Over a thousand delegates from indigenous communities as well as UN officials attended the conference. After welcoming delegates with greetings in indigenous languages from Latin America, South Africa, New Zealand, Malaysia, North America, Norway and Sweden, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said indigenous people are "central to our discourse of human rights and global development," and that they are "fully supported" by the United Nations.
President of Norway's Sami Parliament Aili Keskitalo while addressing the General Assembly said for decades indigenous people have been discriminated, marginalized and ignored. She went on to say that the situation for indigenous people has started to change since 2007 when the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was approved.
The high level of poverty in many indigenous regions will also be highlighted during the two-day gathering.
