The Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) will attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) for the third year in the row. The 24th session of the UNPFII will be held on April 21 – May 2 at UN headquarters in New York.

IJA is preparing to deliver an intervention before the official members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. An intervention is a brief statement to raise awareness on the importance of an issue and provide recommendations to address the issue. Delivering an impactful intervention has the potential to be listed in official UN resolutions, reports and programs that impact Indigenous communities. In 2024, IJA President Christine Trudeau delivered an intervention on behalf of IJA’s members which was included in the 2024 UN report. 

This year the intervention will be delivered by Indigenous Journalism Fellowship (IJF) alumna and IJA member Carrie Johnson. Johnson’s statement will highlight the importance of Indigenous journalism and press freedom and recommend how the UNPFII can address these affairs.

Carrie Johnson, an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a descendant of the Pawnee Nation, is currently a graduate student at New York University for her MA in News and Documentary on a full-ride scholarship from the Indigenous Journalists Association. Carrie has been a fellow and mentor-in-training for IJA, a mentee and mentor for NPR’s Next Generation Radio: Indigenous and was the 2023 Journalism Fellow for Underscore Native News in Portland, Oregon. Most recently, she was a recipient of the 2024 Dreamstarter grant from Running Strong for American Indian Youth and has been directing the documentary “A Breath on the Flames.” Currently, Carrie is a Remembering Our Sisters Fellow for the Center for Native American Youth, a fellow for Verified News Network for reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Oklahoma and works full-time for the Chickasaw Nation as a Public Relations Officer.  

Indigenous leaders and grassroots organizers have important stories to tell, but many are not accustomed to working with journalists and media. This contributes to Indigenous Peoples’ affairs, and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues  (UNPFII) not getting the media attention they deserve. To address this gap, IJA and Grist co-produce a media training program for Indigenous leaders. During the training participants will learn how to hone and craft their messages; learn storytelling techniques and tools, and understand the story components journalists want and how to communicate them effectively to journalists and media. 

Share Your Story has trained 204 community members from around the world. The program is supported by CCUNESCO, Cultural Survival and Project Access Indigenous Partnership. There are two opportunities for UNPFII attendees to participate in this training.

In-Person at the American Indian Community House
April 24 | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET
Register here: https://forms.gle/QpP4kp13fqrvgGYb9

IJA members will be covering the UNPFII with Grist and The Associated Press leading the Indigenous News Alliance – an international initiative to support cross-border collaborations and story sharing. Reporting stories such as:

• Indigenous leaders are risking their lives to speak at the UN
• Indigenous advocates at the UN say the green transition is neither clean nor just
• A gigantic green energy transmission project will cut through Indigenous lands in the Southwest

This year’s Indigenous media pool will consist of High Country News, Mongabay, ICT, APTN News, Whakaata Māori, IndigiNews, Osage News and The Associated Press.

The UNPFII is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a specific mandate on Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights. According to its mandate, the Permanent Forum: 

• Provides expert advice and recommendations on Indigenous issues to the Council, as well as to programmes, funds and agencies of the United Nations, through the council. 
• Raise awareness and promote integration and coordination of activities related to Indigenous issues within the UN system. 
• Prepares and shares information on Indigenous issues.

The Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) empowers members representing tribal, nonprofit, freelance and mainstream media professionals in promoting accurate coverage of Indigenous communities, supporting newsroom diversity and defending challenges to free press, speech and expression. IJA addresses these challenges by fostering the development of new talent and activating a powerful membership. IJA is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

For more than 40 years, Indigenous journalists have worked to support and sustain IJA. Originally formed as the Native American Press Association in 1983, the name changed in 1990, to be more inclusive of broadcast journalists. The organization has grown from just a handful of reporters to a membership including Indigenous journalists, supporters, associates, educators and partners across the United States and Canada.

In 2023, the membership voted to change the organization’s name from the Native American Journalists Association to the Indigenous Journalists Association. This change recognizes the need to develop relationships, contacts, and cooperation across international borders and reflects a desire to align terminology with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• April 24, 2023 – 22nd Session of the UNPFII side event in New York, New York
• July 18, 2023 – 16th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland
• April 18, 2024 – 23rd Session of the UNPFII in New York, New York
• Nov. 15, 2024 – IJA and the Indigenous Office at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Winnipeg, Canada