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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' CAUCUS:

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz stressed three issues of specific importance to indigenous peoples: biodiversity, biotechnology and intellectual property rights. She proposed that the UN system and governments provide mechanisms so that indigenous peoples can share their views with others on these issues. She called for a halt to the Human Genome Diversity Project that has a pending patent application for 2500 human genes, and appealed to those who are convening conferences to include input from indigenous peoples.