A/HRC/9/9 page 6 against “indigenous people themselves and their communities and organizations”, and to “formulate recommendations and proposals … to prevent and remedy” such violations (para. 1). The Special Rapporteur was further invited to “take into account a gender perspective” and pay special attention to the situation of indigenous women and children (paras. 2-3). 15. In its resolution 6/12, the Council expanded the Commission’s original resolution, adding directives for the Special Rapporteur to work cooperatively with States, indigenous peoples, United Nations and regional bodies, and non-governmental organizations, and to pay particular attention to both the obstacles preventing full enjoyment of indigenous peoples’ human rights and to best practices in overcoming these obstacles. Significantly, resolution 6/12 further directs the Special Rapporteur to “promote the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and international instruments relevant to the advancement of the rights of indigenous peoples, where appropriate” (para. 1 (g)), thus providing the Special Rapporteur’s activities with a clear normative framework. 16. In recasting the original mandate, the Council underlined the role of the Special Rapporteur in promoting and facilitating a dialogue with Governments, indigenous peoples and other stakeholders to find effective ways to fully realize the rights of indigenous peoples which are affirmed in the Declaration and other international sources, in the spirit of respect, cooperation and mutual understanding that underpins the Declaration. 17. One of the Special Rapporteur’s main tasks in performing this role is to contribute to a better understanding, by the Council and all parties involved, of the legal, political, economic and institutional implications of the international recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples. With this objective in mind, the Special Rapporteur’s initial report aims at relating the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most recent and authoritative statement on the rights of these peoples as recognized internationally, to the larger body of relevant international human rights norms and instruments; and at examining ways in which the Declaration can be fully operationalized and put into practice. III. THE DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE LARGER BODY OF RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL SOURCES 18. During the last three decades, the demands for recognition of indigenous peoples across the world have led to the gradual emergence of a common body of opinion regarding the content of the rights of these peoples on the basis of long-standing principles of international human rights law and policy. This common normative understanding has been promoted by international and regional standard-setting processes; by the practice of international human rights bodies, mechanisms and specialized agencies; and by a significant number of international conferences and expert meetings. The emergence of this common understanding has further been reflected in and supported by widespread State practice and constitutional, legislative and institutional reforms at the domestic level. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the most important of these developments globally, encapsulating as it does the widely shared understanding about the rights of indigenous peoples that has been building over decades on a foundation of previously existing sources of international human rights law.