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Indigenous peoples

: Photo by New Zealand Human Rights Commission

Indigenous peoples have unique, distinctive cultures, languages, legal systems and histories.

They share a strong connection to the environment and their territories and have developed a rich body of traditional knowledge.

However, across the Asia Pacific and around the world, indigenous peoples are recognised as among the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalised peoples.

While they number approximately 370 million in total – around five per cent of the world’s population - they make up 15 per cent of the world’s poor and one-third of the world’s extremely poor.

Indigenous peoples commonly share legacies of removal from traditional lands, destruction of their cultures, discrimination and widespread violations of their human rights.

They are excluded from decision-making processes and from economic power; they suffer lower education and health outcomes; their cultures and languages are under threat; and they continue to be disposed from their traditional lands.

Indigenous peoples continue to struggle to assert their rights, overcome disadvantage, resolve current human rights violations and address the contemporary impacts of historical violations within their respective communities.

In recent years, the United Nations has evolved to increasingly accommodate indigenous voices and concerns. Today the UN system has a number of bodies with a specific focus on the rights of indigenous peoples:

The adoption in 2007 of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, after over 20 years of negotiation, marks a high point of this evolution and provides a comprehensive description of their individual and collective rights.

A major challenge for indigenous peoples is to see action from States to implement their international human rights commitments in national laws, policies and programs.

Role of the APF

National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are a vital part of strong national human rights protection system and play a key role in linking the international and domestic human rights systems.

They can promote the rights of indigenous peoples by using their functions – complaint handling, education and monitoring of a State’s human rights performance – to implement the standards set out in the Declaration at the national level.

The can also engage with the international human rights mechanisms – such as the UN Special Rapporteur, the Universal Periodic Review, the treaty bodies and indigenous-specific bodies – to raise issues and provide country-specific information.

The APF, in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is currently developing an Operational Guide for National Human Rights Institutions on implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The guide will include an overview of the key rights set out in the Declaration, including the principle of self-determination and the principle of free, prior and informed consent.

It will also provide practical strategies for NHRIs to advance the rights of indigenous peoples in their country, as well as highlight the importance of using a human rights based approach when working with indigenous peoples.

The Guide will be a foundation resource in future training programs offered by the APF for staff of member institutions.