Because of the unique and sometimes pervasive problems facing many indigenous youth, it is important that groups such as the Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network exist to defend and promote their rights. This aforementioned group rouses indigenous youth to stand up for their rights and make their issues known to those in leadership. The APIYN aims to protect and promote the rights of indigenous youth, calling attention to issues such as self-governance, the protection of ancestral land, socioeconomic development and the defense of ancestral land. They also stress the importance of indigenous values and traditions in the modern world.

Indigenous people suffer everywhere from the violation and grabbing of their traditional land, and groups that defend the rights of these people especially must call attention to this injustice. This method of land-grabbing is often in the name of development and indigenous people sometimes feel as though they have no choice but to bow to the demands. The loss of land is something that indigenous communities feel most strongly about. The APIYN movement stresses that leadership is important for their communities and that anything is possible when the people show a united face.