A/73/176 E/C.19/2018/7). Participants in a recent international expert group meeting of the Permanent Forum recognized the “need to compile information about indigenous peoples’ autonomy and governance systems that could provide valuable information as good practices” (E/C.19/2018/7). The Special Rapporteur decided to engage further with this theme. In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is furthermore important to elaborate on the role that indigenous governance systems could play in ensuring that the implementation of the 203 0 Agenda is relevant and culturally appropriate for indigenous peoples, guided by indigenous values and respectful of the rights of indigenous peoples. B. The international legal framework relating to indigenous peoples and self-governance 34. Indigenous peoples’ right to govern themselves is well established in international human rights law and jurisprudence. This section provides a brief overview of the relevant international human rights framework, 4 with an emphasis on some of the key elements relating to self-governance. 35. Indigenous peoples’ right to self-governance is closely linked to their right to exercise self-determination, as it allows them to be in control of their own destiny and self-determined development. Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007, provides for the right to selfdetermination. It is considered a foundational right of indigenous peoples, because it affirms their right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. 5 Self-determination for indigenous peoples is also a matter of cultural self-determination, which has been described as the right to recapture their identity, reinvigorate their ways of life, r econnect with the Earth, regain their traditional lands, protect their heritage, revitalize their languages and manifest their culture, all of which are considered “as important to indigenous people as the right to make final decisions in their internal po litical, judicial, and economic settings”. 6 36. The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle in international law, enshrined in Article 1 (2) of the Charter of the United Nations and common article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Both the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Committee, albeit to a lesser extent, have invoked article 1 of the Covenants in cases relating to indigenous peoples, mainly in the context of indigenous land rights, economic rights and the right to take part in cultural life. 7 __________________ 4 5 6 7 18-11856 See A/HRC/15/35 for a thorough overview of the international human rights framework relating to the self-governance and participation of indigenous peoples. Anaya, S. James, Indigenous Peoples in International Law, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004); and Åhrén, