Indigenous peoples account for over 350 million peoples distributed over 70 countries of the world and representing more than 5.000 languages and cultures. Indigenous peoples, still today marginalized and deprived of basic human rights, represent 95% of the cultural diversity of the world. They “contribute to the diversity and the wealth of civilizations and cultures that constitute the common heritage of Humanity,” as reads the draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in its introductory section.

Over 40 million natives live in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Bolivia, the indigenous population prevails (63%), in Guatemala they represent more than half the population, while in Ecuador and Peru they amount to about 45%, and to 2% in Colombia and Venezuela. Only in the Amazon River basin. over 300 indigenous peoples exist.