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his engagement, attention and action continues to grow at an extraordinary pace, yet
the declining resources allocated by Member States remain insufficient to meet the
scale and urgency of the work required. He gratefully acknowledges the generous and
unconditional support received from philanthropic organizations. Those contributions
have been instrumental in enabling the establishment of an external team of human
rights professionals to support his mandate. They have also made possible the
aforementioned travel and direct engagement with Indigenous Peoples, which were
often conducted in collaboration with host organizations. Nonetheless, no external
support can be a substitute for a mandate that is fully funded and institutionally
supported by OHCHR through the States Members of the United Nations. Only
through such commitment can the full potential of the mandate be realized.
24. The Special Rapporteur therefore urges all Member States to provide robust and
sustained support to the United Nations in general, in particular to OHCHR and the
human rights mechanisms, especially those dedicated to the rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The need to prioritize investment in human rights at the domestic and
international levels has never been so urgent.
III. Land rights of Indigenous Peoples in the global context
A.
Background
25. Rights to land, territories and resources (“rights to land” or “land rights”) 2 are
fundamental to the self-determination, cultural preservation and very existence of
Indigenous Peoples. 3
26. The nature, scope and weight of those rights are clearly established in the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, International Labour
Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 (1989) concerning Indigenous and tribal
peoples, regional human rights instruments, customary international law, national laws,
regional and international jurisprudence and expert analysis by authoritative sources. 4
The present report is therefore aimed at supporting the effective implementation of
those rights, as required in article 27 of the Declaration, which reads as follows:
States shall establish and implement in conjunction with indigenous peoples
concerned, a fair independent, impartial, open and transparent process, giving
due recognition to indigenous peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure
systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining
to their lands, territories and resources, including those which were traditionally
owned or otherwise occupied or used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right
to participate in this process.
27. As a thematic priority of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur aims to examine
practices related to the identification, demarcation, registration and titling of
Indigenous lands, territories and resources. The intention is to take stock, assess the
challenges, gather lessons learned in promoting, protecting and guaranteeing those
rights and encourage good practices. To this end, the Special Rapporteur issued a call
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2
3
4
25-11701
These should be understood as including waters, maritime zones and sea areas traditionally used,
occupied or otherwise possessed by Indigenous Peoples living in coastal, riverine or lake regions.
See E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/21.
See A/59/258, A/71/229, A/74/149, A/77/238, A/78/162, A/79/160, A/HRC/24/41, A/HRC/33/42,
A/HRC/36/46, A/HRC/45/38, A/HRC/54/31, A/HRC/57/25, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.4 and
E/CN.4/2002/97. See also State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: Rights to Lands, Territories
and Resources, vol. V (United Nations publication, 2021).
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