The World Conference: An Historic Opportunity to Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

When the United States announced its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010, that meant that no country in the world any longer opposed the Declaration – at least not openly.  But putting these indigenous legal rights into practice can be another thing altogether!  Getting countries around the world, including the United States, to truly respect the human rights of indigenous peoples and to put the Declaration into action will require on-going work and constant monitoring of actions affecting indigenous nations and communities.

The 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples presents a promising opportunity to create a mechanism or body responsible for monitoring and encouraging implementation of the UN Declaration by countries.  Creating a monitoring and implementing mechanism at the UN level is a long-time objective of a number of the Indian nations the Center is assisting.  We are working with Indigenous nations, tribes, governments, and organizations to create an understanding of the need for a UN mechanism to help ensure that countries will fulfill the promises of the UN Declaration.

Center attorneys are providing legal help and guidance for a group of more than ten Indian nations in the United States and many Indian communities and organizations in Mexico, and Central and South America.  We are helping these Indian leaders to recommend and win serious action from the UN at the World Conference to implement and protect their human rights.

The UN World Conference is intended to share perspectives and best practices on the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples, and the result of the Conference is supposed to be an “action-oriented outcome document”.  The Center and the tribes we are working with are recommending that the UN take action by creating an implementing body that would monitor how states are protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples.

Though the UN Declaration is strong, it is not legally binding, and many countries are reluctant to respect and protect indigenous rights on the ground.  Most countries must be encouraged to carry out their human rights obligations toward everyone and especially toward indigenous peoples.  The UN has implementing and monitoring bodies for many other areas of human rights, and we believe one is needed for this important set of human rights as well.

Indigenous peoples around the world will have a major influence on decisions made at the Conference by participating in the preparations, making proposals, and building support among UN member countries.  Seeking an implementation mechanism or body is one of many proposals and recommendations that indigenous nations, tribes, governments, and organizations are putting forward for consideration at the World Conference.  Others include combating violence against indigenous women, action to protect indigenous resources and environments in the context of climate change and development by extractive industries, and creating an appropriate status for indigenous peoples to participate in the United Nations on a permanent basis. 

The World Conference on Indigenous Peoples is set to take place September 22-23, 2014, in New York.