A/HRC/30/52 rights of indigenous peoples, including the Special Summit on Sustainable Development. Several challenges affected indigenous peoples, including the denial of their right to selfdetermination, discrimination in education and access to justice and exclusion from public life, all of which led to chronic marginalization. Extractive industries and industrial-scale agriculture had led to violations of indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, their right to a clean environment, and free, prior and informed consent. 19. The High Commissioner reminded participants of the commitments made by States at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, highlighting some positive developments, such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, but noting that few States had followed up on the commitment to develop action plans to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He cited examples of his Office’s work in advancing the rights of indigenous peoples, focusing on capacity-building, protection and support for activists defending the rights of indigenous peoples. He closed by referring to the review of the mandate of the Expert Mechanism, emphasizing that the review must be coupled with a commitment to follow up on recommendations, together with indigenous peoples. 20. In his opening statement, the President of the Human Rights Council recognized the work of the Expert Mechanism and noted that its studies and advice had been well received by the Council and had contributed positively to the efforts to further the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. He was grateful to the Expert Mechanism for the study to be presented at the current session. The Council attached great importance to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including within the framework of the universal periodic review. Emphasizing that the Council was ready to undertake the review of the mandate of the Expert Mechanism, as requested in the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, he hoped that the process would result in a more robust mandate for the Expert Mechanism. He also emphasized the importance of indigenous peoples’ participation in relevant United Nations processes and forums. D. Election of officers 21. Mr. Deterville invited the members of the Expert Mechanism to nominate a ChairRapporteur and Vice-Chair-Rapporteur for its eighth session. Mr. Barume nominated Mr. Tsykarev as Chair-Rapporteur, and International Chief Littlechild and Mr. Deterville as Vice-Chairs-Rapporteurs. All three were then appointed by acclamation. 22. The Chair-Rapporteur, Mr. Tsykarev, thanked the other members of the Expert Mechanism for his election. He welcomed the new member of the Expert Mechanism, Mr. Barume. 23. The Chair-Rapporteur highlighted the work of the Expert Mechanism since the last session. That had included the study on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural heritage. The study was informed by an expert seminar jointly organized by the University of Lapland (Finland) and OHCHR. The Chair-Rapporteur discussed the Expert Mechanism’s work on 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. 24. The Chair-Rapporteur then outlined the Expert Mechanism’s activities during the year, including its participation in the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and in the fourteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He drew attention to the Expert Mechanism’s first intersessional meeting, which had been held at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Canada in March 2015, and thanked the 7