Indigenous peoples have organised themselves and have also gained influence and spaces within the regional human rights mechanisms as the Inter-American Human Rights System and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The situation of indigenous peoples remains alarming in many countries: From land rights to women’ rights, indigenous peoples are highly challenged on the ground.
We support indigenous peoples in accessing and benefiting from local and regional human rights mechanisms as well as the UN system and its global agendas.
At the international level, indigenous peoples have crawled up the latter in the UN system: It started with the establishment of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1984 at the lowest level of the UN system, and now indigenous peoples are on the verge of getting a special status at the highest level of the UN.
On the local level, the rights of indigenous peoples are still not fully realised. The situation of indigenous peoples remains alarming in many countries: From land rights to women’ rights, indigenous peoples are highly challenged on the ground.
Every year, reports written by IWGIA show that the human rights of indigenous peoples are being violated and that indigenous rights defenders are increasingly threatened and many continue to be arrested or even murdered.
The Sustainable Development Goals work for indigenous peoples
For indigenous peoples, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development provides an opportunity to access all of their rights. The targets include six explicit references to indigenous peoples.
The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development is grounded on the principles of human rights, human dignity, non-discrimination, equality and participation that are essential for indigenous peoples’ access to all of their rights. This includes the 2030 Agenda’s overarching aim of “leaving no one behind”.
The inclusion of indigenous peoples in the review process and realisation of the SDGs is necessary to prevent indigenous peoples from being left behind.
IWGIA supports the interlink between the local and the global
The linking of international commitments and national laws and is one of the biggest challenges for indigenous peoples.
Therefore IWGIA is enhancing the bridging of the existing gap by supporting the initiatives of indigenous peoples’ organisations to empower them to flag their cases in relevant international forums. They bring documentation, cases and updates from the ground to encourage change at the local level.
The aim is to link decisions and policies adopted at the global level with the development of laws and policies at the local and regional level.
Collecting data on indigenous peoples' rights and the SDGs
With support from the EU, the online platform called the Indigenous Navigator have been developed for collecting community-generated data and information that visualises and identifies existing gaps in the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights.
Through the indigenous Navigator questionnaires, communities can generate their own data and make them available on an online data portal. This will allow other actors to access in-depth information about indigenous peoples’ situation.
The Indigenous Navigator is aimed at raising indigenous peoples’ awareness of their rights through systematic data generation, and empowering them to claim their rights by using their data in dialogue with policy-makers and development stakeholders at the local, national and global levels.
The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Mogens Lykketoft, made a major decision to move forward with implementing the WCIP Outcome Document by appointing Claire Charters (Maori from New Zealand) and Prof. James Anaya (former UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples) alongside the permanent representatives of the Governments of Finland and Ghana to assist him in the consultations on the WCIP2014 follow-up regarding the participatory status of indigenous peoples at the United Nations.
The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has submitted her report to the Human Rights Council, which provides a summary of her activities since her previous report to the Council (A/HRC/27/52) and undertakes a thematic analysis of violations against indigenous women and girls.
This year’s slogan for Human Rights Day is, "Human Rights 365". This encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.
Two weeks after the adoption by the United Nations of the Sustainable Development Goals indigenous peoples gather in Copenhagen to take stock and strategize on their involvement in the 2030 agenda.
IWGIA and the Norwegian Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples have organised a Roundtable Conference to assess the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance for indigenous peoples.
Joint statement on the continued lack of protection of the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural heritage in the context of UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention
Joint statement of: Endorois Welfare Council, Saami Council & International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
The ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169 is an international treaty, adopted by the International Labour Conference of the ILO in 1989.
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights. Read more.
Indigenous World
IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for indigenous peoples worldwide. Read The Indigenous World.