United Nations Special Rapporteur James Anaya said at a meeting earlier this month that one of the challenges for indigenous peoples' health is "how indigenous women living near oil, gas and mining operations are '"vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, which are often introduced with a rapid increase of extractive workers in indigenous areas,'" The First Perspective, Canada's source for news about indigenous peoples, reports. Anaya, who is the rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, also noted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires "'in its articles 21, 22(1), 23 and 24 a framework for protecting and promoting indigenous peoples’ health. Together, these articles affirm indigenous peoples’ equal right to the 'highest attainable standard of physical and mental health' (art. 24); their right to improve their economic and social conditions (art. 21); and their right to 'determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development' (art. 23)."
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