Knowra United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples A 2007 United Nations General Assembly declaration setting international standards for Indigenous peoples’ individual and collective rights. It affirms self-determination, cultural continuity, participation, and rights to lands and resources.
Indigenous peoples : Peoples with historical continuity and distinct social, cultural, political, or territorial identities predating colonial or state incorporation. The declaration centers their collective identity and rights without imposing a single universal definition.
United Nations General Assembly : The principal deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the United Nations. It adopted the declaration by resolution in 2007.
Working Group on Indigenous Populations : A former United Nations body that developed international standards concerning Indigenous peoples. Its 1985–1993 drafting work produced the initial declaration text.
United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples : A Human Rights Council mechanism providing expertise and advice on implementing Indigenous peoples’ rights. It monitors and promotes implementation of the declaration’s standards.
Self-determination : The principle that peoples may freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. Article 3 makes this a foundational right of Indigenous peoples.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/295 : The 2007 General Assembly resolution that adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This resolution is the declaration’s formal instrument of adoption.
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues : A UN advisory body addressing Indigenous issues in economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health, and human rights. Its creation marked a broader institutional setting for Indigenous participation during the declaration’s development.
Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples : An independent UN expert who reports on human rights conditions and issues affecting Indigenous peoples. The mandate uses the declaration as a key reference for assessing state conduct.
Collective rights : Rights held by a group as a group, rather than solely by its individual members. The declaration protects peoples, institutions, territories, and cultural continuity alongside individual rights.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Canada) : A 2021 Canadian federal law establishing a framework to implement the UN declaration in Canadian law. It illustrates how a declaration can guide domestic legislation without itself being a treaty.
Show all 19