Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples

A/HRC/RES/51/18View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 2008–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/60/13

2025A/HRC/RES/60/13Human rights and Indigenous PeoplesLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/HRC/RES/57/15Human rights and Indigenous PeoplesCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/54/12Human rights and Indigenous PeoplesCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/51/18Human rights and Indigenous PeoplesCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/48/11Human rights and indigenous peoplesCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Financing Human Rights Indigenous Peoples Popular Participation

What does this mandate say?

29 operative paragraphs

Acknowledges the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and requests the High Commissioner to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council an annual report on the rights of Indigenous Peoples containing information on the relevant developments in human rights bodies and mechanisms and the activities undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at headquarters and in the field that contribute to the promotion of, respect for and full application of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to follow up on the effectiveness of the Declaration;

Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and encourages all Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the performance of the tasks and duties mandated, including by giving serious consideration to responding favourably to the requests of the mandate holder for visits, furnishing all available information requested in his or her communications and reacting promptly to his or her urgent appeals;

Also welcomes the work of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including its annual report for 2022 and its intersessional activities, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to ensure the timely translation into all official languages of the United Nations and distribution of its reports to the Human Rights Council and the pre-session translation of its studies and reports, in accordance with Council resolution 33/25 of 30 September 2016;

Strongly encourages all relevant stakeholders, including States and Indigenous Peoples, to attend and participate actively in the sessions of the Expert Mechanism, to submit contributions to its studies and reports and to engage in dialogue with it, including during its intersessional activities;

Acknowledges the efforts of States, Indigenous Peoples and United Nations entities to engage with the Expert Mechanism under its current mandate to facilitate dialogue, when agreeable to all parties, and to provide technical assistance and coordination in order to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, encourages all parties to consider the Expert Mechanism’s initiation of country engagements at the request of States and Indigenous Peoples, and acknowledges the engagement of those States that have already collaborated with the Expert Mechanism under its current mandate;

Notes that the next study of the Expert Mechanism, to be finalized by its sixteenth session, will be focused on the impact of militarization on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and that the next report will be focused on establishing effective monitoring mechanisms at the national and regional levels for the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and acknowledges the efforts made to improve complementarity and to avoid duplication among the reports prepared by the Expert Mechanism, the Special Rapporteur and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;

Urges States and invites other public and/or private potential donors to contribute to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples as an important means of promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide and within the United Nations system and to support the system-wide action plan for ensuring a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

Recalls the proclamation of the period 2022–2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the critical loss of Indigenous Peoples’ languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote Indigenous Peoples’ languages, including sign languages, and to take urgent steps to that end at the national and international levels, also recalls the establishment, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, of the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, and calls upon States to promote the effective and meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples in leading and holding activities to mark the Decade;

Takes note of the Global Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, and calls upon States to take concrete measures to implement it at the local and national levels, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, including by seeking to ensure the full and meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples in the design and subsequent implementation of strategies, initiatives, policies and legislation and by engaging in fruitful and sustained dialogue with other relevant stakeholders;

Encourages States to translate and disseminate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into indigenous languages, as appropriate, and to cooperate with the Office of the High Commissioner, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Expert Mechanism to translate their reports and make them accessible to Indigenous Peoples, including by producing them in plain language and Easy Read format;

Decides that the theme of the annual half-day panel discussion on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, to be held during the fifty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council, will be the impact of certain development projects on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular the impact on indigenous women, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to encourage and facilitate the participation of indigenous women, to make the discussion fully accessible to and inclusive for persons with disabilities and to prepare a summary report on the discussion for submission to the Council prior to its fifty-sixth session;

Looks forward to the discussion and to considering the subsequent recommendations of the four-day expert workshop convened by the Office of the High Commissioner on possible ways to enhance the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the work of the Human Rights Council, which will be held from 21 to 24 November 2022 and will be open to the participation of States and of Indigenous Peoples from the seven indigenous sociocultural regions;

Decides to continue to discuss further steps and measures necessary to enable and to facilitate the participation of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives and institutions in the work of the Human Rights Council, in particular by taking into consideration the summary report on the discussion and the resulting recommendations of the four-day expert workshop to be prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner and submitted to the Council prior to its fifty-third session;

