A/HRC/54/31/Add.1 human rights standards on Indigenous Peoples, which rely on the right to collective selfidentification as the primary criterion for their recognition.1 7. Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark. Figures suggest that, with a population of around 56,600, nearly 90 per cent are Inuit. There are three major Inuit groups: the Kalaallit of west Greenland, who speak Kalaallisut; the Iivit of Kangia, who speak Iivi oraasia (East Greenlandic); and the Inughuit/Avanersuarmiut near Thule who speak Inuktun. 8. The system of self-government came into force on 21 June 2009, with the Act on Greenland Self-Government, 2 replacing the Greenland Home Rule Act of 29 November 1978. The Act on Greenland Self-Government recognizes the people of Greenland as a people under international law with the right of self-determination. It also recognizes Greenlandic as the official language in Greenland. The Act sets out that the people of Greenland can decide to seek independence and enables Greenland to take over responsibility for most of its internal matters except for the Constitution; nationality; the Supreme Court; foreign, defence and security policies; the exchange rate; and monetary policy. To date, Greenland has assumed authority over a wide range of areas, including social issues, health, taxes, industry, the environment, natural resources, trade and education. 9. The Government of Greenland consists of the Inatsisartut (Parliament), the elected legislature, and the Naalakkersuisut (Government), the executive branch. Justice affairs remain under Danish jurisdiction. In 2008, Denmark adopted the Administration of Justice Act for Greenland (Act No. 305) and the Criminal Code for Greenland (Act No. 306) to reform the judicial system of Greenland. The reform retains some elements of the Inuit justice system: the principle of resocialization of offenders rather than punishment and lay judges’ courts as district courts of first instance. The four lay judges’ district courts follow the principle of geographical proximity to reach small remote settlements. The Court of Greenland, the court of first instance for more complex cases, and the High Court of Greenland, the appeal court, have judicial judges. 10. Greenland elects two representatives to the Parliament of Denmark. Denmark appoints a High Commissioner to coordinate between the Danish authorities and the Government of Greenland. 11. Since 2014, the Danish Institute for Human Rights has acted as the national human rights institution for Greenland and works in close cooperation with the Human Rights Council of Greenland. III. Principal human rights issues A. Inuit Greenlanders in Denmark 12. The Special Rapporteur met with Danish authorities in Copenhagen regarding areas that, according to the Act on Greenland Self-Government, remain under Danish control in Greenland, and also with Inuit Greenlanders living in Denmark to learn about their situations. 13. Approximately, 17,000 Inuit Greenlanders live in Denmark. As Greenlanders have Danish citizenship, they formally enjoy the same rights as Danish-born citizens. The Danish civil registration system does not record Inuit origin. Persons from the Faroe Islands are distinguished as holding Danish and Faroese nationalities in their Danish passports, while there is no such distinction for Greenlanders, it merely states that the holder’s nationality is Danish. The consequence is a lacuna regarding data on the number of Greenlanders in Denmark and difficulties in adapting and addressing public policies to their needs. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has, on several occasions, urged Denmark to revise its data-collection system to include ethnicity, to enable accurate 1 2 GE.23-13414 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, art. 33 (1); Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), art. 1 (2); and A/HRC/EMRIP/2019/3/Rev.1, para. 75. Act No. 473 of 12 June 2009. See https://english.stm.dk/media/10522/gl-selvstyrelov-uk.pdf. 3