After an extensive search carried out by the African Region HQ Secretariat of the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) Relief Fund Trust, His Most Supreme Eminence (HMSE) of African Indigenous Religions, Dr. Sir. Valentine Ossai Sunday Akpati, Paramount Ruler of the Royal Traditional Priesthood Federation Kingdom, the Osele Uku of Ogumeland has been given appointment as the Chairman of the IHRC Africa Indigenous Religions Committee. This appointment has been confirmed by the Global Director General and Ambassador-at-Large of the IHRC RFT accredited under the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

The underpinning idea upon which the African Indigenous Religions Committee has been established is based on the collaborative and networking mandate entered into by the IHRC RFT Africa Region HQ Secretariat and a Civil Society Organization registered as the Indigenous Peoples Initiatives for Cultural Integration. The framework of the mandate officially empowers the IHRC’s African Indigenous Religions Committee to operate the Indigenous Order of Black Knights of Rasta Fari Emperor Haile Selassie with the purpose to create and foster a feeling of fraternity and fellowship among the various renowned promoters of interfaith peace and to promote a more generous and filial respect for the spiritual authority of the known religions in the world.

Dr. Sir Valentine Akpati, is also granted status of the Grand Protector for the Realm charged to hold investiture event for the Indigenous Order of Black Africa Knights of Ras Fari Emperor Haile Selassie for bestowing tokens of respect for well-deserving citizens, to reward their services to the world in the fight for peace and reconciliation amongst religions and to recognize merit in the field of unity of the religions. The investiture of the Indigenous Order will be based on a constitution or statutes for the organization with a description of the origin of the order, its privileges and the degrees of its members as well as the reason for conferring the order and its form of the decorations. The term “order” is limited to the insignia which the members are entitled to wear.

Amb. Dr. Tivlumun Innocent Ahure stressed in the release that Indigenous peoples have struggled to defend their rights throughout history. IHRC RFT is promoting the legitimacy of their claims which has become increasingly and widely recognized at the international level: Dr. Ahure said the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the ILO Convention No.169
on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (1989) provide global frameworks for recognizing these rights,
while other milestones such as the appointment of the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2001) and the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2000) and most recently the Paris Agreement,19 represent global recognition of the need for wider participation of indigenous peoples to ensure rights are realized.

Several other organizations have developed their own policies and platforms to engage with indigenous peoples. And it is in this
context, the 2030 SDGs Agenda, under an overarching framework that promises to leave no-one behind
provides scope to go further by bringing indigenous peoples on board as partners in national plans to, first, ensure they are not left behind, and, second, to enable societies, and indigenous peoples themselves, to benefit from the unique contribution indigenous communities can make to the realization of the entire agenda. Realizing this potential depends on the way and extent
governments and other private and public stakeholders work together with indigenous peoples, prioritize the protection of their rights, and bring them on board as valued partners in building the future we are all working towards.