a partner and a beneficiary" of the U.N. goals, Malloch Brown said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called poverty a denial of human rights.
"Poverty is inherited and passed on to future generations" and may be "the greatest human rights challenge we face," she said.
Stressing that indigenous peoples are one of the groups most severely affected by poverty, Arbour said programs to reduce poverty must be inclusive and "should not be undertaken at the expense of indigenous peoples."
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