IPR receive strong support from Asia-Pacific community radio broadcasters

INDIGENOUS Peoples’ Rights (IPR) took centre stage at the second regional conference of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)—Asia Pacific in Bangalore, India last February 20 to 23.

More than 300 community broadcasters from 21 countries unanimously approved the Indigenous Statement on Community Radio calling for a network of indigenous community radio broadcasters to ‘raise awareness’ and ‘influence policy makers and civil society organizations’ in the region.
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“Indigenous Peoples have the right to establish their own community radios in their own languages and have access to non-indigenous CRs without discrimination,” the paper declared.

It supplemented the Bangalore Community Radio Declaration which in itself already promised strong support to IPR.  

“ (We affirm)…the immediate need for Indigenous People’s right to vote, the right to self determination, rights to land, resources, livelihoods, cultures, and their right to live with dignity,” AMARC-AP declared.

The group also recognized the disproportionate and disastrous impact of climate change, both natural and human created, especially on Indigenous Peoples, the poor, the marginalized, women, and children.

A workshop entitled Community Radio for Deepening the Democratic Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Asia-Pacific was organized on the first day of the conference with Raghu Mainali of Community Radio Support Centre of Nepal as presenter.

Delegates from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia also formed an informal Indigenous People’s Caucus during the conference that drafted and proposed the statement and actively lobbied for the inclusion of IP-related provisions in the Bangalore Declaration.

The caucus vowed to work together to create an awareness group among community radio broadcasters for IPR.

The community broadcasters gathered in Bangalore reaffirmed their commitment to “safeguard, uphold and promote Freedom of Opinion and Expression” as they demand to place people’s communications rights at the centre of development in the region.

They called for supporting initiatives that aid access to digital and other technological opportunities to enable community broadcasting in an ever-widening scale, while calling for creating spaces on the airwaves for diverse and marginalized voices, irrespective of caste, creed, race, colour, gender, sexuality, faith, and differently-abled or other differences.

AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community broadcasting movement.  It has 3,000 members and associates in 110 countries.  Its goal is to support and contribute to the development of community and participatory radio along the principals of solidarity and international cooperation.  Its international headquarters is based in Montreal, Canada while its Asia-Pacific offices are in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Bangalore conference elected a new regional board.  India’s Ashish Sen was re-elected president, the Philippines’ Mica Lagman was elected as the new deputy president, Australia’s Shane Elson was given a second term as treasurer.  Nepal’s Raghu Mainali, Indonesia’s Imam Prakoso and the Philippines’ Bianca Miglioretto were elected/re-elected as vice presidents for South Asia, Southeast Asia and for the Womens’ International Network-AP, respectively.