FUNDING TUKUMMINNGUAQ OLSEN: THE VOICE OF THE INUIT FROM THE ARTIC IN THE UN PERMANENT FORUM Tukumminnguaq Olsen © OHCHR I belong to the Inuit people of Greenland and I was a grantee of the Fund to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2019, with my organization, the Inuit Circumpolar Council. Before the Forum, I worked closely with my organization to prepare our participation, including our participation in the Arctic Regional Caucus, the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus and the Global Indigenous Caucus. The Arctic Caucus enabled me to introduce myself and to prepare for the weeks of the Forum. A meeting was held every morning with the Caucus. I helped them to finalize statements and I was appointed as the head of communications. Since I am the Arctic focal point in the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, I was also able to help and advise the Inuit youth members. 122 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019 The support of the Fund was paramount because our capacity to participate is limited by the availability of resources, considering how expensive it is for us to travel from Greenland to anywhere else in the world. Our participation was very valuable as our voice was less heard than the voice of others. Personally, my participation in the Forum brought me considerable knowledge. The Fund’s support for our organization enabled us to organize a side event on the situation of indigenous children in the Arctic Region, which focused on how to engage with small indigenous communities. The Inuit presence in the Forum and our active participation in several discussions, side events and informal meetings around the Forum certainly added greater diversity to the substantive work of the Permanent Forum. Upon our return from New York, several media outlets interviewed me to share my experience of participation in the Forum. I also made a presentation to the Board of my organization about the knowledge I gained and the lessons learned from my participation in the Forum. Conveying and sharing the knowledge we received is one of the key principles that enable the effective engagement of indigenous peoples with the UN system. The next generation that I represent is committed to never giving up this principle.