A/71/229 IV. Human rights legal standards and jurisprudence 20. The aim of the present section is to chart and affirm the existing legal obligations to guarantee indigenous peoples’ rights in the context of conservation. The rights of indigenous peoples stem from various branches of international law and have developed through international human rights law, international labour law and international environment law. International and regional human right jurisprudence have further advanced the application of key indigenous peoples ’ rights in conservation. Taking stock of the standing in international law of indigenous peoples’ rights in relation to conservation thus requires consideration of the interrelatedness of the different rights, notably self-determination, cultural and property rights, and appreciation of the complementarity of international human rights law and international environment law. 21. While human rights-based approaches to conservation have become widely accepted among conservation NGOs, their internal policy documents are at times elusive regarding the specific rights of indigenous peoples. This underlines the importance of reiterating the key applicable legal provisions. A. The right to self-determination and land rights 22. Self-determination is a right in itself and is also a necessary pre -condition for the fulfilment of other human rights. The right is a fundamental principle in international law and has been interpreted in a variety of legal contexts. Self-determination is considered an overarching right to indigenous peoples because of its cross-cutting nature and because it affirms their right to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. It is crucial to the issue of land conservation efforts because of its links with land rights and the right to participate within processes and decisions affecting them, such as the establishment and management of protected areas. The right to self-determination is enshrined within both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966, article 1) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966, article 1) and is included in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007, article 3). Human rights treaty bodies, notably the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, hav e all affirmed, in analogous terms, that States must recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their communal lands and to participate in the management and conservation of the associated natural resources. 10 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Committee have underlined the importance of the provision of land titles on the ancestral lands by linking the right to self-determination with cultural rights (article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). 11 The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International __________________ 10 11 16-13163 See Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination general recommendation No . 23; concluding observations for Sri Lanka, in A/56/18, para. 335; see also CERD/C/DEC/SUR/1; CCPR/C/KEN/CO/3; E/C.12/KHM/CO/1. See Ben Saul, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights: International and Regional Jurisprudence (Portland, Oregon, Hart Publishing, 2016). 9/25