9 August

In 1994, the General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year.

The date marks the day of the first meeting, in 1992, of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

Indigenous peoples contribute extensibly to humanity’s cultural diversity, enriching it withmore than two thirds of its languages and an extrordinary amount of its traditional knowledge.

There are over 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries, living in all regions of the world. The situation of indigenous peoples in many parts of the world is critical today. Poverty rates are significantly higher among indigenous peoples compared to other groups.