A/HRC/12/34/Add.3 page 14 exclusively within indigenous communities in Nepal, but they do persist both in practice and the patriarchal attitudes they represent. Indigenous women share in expressing a desire to maintain the integrity of the distinctive cultures of Adivasi Janajati, while emphasizing the need to purge those cultures of these particular practices and attributes. IV. PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS WITHIN A DEVELOPING CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER A. Implementation of Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 48. To address the many human rights challenges faced by indigenous peoples in Nepal, both the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169 should be benchmarks for legal and policy reforms and programmatic action at all levels. The Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction the programmes already initiated by the Government of Nepal to improve the conditions of indigenous peoples, including through steps specifically aimed at implementing Convention 169. The Special Rapporteur observed that the Government of Nepal is conscious of the need to adopt enabling legislation for the Convention, to reform existing legislation and administrative practices to harmonize its standards, and to incorporate the basic principles of the Convention in the new constitution. 49. While acknowledging the critical importance of Convention 169 in framing initiatives to advance the rights of indigenous peoples, Government officials were much less clear on the practical significance of the United Nations Declaration. This lack of clarity appeared to stem from the Declaration’s legal status, which is not that of a legally binding treaty. As stated in the Special Rapporteur's annual report to the Human Rights Council of 2008 (A/HRC/9/9), even though it is not a treaty, the Declaration has great normative weight as a rights-proclaiming instrument adopted by the United Nations General Assembly with the affirmative votes of an overwhelming majority of Member States, including that of Nepal, within the framework of the obligations established by the Charter of the United Nations to promote and protect human rights on a non-discriminatory basis. To be sure, Convention 169 has significant legal attributes as a treaty that the Declaration does not have; in particular, according to the Nepal Treaty Act and relevant national jurisprudence, as a duly ratified treaty Convention 169 prevails in the case of conflicting national legislation within the domestic legal sphere. Nonetheless, the Declaration has a normative weight that is grounded in the international human rights system and in Nepal’s endorsement of its terms, such that at all times and at all levels Government actors should be cognizant of the Declaration when addressing indigenous peoples’ concerns and, further, should interpret the Convention in light of it. 50. The Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction that the Government has established a task force on the implementation of Convention 169, and urges the task force to take duly into account the terms of the Declaration as it interprets the Convention and develops measures to implement its various provisions. The task force includes representatives of the relevant ministries, NFDIN and the national indigenous organization NEFIN, and it receives technical advisory support from the ILO office in Nepal. The task force has produced an initial plan on the implementation of the Convention which includes a detailed and overarching set of initiatives and programmes.