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Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UN Human Rights Council Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UN Special Rapporteur The Universal Periodic Review (UPR)Human Rights Committee Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2nd UN Decade on Indigenous Peoples African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Arctic Council Organisation of American States Working Group on Indigenous Populations

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The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - A brief history The initial steps The formulation of a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples first began in 1983 within the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. For almost a decade the Working Group devoted a large part of its time to drafting this text. Representatives of indigenous peoples, government delegations and experts on the subject participated very actively in this process. In 1993, the Working Group adopted the text of the Declaration and sent it to its superior body, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which, in turn, adopted the text in 1994 and sent it to the Commission on Human Rights for its consideration. The establishment of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration In 1995, the Commission on Human Rights considered the text submitted by the Sub-Commission and decided to establish an Inter-sessional Working Group (Resolution of the Commission on Human Rights 1995 / 32, 3 March 1995) with the mandate to consider the text presented and draw up a draft Declaration for its consideration and adoption by the UN General Assembly within the framework of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004). The Commission also set up a procedure that made it possible for indigenous peoples' organisations to participate actively in the drafting work at the Commission level. That meant that indigenous peoples' organisations without consultative status with the Economic and Social Council were allowed to help draft the Declaration. Those entitled to vote within this Working Group are the member governments of the Commission on Human Rights. Governments that are not members of the Commission, NGOs with consultative status and indigenous organisations with special accreditation have observer status. Since its establishment in 1995, the Working Group on the Draft Declaration has met annually but although the adaptation of the draft Declaration was recommended in the First International Decade's programme of activities, this did not happen. In 2005 the mandate of the Working Group was renewed but the continued lack of progress in adopting the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a cause of great concern. More information You can find a more in-depth description of the history of the Draft Declaration and the Working Group in IWGIA's publication The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Lola García-Alix 2003). Read more about the discussions on The Draft Declaration in IWGIA's yearbook The Indigenous World. The process is described in The Indigenous World from 1995 and onwards. For backcopies please contact iwgia@iwgia.org. Editions from 2000-2001 and onwards, except 2004, can be downloaded as PDF files by clicking here On http://www.unhchr.ch/html/racism/indileaflet5.doc you will find United Nations Guide for Indigenous Peoples "Leaflet No. 5: The draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" which briefly describes main historic events. For an account of the present situation, go to Background Information and The UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples front page.