INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SEATTLE DECLARATION
                           on the occasion of the
         Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization
                        November 30-December 3, 1999



     We, the Indigenous Peoples from various regions of the world, have
     come to Seattle to express our great concern over how the World
     Trade Organization is destroying Mother Earth and the cultural and
     biological diversity of which we are a part.

     Trade liberalization and export-oriented development, which are
     the overriding principles and policies pushed by the WTO, are
     creating the most adverse impacts on the lives of Indigenous
     Peoples. Our inherent right to self-determination, our sovereignty
     as nations, and treaties and other constructive agreements which
     Indigenous nations and Peoples have negotiated with other
     nation-states, are undermined by most of the WTO Agreements. The
     disproportionate impact of these Agreements on our communities,
     whether through environmental degradation or the militarization
     and violence that often accompanies development projects, is
     serious and therefore should be addressed immediately.

     The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), which promotes export
     competition and import liberalization, has allowed the entry of
     cheap agricultural products into our communities. It is causing
     the destruction of ecologically rational and sustainable
     agricultural practices of Indigenous Peoples.

     Food security and the production of traditional food crops have
     been seriously compromised. Incidents of diabetes, cancers, and
     hypertension have significantly increased among Indigenous Peoples
     because of the scarcity of traditional foods and the dumping of
     junk food into our communities.

     Small-scale farm production is giving way to commercial cash-crop
     plantations further concentrating ancestral lands into the hands
     of few agri-corporations and landlords. This has led to the
     dislocation of scores of people from our communities who then
     migrate to nearby cities and become the urban homeless and
     jobless.

     The WTO Forests Products Agreement promotes free trade in forest
     products. By eliminating developed country tariffs on wood
     products by the year 2000, and developing country tariffs by 2003,
     the Agreement will result in the deforestation of many of the
     world's ecosystems in which Indigenous Peoples live.

     Mining laws in many countries are being changed to allow free
     entry of foreign mining corporations, to enable them to buy and
     own mineral lands, and to freely displace Indigenous Peoples from
     their ancestral territories. These large-scale commercial mining
     and oil extraction activities continue to degrade our lands and
     fragile ecosystems, and pollute the soil, water, and air in our
     communities.

     The appropriation of our lands and resources and the aggressive
     promotion of consumerist and individualistic Western culture
     continue to destroy traditional lifestyles and cultures. The
     result is not only environmental degradation but also ill health,
     alienation, and high levels of stress manifested in high rates of
     alcoholism and suicides.

     The theft and patenting of our biogenetic resources is facilitated
     by the TRIPs (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
     Rights) of the WTO. Some plants which Indigenous Peoples have
     discovered, cultivated, and used for food, medicine, and for
     sacred rituals are already patented in the United States, Japan,
     and Europe. A few examples of these are ayahuasca, quinoa, and
     sangre de drago in forests of South America; kava in the Pacific;
     turmeric and bitter melon in Asia. Our access and control over our
     biological diversity and control over our traditional knowledge
     and intellectual heritage are threatened by the TRIPs Agreement.

     Article 27.3b of the TRIPs Agreement allows the patenting of
     life-forms and makes an artificial distinction between plants,
     animals, and micro-organisms. The distinction between "essentially
     biological" and "non-biological" and "microbiological" processes
     is also erroneous. As far as we are concerned all these are
     life-forms and life-creating processes which are sacred and which
     should not become the subject of private property ownership.

     Finally, the liberalization of investments and the service
     sectors, which is pushed by the General Agreement of Services
     (GATS), reinforces the domination and monopoly control of foreign
     corporations over strategic parts of the economy. The World Bank
     and the International Monetary Fund impose conditionalities of
     liberalization, deregulation and privatization on countries caught
     in the debt trap. These conditionalities are reinforced further by
     the WTO.

     In light of the adverse impacts and consequences of the WTO
     Agreements identified above, we, Indigenous Peoples present the
     following demands:

     We urgently call for a social and environmental justice analysis
     which will look into the Agreements' cumulative effects on
     Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples should be equal
     participants in establishing the criteria and indicators for these
     analyses so that they take into consideration spiritual as well as
     cultural aspects.

     A review of the Agreements should be done to address all of the
     inequities and imbalances which adversely affect Indigenous
     Peoples. The proposals to address some of these are as follows;

        * For the Agreement on Agriculture

            a. It should not include in its coverage small-scale
               farmers who are mainly engaged in production for
               domestic use and sale in the local markets.

            b. It should ensure the recognition and protection of
               rights of Indigenous Peoples to their territories and
               their resources, as well as their rights to continue
               practicing their indigenous sustainable agriculture and
               resource management practices and traditional
               livelihoods.

            c. It should ensure the food security and the capacity of
               Indigenous Peoples to produce, consume and trade their
               traditional foods.

