“Thank you, Madam Chair,
I make this statement on behalf of the IIFB.
We urge Parties to review our written submission on this agenda item, where our views are presented in greater detail. We wish to express our primary concern to the Plenary.
Our foremost concern is to respect, protect, and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as enshrined in the Nagoya Protocol, including the right to prior informed consent and to mutually agreed terms for access to our genetic resources and traditional knowledge. These elements were negotiated as a package that forms the FOUNDATION of the rights and standards that must be observed by specialized International Instruments outside the Nagoya framework in order to be recognized. Lower standards are not acceptable to us, and there must be strong safeguards to ensure respect for these rights.
It is the responsibility of the COP-MOP to the Nagoya Protocol to decide whether other specialized international instruments should be recognized. Our participation in decisions regarding such recognition is necessary to ensure that our rights are not undermined and to prevent forum shifting to weaker regimes.
On Sunday, we submitted our proposed textual additions to ensure our participation in this decision-making process.”
The full statement is available at: https://iifb-indigenous.org/…/en-iifb-sbi6-item8…
