Indigenous peoples highlight plight

ON WEDNESDAY, South Africa’s first and original inhabitants, the aboriginal Khoisan, celebrated International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples at the Castle of Good Hope.

Amid the Women’s Day celebrations on the same day, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was commemorated to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population.

The day was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1994 and yesterday celebrated its 10th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in 90 countries around the world.

According to Chief Tania Kleinhans-Cedras, from the Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigines of South Africa, they called on the aboriginal Khoisan people to stand along the periphery of the Castle to celebrate indigenous people as it is believed the onslaught against the cultural genocide of the aboriginal, Khoisan people began there.

Kleinhans-Cedras said: “It is also a spiritual day because they are celebrating their new year and they want to use this day to speak with one voice moving forward.”

Pictures: JOY MEYER UNITY TO FIGHT FOR LAND RIGHTS: Indigenous people fight against the systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic power they face around the world. South Africa’s first and original inhabitants, the aboriginal Khoisan, celebrated...

DENIAL: Indigenous people unite to show how they contribute extensively to humanity’s cultural diversity, enriching it with more than two-thirds of its languages and traditional knowledge.

BOWS AND PRAISES: Khoisan and aboriginal people praise and pay respect to their ancestral land while they celebrate World Indigenous People’s Day in Cape Town.

UNITED FOR THEIR RIGHTS: Aboriginal Khoisan embrace and celebrate their spiritual day.

INEQUALITY: Indigenous people stand together to highlight their inequality.