        * With regard to the liberalization of services and investments
          we recommend the following:

            a. It must stop unsustainable mining, commercial planting
               of monocrops, dam construction, oil exploration, land
               conversion to golf clubs, logging, and other activities
               which destroy Indigenous Peoples' lands and violate the
               rights of indigenous peoples' to their territories and
               resources.

            b. The right of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional
               lifestyles, cultural norms and values should likewise be
               recognized and protected.

            c. The liberalization of services, especially in the areas
               of health, should not be allowed if it will prevent
               Indigenous Peoples from having access to free,
               culturally appropriate as well as quality health
               services.

            d. The liberalization of finance services which makes the
               world a global casino should be regulated.

        * On the TRIPs Agreement, the proposals are as follows:

            a. Article 27.3b should be amended to categorically
               disallow the patenting of life-forms. It should clearly
               prohibit the patenting of micro-organisms, plants,
               animals, including all their parts, whether they are
               genes, gene sequences, cells, cell lines, proteins, or
               seeds.

            b. It should also prohibit the patenting of natural
               processes, whether these are biological or
               microbiological, involving the use of plants, animals
               and micro-organisms and their parts in producing
               variations of plants, animals and micro-organisms.

            c. It should ensure the exploration and development of
               alternative forms of protection outside of the dominant
               western intellectual property rights regime. Such
               alternatives must protect the knowledge and innovations
               and practices in agriculture, health care, and
               conservation of biodiversity, and should build upon
               indigenous methods and customary laws protecting
               knowledge, heritage and biological resources.

            d. It should ensure that the protection offered to
               indigenous and traditional knowledge, innovation and
               practices is consistent with the Convention on
               Biological Diversity (i.e., Articles 8j, 10c, 17.2, and
               18.4) and the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic
               Resources.

            e. It should allow for the right of Indigenous Peoples and
               farmers to continue their traditional practices of
               saving, sharing and exchanging seeds, and cultivating,
               harvesting and using medicinal plants.

            f. It should prohibit scientific researchers and
               corporations from appropriating and patenting indigenous
               seeds, medicinal plants, and related knowledge about
               these life-forms. The principles of prior informed
               consent and right of veto by Indigenous Peoples should
               be respected.

     If the earlier proposals cannot be ensured, we call for the
     removal of the Agreement on Agriculture, the Forest Products
     Agreements and the TRIPs Agreement from the WTO.

     We call on the member-states of the WTO not to allow for another
     round whilst the review and rectification of the implementation of
     existing agreements has not been done. We reject the proposals for
     an investment treaty, competition, accelerated industrial tariffs,
     government procurement, and the creation of a working group on
     biotechnology.

     We urge the WTO to reform itself to become democratic, transparent
     and accountable. If it fails to do this we call for the abolition
     of the WTO.

     We urge the member nation-states of the WTO to endorse the
     adoption by the UN General Assembly of the current text of the UN
     Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the
     ratification of ILO Convention l69.

     We call on the peoples' organizations and NGOs to support this
     "Indigenous Peoples' Seattle Declaration" and to promote it among
     their members.

     We believe that the whole philosophy underpinning the WTO
     Agreements and the principles and policies it promotes contradict
     our core values, spirituality and worldviews, as well as our
     concepts and practices of development, trade and environmental
     protection. Therefore, we challenge the WTO to redefine its
     principles and practices toward a "sustainable communities"
     paradigm, and to recognize and allow for the continuation of other
     worldviews and models of development.

     Indigenous peoples, undoubtedly, are the ones most adversely
     affected by globalization and by the WTO Agreements. However, we
     believe that it is also us who can offer viable alternatives to
     the dominant economic growth, export-oriented development model.
     Our sustainable lifestyles and cultures, traditional knowledge,
     cosmologies, spirituality, values of collectivity, reciprocity,
     respect and reverence for Mother Earth, are crucial in the search
     for a transformed society where justice, equity, and
     sustainability will prevail.



     Statement by the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus convened and sponsored
     by the Indigenous Environmental Network USA/CANADA, Seventh
     Generation Fund USA, International Indian Treaty Council,
     Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, the Abya Yala Fund,
     and TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples' Network for Policy Research and
     Education), 1 December 1999, Seattle, Washington, USA.

     Other indigenous peoples' organizations, NGOs and individuals who
     wish to sign on to this statement, send email to ien@igc.org or
     tebtebba@skyinet.net.