Intl Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2023
Note the external aggression : STDCM
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 09 2023:
On the occasion of International Day of the World Indigenous Peoples 2023 which falls on August 9, the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) has expressed hope that Meetei youth will play a key role in helping the "oppressed Meetei community" get their full fledged socio, economic and political rights.
In a statement, STDCM highlighted the theme of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2023 - "Youth as change agent for self-determination" while adding that youth of all indigenous peoples should recall their right to self-determination and the rights enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) .
With regard to the ongoing conflict, STDCM opined that this violence is one of the most abominable forms of aggression inflicted upon an indigenous community.
Not only is this aggression a challenge to indigenous Meetei people's right to self-determination, it is also a challenge to the rights envisioned in the UNDRIP, STDCM added.
The indigenous Meetei youth should recognize the forces of external aggression that have posed a threat to the Meetei community's socio, cultural and political rights for many years, it maintained.
STDCM continued to say that in many instances, forces of external aggression have suppressed the Meetei community's right to self-determination.
In recognition of this fact, the Meetei youth should prepare to face such threats of external aggression while being empowered with the knowledge that indigenous people all over the globe will stand in solidarity with them, STDCM asserted.