A/80/181 35. Endorsed by the General Assembly in 1962, permanent sovereignty over natural resources is a principle of international law asserting a State’s right to control and manage its own natural wealth and resources within its territory. 12 It has been argued that there is a discernible trend of extending the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources as a combined exercise of the rights to self -determination, to ownership of traditional lands and to free, prior and informed consent, something that “can help indigenous peoples exercise their right to permanent sovereignty within the nation state”. 13 5. Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are a pillar for their other rights 36. Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are also the foundation and “guarantee [for] other of their rights, including life, culture, dignity, health, water and food”, 14 as upheld in human rights jurisprudence 15 and in numerous studies, including by the Expert Mechanism on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. 16 If Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are not secured, their other rights are unlikely to be protected. Land is, for Indigenous Peoples, the bedrock of their very existence as nations. It embodies their culture and livelihoods; it supports traditional governance; it sustains their languages; it preserves their knowledge; and it maintains their spiritual life, food systems, health and psychological well-being. This implies that States, in observance of their duties to uphold the other fundamental rights of Indigenous Peoples, must respect Indigenous Peoples’ land rights. 37. Most recently, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations of ILO has associated the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights with States’ obligation to prevent discrimination in employment and occupations. In a case concerning the Ompu Ronggur Indigenous People of Indonesia, the Committee reaffirmed that traditional occupations (such as farming, hunting and handicraft production) were “occupations” within the meaning of ILO Convention No. 111 (1958) on the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation. As those occupations are dependent on access to land, insecure land tenure and biased approaches to traditional occupations “pose serious challenges to the enjoyment of equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of occupation”. Consequently, the Committee requested the Government of Indonesia to secure access to lands for customary-law communities, including by reviewing the current legal framework and repealing any discriminatory aspects affecting the ability of those communities to engage in and continue to perform their traditional occupations. 17 C. Regional trends according to the contributions received 38. As mentioned above, during the next reporting period, the Special Rapporteur aims to conduct regional consultations and to produce a final report on the __________________ 12 13 14 15 16 17 10/21 See resolution 1803 (XVII). Shawkat Alam and Abdullah Al Faruque, “From sovereignty to self-determination: emergence of collective rights of Indigenous Peoples in natural resources management”, The Georgetown Environmental Law Review, vol. 32, No. 1 (2019), p. 59. A/HRC/45/38, para. 11. Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Judgment, 17 June 2005, para. 176; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Judgment, 24 August 2010, para. 234. See also CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5 and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. See A/HRC/45/38. See https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/nrmlx_en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:13100:0::NO::P13100_ COMMENT_ID%2CP13100_COUNTRY_ID:4416270%2C102938. 25-11701