Rights of Indigenous Peoples

A/RES/71/178View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 65aRights of indigenous peoples, published in 2016.

What other versions does this mandate have?

15 versions · 2012–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/191

2025A/RES/80/191Rights of indigenous peoplesLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/159Rights of indigenous peoplesCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/189Rights of indigenous peoplesCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/203Rights of indigenous peoplesCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/148Rights of 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

Anniversaries Human Rights Indigenous Peoples International Years Languages

What does this mandate say?

26 operative paragraphs

Notes with appreciation the work of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the rights of indigenous peoples, takes note of her report, and encourages all Governments to respond favourably to her requests for visits;

Urges Governments and the United Nations system, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples through their representatives and institutions, to continue to implement, when appropriate, measures at the national level, including legislative, policy and administrative measures, to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples6 and to promote awareness of it among all sectors of society, including members of legislatures, the judiciary and the civil service, as well as among indigenous peoples, and invites international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, national human rights institutions, where they exist, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and other relevant actors to contribute to those efforts;

Underscores the importance of implementing the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples,4 and reiterates the commitment of Member States to cooperating with indigenous peoples, through their own representative institutions, to develop and implement national action plans, strategies or other measures, where relevant, to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

Encourages Member States to give due consideration to all the rights of indigenous peoples in fulfilling the commitments undertaken in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development5 and in the elaboration of national programmes;

Reaffirms the decision to convene a high-level event to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to be held during the seventy-first session of the General Assembly, in 2017, and that the event will take stock of the achievements of the preceding 10 years and assess the remaining challenges for the rights of indigenous peoples, and also consider the further follow-up to the Declaration, including the consideration of a third International Decade;

Requests the President of the General Assembly to make the arrangements necessary for the high-level event that will be held during the sixteenth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in 2017, encourages the participation of Member States, the United Nations system, in particular the Permanent Forum, the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur, as well as indigenous peoples’ representatives, institutions and organizations, in accordance with the established practice for their accreditation, and encourages Member States to raise awareness of this event;

Encourages States to organize activities to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at various levels, from local to national, including to raise public awareness of the Declaration, the progress achieved and the challenges remaining;

Welcomes the leadership of the Secretary-General and of the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as the responsible senior official of the United Nations system, in developing a system-wide action plan to ensure a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, raising awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples and increasing the coherence of the activities of the system in this regard, and encourages the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, resident coordinators and United Nations country teams to implement this plan in full alignment with national development needs and priorities;

Encourages Member States to work towards achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the light of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration;

Encourages those States 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;

Urges Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to continue to contribute to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues and the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership, invites indigenous organizations and private institutions and individuals to do likewise, and notes the importance of accessibility, accountability, transparency and balanced geographical distribution in the management of these funds;

Decides to continue to observe in New York, Geneva and other United Nations offices every year on 9 August the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, requests the Secretary-General to support the observance of the Day from within existing resources, and encourages Governments to observe the Day at the national level;

Proclaims the year beginning on 1 January 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages, to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take further urgent steps at the national and international levels, and invites the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to serve as the lead agency for the Year, in collaboration with other relevant agencies, within existing resources;

Encourages States to consider including in their reports related to indigenous peoples and women information on the progress made and challenges in the implementation of Commission on the Status of Women resolutions 49/7 of 11 March 2005, entitled “Indigenous women: beyond the ten-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action”, and 56/4 of 9 March 2012, entitled “Indigenous women: key actors in poverty and hunger eradication”;

Also encourages States to consider including in their voluntary national reviews for the high-level political forum on sustainable development and their national and global reports information related to indigenous peoples on the progress made and challenges in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, bearing in mind paragraphs 78 and 79 of the 2030 Agenda, and further encourages States to compile disaggregated data to measure progress and to ensure that no one is left behind;

Underlines the need to intensify efforts, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against indigenous women, children, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities and to support measures that will ensure their empowerment and full and effective participation in decision-making processes at all levels and in all areas and eliminate structural and legal barriers to their full, equal and effective participation in political, economic, social and cultural life;

Reaffirms the importance of effective accountability with regard to violence against indigenous women and girls, including sexual violence, abuse and exploitation, and of taking adequate measures to combat such violence;

Welcomes the decision of the Commission on the Status of Women to place the issue of empowerment of indigenous women on the agenda of its sixty-first session as a focus area, and encourages States to participate actively in discussions on this issue;

Stresses the need to strengthen the commitment of States and the entities of the United Nations system to mainstream the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples into development policies and programmes at the national, regional and international levels, and encourages them to give due consideration to the rights of indigenous peoples in achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda;

Invites the Expert Mechanism, the Permanent Forum and the Special Rapporteur to give due consideration, within their mandates, to the rights of indigenous peoples as related to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda;

Encourages Governments to redouble efforts to combat the worst forms of child labour, both in legislation and in practice, in the context of respect for the human rights of indigenous children, including through international cooperation, as appropriate;

Encourages States and entities of the United Nations system to strengthen international cooperation, including to address the disadvantages faced by indigenous peoples, and to increase technical cooperation and financial assistance in this regard;

Encourages the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in accordance with their mandates, to carry out research and evidence-gathering on the prevalence of suicide among indigenous youth and children and good practices on its prevention and to consider developing, as appropriate, strategies or policies, consistent with national priorities, in cooperation with Member States, to tackle it, including through consultation with indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous youth organizations;

Reaffirms the request to the President of the General Assembly to conduct, within existing resources, timely, inclusive, representative and transparent consultations with Member States, indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions from all regions of the world, and existing relevant mechanisms of the United Nations, on the possible measures necessary, including procedural and institutional steps and selection criteria, to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them;

Also reaffirms the commitment made by the General Assembly at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples to consider ways to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them, and in this regard takes note with appreciation of the work undertaken thus far, led by the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session, in preparing a compilation of the views presented during the consultations, including good practices within the United Nations regarding indigenous peoples’ participation, which will form the basis for a draft text to be finalized and adopted by the Assembly during its seventy-first session;

Decides to continue its consideration of the question at its seventy-second session, under the item entitled “Rights of indigenous peoples”, and to maintain in the provisional agenda the sub-item entitled “Follow-up to the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples”.

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