International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

That the Parliament recognises that 9 August 2020 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which is an annual event that seeks to commemorate and acknowledge indigenous peoples across the globe; notes that the theme this year is COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience, which will be discussed through a virtual panel looking at how indigenous people have found their own solutions to the pandemic using traditional knowledge and practices, including voluntary isolation and the closing of territories; understands that indigenous peoples are almost three times as likely to be living in extreme poverty and that 47% of all indigenous peoples in employment have no education; appreciates that indigenous communities face discrimination in healthcare with poor access, limited language use in the system and a lack of essential services, including sanitation, which is crucial in the fight against COVID-19; acknowledges that many indigenous peoples are facing food shortages due to a loss of natural resources through the effects of climate change; considers that everyone should learn from their knowledge, since their territories are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity and they have a better understanding of how to change people's relationship with the natural world, which may help avoid any future pandemics that researchers fear may arise from environmental damage, and endeavours to support indigenous peoples across the globe and to listen and learn from them.