INTER-AMERICAN INDIAN INSTITUTE

Created under the 1940 Pátzcuaro International Convention, the basic objectives of the Inter-American Indian Institute are to assist in coordinating the Indian affairs policies of the member States and to promote research and training of individuals engaged in the development of indigenous communities. The Institute has its headquarters in Mexico City and its Director is Dr. José Matos Mar.

As noted in the 1993-1994 Annual Report of the Secretary General, the Eleventh Inter-American Indian Congress, held in Managua, Nicaragua, in November 1993, agreed to establish a special committee made up of representatives of the governments of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Nicaragua and of the indigenous peoples, for the purpose of preparing a proposal for amending the Pátzcuaro Convention to be part of a new inter-American system. The purpose is to strengthen the Inter-American Indian Institute to be a more effective central clearinghouse of indigenous policies for the entire inter-American system. This will involve wholesale modernization of the Institute to transform it into an agency of techno-political management.

The Executive Committee of the Institute, which is chaired by Mexico, immediately set about carrying out this mandate within the one-year time frame established by the Congress. At two meetings of the Executive Committee, the technical, political and financial implications of this resolution were discussed as were the offers made by Colombia, Paraguay and Chile, in that order, to host the Special Committee's meetings. The Executive Committee accepted the requests received from the majority of the member countries to become members of the Committee. Official communications are expected naming the individuals, institutions and indigenous organizations that will represent the participating countries on the Special Committee.

The Executive Committee approved the Institute's program-budget for fiscal period 1994, as well as the 1993 Report of Activities. During 1994 the Institute's financial situation was improved as a result of drastic spending cuts and thanks to the member countries' decision to pay up their annual contributions. In 1994 Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico paid their contributions in arrears in full and are now up to date. The United States paid all its back quotas (with the exception of the 1993 contribution); Paraguay paid its 1991 and 1992 contributions, while Honduras paid those for 1992 and 1993.

Technical Assistance

Despite severe financial constraints, the Institute took part in several activities related to the indigenous movement in the United States, Mexico, Panama and Peru. It also cooperated with other international organizations, among them the United Nations, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

At the Government's request, advisory assistance and technical cooperation was provided in Mexico to the National Commission for Integral Development and Social Justice for Indigenous Peoples, created by the Office of the President of the Republic in early 1994.

In the United States, the Institute worked with the Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO). The Institute participated in the Ambassadors Program, in two meetings with indigenous leaders from the United States. The Institute is also working with the AIO on developing a project to promote and train indigenous leaders of America. Funding for that project will be solicited from the Kellogg Foundation. The Institute decided to provide advisory assistance to the Museum of the American Indian, with which a number of activities will be conducted in 1995. Working in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution, a project will be developed for publishing an encyclopedia of the native peoples of America.

In Panama, negotiations continued to win approval for the Panamanian Indigenous Peoples Ethnodevelopment Project, which the Institute and the CIOSL/ORIT (Caracas, Venezuela) jointly introduced.

In Peru, the Institute continued to support the negotiations with the United Nations Development Program to secure financing for the Ethnodevelopment Project in seven indigenous nations.

The agreement with UNICEF's International Child Development Centre enabled the Institute to conduct a study on the poverty, alienation and abuse that Indian children of the Americas experience, with particular reference to the children of Guatemala and Peru. The report resulting from that study was presented to UNICEF in October.

With PAHO/WHO, action was taken on an agreement calculated to begin the preliminary work for preparation and publication of the encyclopedia of the indigenous peoples of America.

Training

Mexico City and the state of Oaxaca were the site of the Nineteenth Inter-American Course on Indigenous Observation and Practice, June 6 through July 29, a course held each year under the auspices of the Government of Mexico and the General Secretariat of the OAS, as part of the Developing Countries' Training Program (PAPD). Participating were eight fellowship recipients from five member States. Cooperating with the course were the National Indigenous Institute, the Oaxaca state government and other Mexican government agencies.

Publications

The periodicals put out by the Institute continued in publication. Several issues of América Indígena and Anuario Indigenista were published, while other issues are ready to go to press, along with the Revista Trimestral and the Final Report of the Eleventh Inter-American Indian Congress.

Meetings

At no cost to itself, the Institute participated in a number of international meetings to which it was invited, among them the following:

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