UNSR James Anaya

[Geneva, February 13, 2012]  The Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples welcomes the World Radio Day, which was established by a resolution during the 36th General Conference of UNESCO in 2011. In this first celebration of World Radio Day, the Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize the importance of community radio of the world's indigenous peoples.

Radio has been a fundamental means for indigenous peoples to maintain their languages and to exercise and defend their rights. As recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 16 "1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and access to all other non-indigenous media without discrimination. 2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that the media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. States, without prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage privately owned media to adequately reflect indigenous cultural diversity."

Link to UNESCO site of World Radio Day