A/HRC/45/34 by her predecessors in 2007 and 2013.4 The report on Asia, being presented to the Human Rights Council in parallel to the present report, is focused on the topics of lands, territories and resources, human rights defenders, business and human rights, conservation and environmental rights. 5 Emphasis is also placed on the impact of climate change on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, and on the critical role played by indigenous peoples in protecting the environment, including through traditional knowledge. 8. During the past year, the Special Rapporteur has issued more than 100 communications to more than 30 countries and to other entities such as private corporations and intergovernmental organizations, in response to information received on alleged violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples. The cases addressed are included in the special procedures’ joint communications report, and in the special procedures online communications database. 6 The Special Rapporteur also issued press releases on urgent cases and on thematic issues of special concern.7 She has developed comments on laws and policies regarding indigenous peoples’ rights – for example, on the principles on consultation and consent within the law to establish the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico, on the elaboration of a law on free, prior and informed consultation in Honduras, on Presidential Provisional Measure No. 870 in Brazil, and on the law amending the management of vacant, fallow and virgin lands in Myanmar,8 and has submitted expert testimony and amicus curiae briefs, in relevant court cases, to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Constitutional Tribunal of Peru.9 9. The Special Rapporteur continued her coordination with other United Nations specialized bodies, and with the regional human rights systems. She also continued to participate in international conferences and meetings of relevance to the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment, such as the international expert group meeting arranged by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on conservation and the rights of indigenous peoples, held in Nairobi from 23 to 25 January 2019, and the twenty-fifth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Madrid in December 2019. 10. In November 2019, the Special Rapporteur contributed to an expert group meeting organized by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Sustainable Development Goal 16, on access to justice, which took place at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. 11. As is requested in her mandate, the Special Rapporteur has paid particular attention to the rights of indigenous women and girls. She has been involved in the activities relating to the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, which will culminate in a high-level meeting in 2020 with the theme of the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. III. Impact and achievement, examples from between 2014 and 2020 12. In this section, the Special Rapporteur would like to reflect on some specific examples of positive impact that the work carried out during her mandate has had on the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. She believes that this can serve as a means of contributing to a better understanding of the levels of engagement that the mandate has had with indigenous peoples, States and other actors, and of the types of human rights issues that she has addressed. 13. The Special Rapporteur has reiterated that, despite progress made at the international, regional and national levels in many countries on legal recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples, important challenges remain. Violence against and criminalization of 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 A/HRC/6/15/Add.3 and A/HRC/24/41/Add.3 respectively. A/HRC/45/34/Add.3. Available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/NewsSearch.aspx?MID=SR_Indigenous_People. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/LegislationAndPolicy.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/ExpertTestimony.aspx.