Indigenous peoples the world over call for the full recognition of their right to exist as indigenous peoples and to enjoy their many other rights. Unfortunately, many countries in Asia and the Pacific have failed to give proper recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples.
Such non-recognition is almost tantamount to denying the injustice suffered in the past by the indigenous peoples, to allowing the continuing loss of their land and natural resources on which they depend upon for survival, to continuation of violence they suffer from those grabbing their ancestral territories for financial gain, to the perpetuation of many forms of discrimination they are being subjected to, and to the maintenance of the marginalization they endure because they are treated as less than equal by many people in the country.
Recently, at least in the case of the Ainu in Japan, the digital social media and other forms of communication have been used to malign the indigenous peoples and deny their rights. Such media assault are seen as another examples of hate speech. Who knows what this new form of harassment of the indigenous peoples would lead to.