The United Nations Declaration on the

Acknowledgements

The Manual was written by Andy Gargett, with the assistance of Katie Kiss, from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Team of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Suraina Pasha (APF) and Samia Slimane (OHCHR) contributed to the drafting and preparation of this Manual. The APF and OHCHR would like to thank Jesse McCormick and Aruni Jayakody for their contributions and James Iliffe and Lisa Thompson for editing and design of the Manual. OHCHR and the APF are particularly grateful to Rosslyn Noonan for her invaluable guidance and support.

The importance of incorporating the views and practical experiences of the main users of the Manual was ensured through a series of consultations held by OHCHR with representatives of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and indigenous peoples’ organizations.

OHCHR and the APF wish to thank the following NHRIs for completing a survey to gather information for this Manual: Australia, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).

OHCHR and the APF also wish to thank those who commented on the draft Manual, including NHRIs – from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda – and indigenous peoples’ organizations – the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee).

List of abbreviations

Introduction for users

This Manual aims to support and strengthen the work of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) – whether they are human rights commissions or ombudsman offices – in the promotion, protection and enjoyment of the rights of indigenous peoples, especially NHRIs that are established in accordance with the Paris Principles.¹

It is designed to assist these institutions learn about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) by providing a broad understanding of the legal nature of the rights it contains, as well as the relevant obligations of States, in order to ensure that indigenous peoples’ rights are fully realized.

We hope that the information provided will also be useful to indigenous community leaders and other stakeholders on how to make use of the NHRIs that operate in the countries in which they live.

Background

The publication of this Manual reflects the conclusions reached at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), where it was agreed that APF member institutions would work in partnership to develop a toolkit to promote greater understanding and implementation of the Declaration.² This Manual also supports the strategies for future action outlined in the outcomes of the International Meeting on the Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Promoting the Implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, held in Bangkok in December 2009.³ The recommendations from this meeting outlined a range of strategies that clearly articulated the critical role of NHRIs in the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ human rights at the national and local levels. Specifically, it was noted that NHRIs, in conjunction with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), should cooperate to provide user-friendly toolkits, adapted to local and regional contexts, to assist local and national implementation of the Declaration.

Rationale

Despite some positive developments, most of the world’s indigenous peoples continue to face impediments to the full enjoyment of their individual and collective human rights:

Indigenous peoples are more likely to receive inadequate health services and poor education – if any at all. Economic development plans often bypass them or do not take into sufficient consideration their views and particular needs. Other decision-making processes are often equally contemptuous of or indifferent to their contribution. As a result, laws and policies designed by majorities with little regard to indigenous concerns frequently lead to land disputes and conflicts over natural resources that threaten the way of life and very survival of indigenous peoples.⁴

In response to the ongoing obstacles hindering the full and effective realization of the rights of indigenous peoples, there have been significant advances in the development of international standards for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights at the international level. These advances culminated in the adoption of the Declaration by the General Assembly in September 2007.⁵

Although NHRIs have broad mandates which require that they protect and promote all human rights for all persons, there are strong arguments for NHRIs to devote special attention to the situation of indigenous peoples’ human rights.

NHRIs are uniquely positioned to monitor implementation by States. The central role they can play in this regard has been noted by several United Nations bodies and mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council,⁶ the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,⁷ the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples⁸ and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.⁹ This role can be achieved through work regularly undertaken by most NHRIs, including advocacy, complaint handling, human rights education, review and formulation of laws in line with human rights standards and monitoring of their State’s human rights performance.

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