A/HRC/12/32 page 20 77. José Carlos Morales thanked the participants for their important contributions to the debate. He provided information on some of the achievements and challenges faced in the implementation of the Declaration in Latin America. He noted that the region has undergone a constant process of evolution during recent decades, involving constitutional reforms and specific legislation. He stated that there is increasing recognition and support for the rights of indigenous peoples and the implementation of the Declaration. Mr. Morales expressed the hope that more Governments and indigenous peoples’ organizations in the region will in the future submit timely information and share their experiences in the context of the Expert Mechanism’s discussions. 78. John Henriksen stated that the discussion under item 4 had revealed once again the comprehensiveness and complexity of the contents of the Declaration, and that individual provisions cannot be interpreted nor implemented in isolation as the articles of the Declaration are interconnected, and connected to other international human rights instruments. He said that the discussion demonstrated the need for States and indigenous peoples to work together to achieve the goals of the Declaration and that other actors such as NHRIs have a crucial role to play. He stressed the importance of building training capacity and wide translation and distribution of the Declaration. 79. Mr. Henriksen said that there appears to be broad agreement between States and indigenous peoples that issues related to implementation of the Declaration need to be addressed within the framework of the Expert Mechanism. He said that the debate demonstrated that there have been some positive developments in various countries, either as a consequence of the Declaration, or as a result of national processes undertaken in the spirit of the Declaration. 80. He emphasized that the debate unfortunately also proves that indigenous peoples are still facing serious problems as a consequence of the continued denial of their rights and freedoms, including serious human rights violations, and that in some instances practically nothing has happened despite the fact that the Declaration now is a reality. 81. He noted that the debate also revealed the need for States and indigenous peoples to work together in order to achieve the goals of the Declaration. In many instances it seems extremely important to focus on reconciliation, as an important precondition for making the Declaration a reality on the ground. He concluded by stating that the Expert Mechanism would continue addressing the implementation of the Declaration, but that its work might need to be focused further. 82. He referred to the various suggestions made by observers as to which thematic issues the Expert Mechanism should focus on, including the right to self-determination, the resource dimension of the right to self-determination, the principle of free, prior and informed consent, consultations, indigenous peoples’ rights pertaining to lands, territories and natural resources, indigenous peoples’ right to health, linguistic rights, and remedies for infringements of indigenous peoples’ rights. In principle, no issue or right that is addressed in the Declaration should be regarded as being off-limits for the Mechanism’s work and that it nevertheless needs to identify its thematic focus and priorities in compliance with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council.