A/71/229
I. Introduction
1.
The present report is submitted to the General Assembly by the Special
Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples pursuant to her mandate under
Council resolutions 15/14 and 24/9. In the report, the Special Rapporteur provides a
brief summary of her activities since her previous report to the Assembly
(A/70/301) as well as a thematic analysis of conservation measures and their impact
on indigenous peoples’ rights.
II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur
A.
Participation in conferences
2.
As part of the fulfilment of her mandate, the Special Rapporteur participated
in a number of international and national conferences and dialogues, including:
(a) The Paris Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change in December 2015. Togethe r with the Office of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special
Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, the Special Rapporteur advocated
for the inclusion of human rights in the Paris decisions. Language whi ch recognizes
the need to address human rights, including indigenous peoples ’ rights, in all
climate change measure was included in the Paris Agreement ;
(b) A symposium organized by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for
International Action, the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law and the Native
Women’s Association of Canada in January 2016 on missing and murdered
indigenous women to discuss the national inquiry launched by the Government in
December 2015;
(c) The High-level Dialogue on the World Bank draft environmental and
social standard on Indigenous Peoples in Addis Ababa in February 2016, which
centred on the use of the term indigenous peoples and the requirement to obtain
their free, prior and informed consent. The Special Rapporteur, together wi th the
Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert
Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, subsequently wrote a joint letter to
the World Bank to express concerns regarding the weakening of the safeguards, with
proposals for remedial language;
(d) A seminar on experiences in litigation of cases of violence against
women and women’s access to justice in Guatemala in February 2016, invited by
Alianza Rompiendo el Silencio and Lawyers without Borders, Canada. The Spe cial
Rapporteur hailed the 26 February 2016 judgment in the Sepur Zarco case on sexual
slavery of indigenous women by the Guatemalan military during the armed conflict
as an important historical victory of justice for indigenous women and victims of
sexual slavery worldwide;
(e) An international seminar on indigenous jurisdiction and access to justice
in Bogotá in February 2016 by invitation of the Attorney General ’s Office. Her
intervention underlined the need to increase dialogue and cooperation in the
harmonization of indigenous jurisdiction and the ordinary justice system;
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