A/HRC/30/52 III. Organization of the session A. Attendance 12. The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples held its eighth session in Geneva, from 20 to 24 July 2015. The members of the Expert Mechanism — Albert Kwokwo Barume (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Albert Deterville (Saint Lucia), International Chief Wilton Littlechild (Canada), Edtami Mansayagan (Philippines) and Alexey Tsykarev (Russian Federation) — took part in the session. 13. The participants in the eighth session of the Expert Mechanism included representatives of Member States, parliaments, indigenous peoples, United Nations programmes, bodies and specialized agencies, national human rights institutions, nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions (see annex I). 14. Also participating in the session were Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Megan Davis, the Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Claire Charters, a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, and Francisco Calí Tzay, the Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development participated in the sessions on agenda item 3: Follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, including the review of the mandate of the Expert Mechanism. B. Documentation 15. The Expert Mechanism had before it the provisional agenda and annotations thereto (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/1 and Add.1), as prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the study on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural heritage. 16. The Expert Mechanism also had before it the following conference room papers: the updated draft report summarizing the responses to the questionnaire seeking the views of States and indigenous peoples on best practices regarding possible appropriate measures and implementation strategies to attain the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/CRP.1); the report of the open-ended meeting of indigenous peoples on the follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/CRP.2); the submission from the monitoring mechanism regarding the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/CRP.3); the compilation of calls to action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada relating to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/CRP.4); and the update on the first World Indigenous Peoples’ Games (A/HRC/EMRIP/2015/CRP.5). C. Opening of the session 17. Mr. Deterville, the outgoing Chair-Rapporteur of the Expert Mechanism, opened the eighth session of the Expert Mechanism and welcomed the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the Human Rights Council. 18. The High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed all participants and highlighted some key recent and future events that would have a significant bearing on the 6