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.
At its 82nd session on 26 October, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted general recommendation No. 39 on the rights of Indigenous women and girls. This is the first time CEDAW calls on State parties to pay more attention to issues affecting Indigenous women and girls specifically and to take measures to comply with their obligations under CEDAW. The adoption of the recommendation is the result of a concerted effort by Indigenous women's organisations around the world and their supporters, including IWGIA.
Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for his report to the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly:
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Jointly submitted by:
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on World Heritage (IIPFWH), Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC)
Drafting of the General Recommendation on the Rights of Indigenous Women and Girls
With this written submission, the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) seeks to bring forward the voices, perspectives and experiences of indigenous women and girls, particularly from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arctic, and to include them in the development of CEDAW’s general recommendation on the rights of Indigenous women and girls.
The methodology used to collect the data contained in this written submission has been centered on indigenous women’s voices, and is extracted from interviews with Indigenous Women leaders from partner organizations, the data available through the Indigenous Navigator, NGO reports that gathered Indigenous Women and Girls’ testimony, and international organizations reports. It should be noted, however, that the short deadline provided to file these submissions hampered the ability of NGOs such as IWGIA to fully guarantee the inclusive participation of Indigenous Women and Girls in this process.
Last Friday 18 November concluded in Geneva the 41st session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, the mechanism that examines the human rights record of UN Member States.
The Human Rights Council is the main intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. It therefore plays a pivotal role in the promotion and the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Most of the gains achieved by Indigenous Peoples in advancing the recognition of their rights at the international level have been led by the Human Rights Council (or by its predecessor the Commission on Human Rights).
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Read more.
