International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

What Is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples?

August 9th is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 23, 1994, through resolution A/RES/49/214. The date commemorates the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, set up under the UN human rights sub-commission, held in Geneva on August 9, 1982. The day is dedicated to raising awareness of the rights and achievements of the world's indigenous peoples and to supporting the protection of their cultures, languages, and ways of life.

Who Are Indigenous Peoples?

"Indigenous peoples" refers to the descendants of the original inhabitants of a territory before colonisation or the formation of the modern state — communities that have maintained distinct cultures, languages, customs, and social systems into the present day.

• Scale and diversity: According to the UN, there are an estimated 476 million Indigenous Peoples living across 90 countries and representing 5,000 different cultures. They make up less than 6% of the world's population but account for at least 15% of the poorest.
• Languages at risk: Indigenous Peoples speak the overwhelming majority of the world's estimated 7,000 languages. According to the UN, at least 40% of the world's languages are at some level of endangerment, and indigenous languages, which are often not taught at school or used in public life, are especially vulnerable. When a language disappears, the knowledge, worldviews, and cultural heritage encoded within it are lost forever.
• Environmental stewardship: Although the lands indigenous peoples live on and use cover only part of the world's land surface, they are said to hold much of the planet's remaining biodiversity (one estimate puts it at 80%). Traditional indigenous land management practices offer important lessons for modern conservation.

Japan's Indigenous People: The Ainu

Japan is home to the Ainu people, an indigenous group with a distinct culture, language, and spiritual worldview, primarily based in Hokkaido.

• History: The Ainu have lived in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands since ancient times. From the Meiji era onward, assimilation policies led to the rapid decline of Ainu language and culture.
• Legal recognition in 2019: The "Act for Promoting Measures to Realise a Society in which the Pride of Ainu People is Respected" formally recognised the Ainu as Japan's indigenous people for the first time in law.
• Upopoy National Ainu Museum: Opened in July 2020 in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, the Upopoy cultural complex serves as a national hub for the revitalisation and promotion of Ainu culture — including traditional clothing, cuisine, ceremonies, music (upopo), and dance (rimse).

Fascinating Facts About This Day

• The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP): Adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007, UNDRIP is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of indigenous peoples, addressing land, culture, and self-determination. Japan voted in favour.
• The International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032): Recognising the crisis facing indigenous languages, the UN designated 2022 to 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, with a call to action for governments, communities, and institutions worldwide.
• Traditional knowledge and modern science: Indigenous knowledge systems — built on millennia of observation of local plants, animals, weather patterns, and ecosystems — are increasingly recognised as invaluable contributions to modern medicine, environmental science, and sustainable agriculture.
• Revitalizing the Māori language: In New Zealand, efforts continue to pass the language of the Māori people on to the next generation, and the UN has highlighted the use of AI natural language processing tools to help revitalize Māori.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Visit the Upopoy website or related books to learn about Ainu culture — and discover that many of Hokkaido's place names, from Sapporo to Otaru, have Ainu-language origins.
• Watch a documentary about endangered languages and reflect on what is lost — and what remains to be preserved — when a language disappears.
• Learn about how indigenous communities have managed and protected local ecosystems, and consider what their approaches might teach us about sustainable living today.

A Day to Listen to Voices the World Has Too Often Ignored

August 9th is a day to stop and listen — to the cultures, languages, and worldviews of the peoples who have inhabited this planet's diverse landscapes since long before the modern world was built. Indigenous peoples hold knowledge and perspectives that the rest of humanity urgently needs. Their stories are not just history. They are a living reminder that there are many ways to be human, and that the world is richer for every one of them.