Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2007

IITF Special Event at the Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Launching of the International Indigenous Internet Portal
Monday, 21 May

1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m
Conference Room 9

Speakers:
Kenneth Deer
Roberto Mucaro Borrero
Teanau Tuiono
Malia Nobrega

Organizer:
International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF)
Co-sponsors: Incomindios, Switzerland; Na Koa Ikaika I ka Lahui, Hawaii

IITF Letter to President Joe Shirley, Navajo Nation

To:
Hon. President Joe Shirley,
Navajo Nation
c/o George Hardeen,
Communications Director
E-mail: pressoffice@opvp.org
Ofc: 928-871-7917
Cell: 928-309-8532

Dear Hon. President Shirley:

On behalf of the International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF), I am writing to thank you thank you for the information that your Communications Director has forwarded concerning your presentation on ICTs in New York. I am sorry that while you were in New York we could not meet to discuss potential follow-up to our partnership formed during the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia.

If you recall you and your delegation worked together with the WSIS Indigenous Caucus and members of the International Indigenous Steering Committee present at the Tunis meeting. As per the results of the final report by the WSIS Indigenous Steering Committee we looked forward to supporting each others initiatives whenever possible.

With that in mind, and as I have already indicated to you in the previous communication that I sent to Mr. George Hardeen, indigenous peoples involved in the ICT issue have been keen to receive substantive follow-up on the Navajo Nation’s work in this area not only for your Nation but for other indigenous peoples. For example, we have been waiting to receive information about the ITU office, which is planned to be opened in Window Rock and how we as an indigenous follow-up initiative of the WSIS can be involved.

We would also like to bring your attention to one of the tasks the IITF was entrusted to begin work on, which was an international indigenous portal. We will be presenting the results of our work at the upcoming Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this May. It is important for the IITF to be aware of how the Navajo Nation can support the call for an international indigenous portal and assist us in the realization of the current International Indigenous Portal Project.

Please inform us if any members of the Navajo Nation will be attending the Permanent Forum as we feel that would be an opportune time to meet and discuss these issues.

I thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,

Roberto Múcaro Borrero
IITF Caribbean Focal Point
C/O UCTP PO BOX 4515 • NEW YORK, NY • 10163
PHONE: 212.604.4186

Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., addresses international UN conference on information, communication, technology

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., has renewed the Navajo Nation's commitment and leadership to help bring information,communication and technology ­ (ICT) ­ to the indigenous people of the world.

Speaking before the 7th Infopoverty World Conference 2007 at the United Nations here Thursday and Friday, he said the Navajo Nation can assist to preserve languages, cultures and ways of life while providing access to education and economic development online.

President Shirley said that in 2005 when the UN learned that the Navajo Nation had created one of the largest wireless networks in the world through satellite technology, it asked if it could share that knowledge with the rest of the world.

He said that led to the Navajo Nation joining the International Telecommunications Union and the Observatory for Cultural and Audiovisual Communication, or OCCAM, and creating plans to open an international office for indigenous nations in Window Rock later this year.

He said all 110 Navajo Nation communities have wireless internet access, and every Navajo who wants an e-mail address can have one.

"There is not another Native American tribe or organization in the world that is coming close to taking the kind of leadership position that the Navajo Nation is," said Ernest Franklin, Executive director of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, who attended with President Shirley.

TO READ THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE

Audio: President Shirley

Cluster of WSIS-related events, 14-25 May 2007, Geneva

A series follow-up and implementation meetings of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes will take place in Geneva . Organized around the 10th session of the UN Commission for Science and Technology for Development (21-25 May) and the World Information Society Day ceremony (16 May 2007), the cluster will also include multi-stakeholder implementation facilitation meetings and various ICT-related meetings and consultations. Registration is available on-line. More information on the WSIS website and on the CONGO website.