A/HRC/RES/45/12 11. Decides that the theme of the annual half-day panel discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples, to be held during the forty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council, will be the situation of human rights of indigenous peoples facing the COVID-19 pandemic, and will have a special focus on the right to participation, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to encourage and facilitate the participation of indigenous women and to make the discussion fully accessible to persons with disabilities, and to prepare a summary report on the discussion and to submit it to the Council prior to its fiftieth session; 12. Encourages all stakeholders, in their responses to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, to work in collaboration with indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions, guided by the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to refer to the guidelines of the Office of the High Commissioner on this matter;9 13. Welcomes the summary report prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner on the half-day intersessional interactive dialogue held on 15 July 2019 on ways to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them; 14. Decides to continue to discuss further steps to facilitate the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in the work of the Human Rights Council, in particular in dialogues with the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur and in the annual half-day discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples; 15. Acknowledges that, owing to the public health emergency, it has not been possible to hold the intersessional round table mandated in Human Rights Council resolution 42/19 on possible steps to be taken to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of the Council on issues affecting them, and looks forward to holding that round table in 2021, in accordance with the agreed modalities, to allow for the broadest participation of Member States and indigenous peoples, and with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions from the seven indigenous sociocultural regions; 16. Encourages the Expert Mechanism to continue its discussions on the issue of enhancing the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in the relevant meetings of the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them; 17. Encourages States to give due consideration to the rights of indigenous peoples and the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by indigenous peoples and individuals, including potential setbacks and aggravated barriers caused by COVID-19, in fulfilling the commitments undertaken in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the formulation of relevant international and regional programmes, as well as national action plans, strategies and programmes, applying the principle of leaving no one behind; 18. Encourages the Special Rapporteur, the Expert Mechanism and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to strengthen their ongoing cooperation and coordination and ongoing efforts to promote the rights of indigenous peoples, including in treaties and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, and invites them to continue to work in close cooperation with all Human Rights Council mechanisms and the human rights treaty bodies, within their respective mandates; 19. Encourages the development of a process to facilitate the international repatriation of indigenous peoples’ sacred items and human remains through the continued engagement of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Expert Mechanism, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, States, indigenous peoples and all other relevant parties in accordance with their mandates; 9 4 See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_IndigenouspeoplesRights. pdf.

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