"The annual United Nations forum aimed at advancing the rights of the estimated 370 million indigenous persons around the world opened today with a call to turn those rights into a practical reality.

More than 1,300 delegates are expected to participate in the two-week Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which is being held at UN Headquarters in New York and is marking its tenth anniversary.

This year the forum will focus on reviewing progress made on issues ranging from economic and social development to the environment and whether indigenous peoples have given free, prior and informed consent to decisions affecting their communities."

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Indigenous peoples’ forum opens at UN with call to turn rights into reality (UN News Centre 5/17)