A/HRC/21/52 moving beyond discussions concerning the legal status of the Declaration, to its use by States as an authoritative statement to take decisive action to ensure that indigenous peoples benefit from the full protection of the standards established in the Declaration. He emphasized that the Declaration did not create new rights, rather, it took basic human rights laws and principles and contextualized those rights as they applied to indigenous peoples. 72. Grand Chief John noted that article 38 of the Declaration provided an impetus for dialogue to achieve the full and effective implementation of the Declaration. He described the Declaration as a substantive compilation of the human rights of indigenous peoples, noting that human rights could not be aspirational. He stressed that the quality of life of indigenous peoples remained a foremost concern. 73. Many State observers indicated that the interactive panel was a valuable opportunity for States to learn more about the Declaration and emphasized the importance of dialogue. State observers also offered their support for extending the time period for the questionnaire and asked that those States which had provided responses be offered the opportunity to provide updates. 74. In closing, International Chief Littlechild noted that the interactive dialogue was a historic event. The Special Rapporteur explained that he used the Declaration as the primary point of reference for his work. He noted that, in his work, he had not encountered a single State which contested the application of the Declaration, and noted that in practice the Declaration stood as a common point of reference for addressing the challenges faced by indigenous peoples. Grand Chief John expressed his appreciation of the format of the interactive dialogue and noted the value of collaborative efforts to address the challenges faced by indigenous peoples. IX. Proposals to be submitted to the Human Rights Council 75. The Chairperson-Rapporteur invited observers to share their recommendations regarding the Expert Mechanism’s proposals to the Human Rights Council. 76. Observers recommended that the Expert Mechanism conduct studies on, inter alia: access to justice; the militarization of indigenous peoples; indigenous peoples’ tribal governance; the right to self-determination; climate change; best practices on women and economic development; and, as a follow-up, on indigenous peoples’ permanent sovereignty over land and natural resources. 77. Observers also recommended further interactive dialogues, further involvement of the Expert Mechanism in the preparatory process for the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and engagement of the Expert Mechanism with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. X. Adoption of the reports, studies and proposals 78. At the last meeting of its fifth session, the Expert Mechanism adopted its follow-up report on indigenous peoples and the right to participate in decision-making, with a focus on extractive industries; its study on the role of languages and culture in the promotion and protection of the rights and identity of indigenous peoples; and its report on the summary of responses from the questionnaire to seek the views of States on best practices regarding possible appropriate measures and implementation strategies in order to attain the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. All proposals set out in the fifth session report were adopted by consensus by the members of the Expert Mechanism. 17