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PRIORITYMEASURE85
“Respect and implement the provisions of theUnitedNationsDeclaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples, aswell asConventionNo. 169of the International Labour
Organization on indigenous and tribal peoples—and call on those countries that have not already done so to sign it and ratify it—adapting legal frameworks and
formulating the policies necessary for their implementation, with the full participation of these peoples, including indigenous peoples that live in cities.”
Comments
This prioritymeasure covers all the dimensions of political, social, economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, a diversity
of spheres that far exceeds the scope ofmonitoring under theMontevideoConsensus on Population andDevelopment. Nevertheless, some
objectives contained both in theDeclaration and inConvention 169 are addressed specifically in this chapter, and in a crosscuttingmanner
throughout this operational guide. It is important, then, tonote:
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The recognition of free determination for indigenous peoples goes hand-in-hand with growing demands for autonomy, and
consequently States must respect the self-government institutions and systems of indigenous peoples, by strengthening their political,
economic, social, cultural and spiritual institutions, promoting organizational and technical capacities for their internal governance and
their relationships to institutions.
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Indigenous peoplesmust participate fully inState institutions, overcoming existing limitations such as access to information, economic
capacity, and linguistic barriers.
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Consultation mechanisms must be established, in accordance with international standards, to obtain the free, prior and informed
consent of indigenous peoples. Through consultation, States must reach agreements and decisions that will guarantee the rights of
indigenous peoples, seekingmutual understanding and consensus in the adoptionof decisions.
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Although theMontevideoConsensus onPopulation andDevelopment focuses on indigenous peoples’ right tohealth (PM 87), attention
should also be paid to their right to education, taking into account intercultural bilingual education; as well as economic rights,
especially as regards employment.
There are threemechanismswithin theUnitedNations system that monitor the rights of indigenous peoples. These are theUnitedNations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Human Rights Council), and the
ExpertMechanism on theRights of Indigenous Peoples (HumanRightsCouncil).
The ILO has a system for overseeing the conventions ratified by the States, in order to ensure that States fulfil the provisions stipulated in
those conventions, which are binding innature. Convention169 has been ratifiedby 14LatinAmerican countries.
There is also the outcome document from the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on
Indigenous Peoples (WCIP, New York, September 2014), in which States reaffirmed their commitments to the provisions of the
Declaration and Convention 169. Article 31 of that document declares: “
We request the Secretary-General, in consultation and
cooperation with indigenous peoples, the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues and Member States, to begin the
development, within existing resources, of a system-wide action plan to ensure a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the
Declaration and to report to theGeneral Assembly at its seventieth session, through the Economic and Social Council, on progress made.
We invite the Secretary-General to accord, by the end of the seventieth session of the Assembly, an existing senior official of the United
Nations system, with access to the highest levels of decision-making within the system, responsibility for coordinating the action plan,
raising awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples at the highest possible level and increasing the coherence of the activities of the
system in this regard
.”This senior official has already been appointed, and is currentlyworking on an action plan.
Lastly, it is important to consider theAltaOutcomeDocument from theGlobal Indigenous PreparatoryConference for theUnitedNations
WorldConference on Indigenous Peoples (June 2013, Alta, Norway), representing the end result of a global consultation process involving
representatives of the indigenous peoples and nations of the sevenglobal geopolitical regions, andwhich includes recommendations for the
WorldConference on Indigenous Peoples.
