Commemorating International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples in Kathmandu (Photo Feature)

Kathmandu: Indigenous Communities have commemorated the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

People marked the day by organizing rallies in various parts of Kathmandu. They wore cultural dresses and chanted slogans to preserve their identities.

People were enchanting slogans like ‘Be part of the demonstration to guarantee the rights and identity of Indigenous communities, Preserve the ancestral land, language, and culture by promoting traditional knowledge skills.’ They even played cultural instruments in the demonstration.

The day is being marked across the country by organizing diverse activities with this year’s slogan ‘Indigenous Youth as Agents of Change for Self Determination.’

The logo is also remembered for the contribution of a 12-year-old artist from Bangladesh. In 2007, Rebang Dewan, the artist, won the logo contest of the United Nations for that Day.  The name of the art was ‘Handshake.’

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII) has used the logo as an official logo for the day. The logo comprises the globe being cradled by two stems of green leaves. There is a picture of a handshake in the center part of the logo. Also, the background comprises a hill and a rising sun.

On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. The UN had observed the period (1994-2004) as an Indigenous decade with the slogan ‘the decade for action and dignity’.

(Glimpses of one of the rallies)

(Photo Courtesy: Saroj Basnet)