Reiterates the invitation to the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, within the Fund’s rules and established procedures, to assist representatives of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and institutions in participating in the above-mentioned expert workshop, promoting balanced regional representation;

Encourages the Expert Mechanism to continue its discussions on the issue of enhancing the participation of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives and institutions in the relevant meetings of the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them;

Encourages States to give due consideration to the rights of Indigenous Peoples and to all forms of violence and discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, faced by Indigenous Peoples and individuals, including setbacks and aggravated barriers caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in fulfilling the commitments undertaken in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the formulation of relevant international and regional programmes, as well as national action plans, strategies and programmes, applying the principle of leaving no one behind;

Urges States to take appropriate measures to protect indigenous children, in particular girls, and young persons from violence, and to ensure that all perpetrators of such violence are held accountable;

Encourages the Special Rapporteur, the Expert Mechanism and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to strengthen their ongoing cooperation and coordination and ongoing efforts to promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including in treaties and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, and invites them to continue to work in close cooperation with all Human Rights Council mechanisms and the human rights treaty bodies, within their respective mandates;

Encourages the development of a process to facilitate the international repatriation of Indigenous Peoples’ ceremonial objects and human remains, in cooperation with Indigenous Peoples and through the continued engagement of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Expert Mechanism, the Special Rapporteur, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, States and all other relevant parties in accordance with their mandates;

Reaffirms that the United Nations treaty bodies are important mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights, and encourages States to give serious consideration to their recommendations, including those regarding Indigenous Peoples, in the application of treaties;

Welcomes the contribution of the universal periodic review to the realization of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, encourages effective follow-up to accepted review recommendations concerning Indigenous Peoples, and invites States to include, as appropriate, information on the situation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including measures taken to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, during their reviews;

Calls upon States to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by adopting measures, including national action plans, legislation or other frameworks, as required, to pursue its objectives in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples, taking into account the use of their languages, and welcomes the fact that several States have developed or are in the process of developing national action plans and domestic legislation for the implementation of the Declaration with the full and meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples;

Calls upon States in all regions that that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), of the International Labour Organization to consider doing so, taking into account its contribution to the promotion and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples;

Welcomes the role of national human rights institutions established in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) in advancing indigenous issues, and recognizes the importance of such institutions developing and strengthening their capacities, as appropriate, to fulfil that role effectively;

Encourages States, according to their relevant national context and characteristics, to collect and securely disseminate data disaggregated by ethnicity, income, gender, age, race, migratory status, disability, geographical location or other factors, as appropriate, in order to monitor and improve the impact of development policies, strategies and programmes aimed at improving the well-being of Indigenous Peoples and individuals, to combat and eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, against them, to include the specific needs and priorities of Indigenous Peoples in COVID-19 recovery plans, to support work towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda and to work with Indigenous Peoples to strengthen technologies, practices and efforts related to addressing and responding to climate change;

Reaffirms the importance of promoting the political, social and economic empowerment of indigenous women and girls, including indigenous women and girls with disabilities, by, inter alia, ensuring access to quality and inclusive education and through meaningful participation in the economy by addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and barriers that they face, including violence, and of promoting their participation in relevant decision-making processes at all levels and in all areas while respecting and protecting their traditional and ancestral knowledge, noting the importance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for indigenous women and girls, and encourages States to give serious consideration to the above-mentioned recommendations, as appropriate;

Condemns the increase in cases of intimidation, harassment and reprisals against indigenous human rights defenders and indigenous leaders, including indigenous women, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ representatives attending United Nations meetings and United Nations mandate holders working on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and expresses its concern at the practice of some countries, including those hosting meetings on indigenous issues, of intentionally delaying or denying entry visas to United Nations mandate holders or applying additional travel restrictions to them that interfere, inter alia, with their ability to return;

Urges States, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, to take all measures necessary and emergency responses, with a gender perspective, to ensure the rights, protection and safety of Indigenous Peoples and indigenous human rights defenders and leaders, including indigenous women human rights defenders, and to ensure that all human rights violations and abuses against them are prevented and investigated, that the perpetrators are held accountable, and that there is access to effective remedies and reparation, including guarantees of non-recurrence;

Decides to continue its consideration of this question at a future session, in conformity with its annual programme of work.

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