A/77/238 “Indigenous peoples and local communities” 11. Indigenous peoples enjoy a unique status under international law, protected by a legal framework distinct from the rights of minorities, 4 peasants 5 and “local communities”. This is because indigenous peoples exist within nation States as political, social and legal entities represented through their own governance structures. This sui generis status entitles them to a wide range of collective rig hts, including the rights to self-determination, lands and resources, and free, prior and informed consent. Indigenous peoples constitute “peoples” under international law, as affirmed in international instruments such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as international jurisprudence in which their rights are defined. 12. Indigenous peoples exist regardless of formal State recognition or the terminology used by States to describe them. 6 The use of terms or phrases such as “indigenous peoples and local communities” should be avoided to the greatest extent possible, without undermining the situation of unrecognized indigenous peoples. Any use of such terms should be expressly without prejudice to the specific rights of indigenous peoples under international law. “Indigenous scientific knowledge” 13. The Special Rapporteur uses the terminology “indigenous scientific knowledge” in response to calls to avoid terms such as “customary” or “traditional” that do not appropriately reflect the importance of indigenous knowledge. In his report to the Human Rights Council of 2022 (A/HRC/51/28), the Special Rapporteur provides further analysis of these concepts. IV. International legal standards 1. International human rights law 14. The standards relating to indigenous peoples’ rights in the context of conservation and protected areas have developed through international human rights law, international labour law and international environment law and were examined in the report of the previous mandate holder to the General Assembly on conse rvation in 2016 (A/71/229, paras. 20–32). Fundamental legal sources include the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO Convention No. 169 and other universal and regional human rights instruments. Such instruments recognize indigenous peoples’ rights to their traditional lands and resources, self government, self-determination, participation, consultation, free, prior and informed consent, and restitution. These rights form the basis of indigenous peoples’ collective identity and their physical, economic and cultural survival. 15. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples highlights the responsibility of the United Nations system to continuously promote and p rotect these rights. Under article 41 of the Declaration, the organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, including UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Programme and the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, are required to contribute to the full realization of the Declaration through the mobilization of financial cooperation and technical __________________ 4 5 6 6/20 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), art. 1. 22-11289