International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (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.

Indigenous people gathered in their traditional costumes and danced in a program organized by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) on Friday at Bhrikutimandap. They even played cultural instruments in the demonstration.

Similarly, they have also participated in a program to be held at Nepal Pragya Pratisthan. There are around 37% of Indigenous people in Nepal, which has contributed significantly to the diverse culture of the country.

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

This year the day is being celebrated under the theme “Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.”

Similarly, the logo used for this day has a different story. In 2007, Rebang Dewan, the artist, a 12-year-old artist from Bangladesh,  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 celebration of International Indigenous Day) 

(Photo Courtesy: Saroj Basnet) 

Nepali version of the photo story