For Tadashi Kato, the U.N. General Assembly adoption of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples around the world after more than 20 years of debate was long-awaited good news.
"The declaration will enable us, the Ainu, to restore our way of life and our culture," said the 68-year-old chief of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, in expectation that the declaration will help boost his campaign to promote public awareness of Ainu and improve their living and educational standards.
The nonbinding declaration adopted Sept. 13 outlines the collective and individual rights of an estimated 370 million indigenous people, including the right to be free from discrimination, the right to self-determination, and the right to maintain their own political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining the ability to participate in the same institutions in their respective states.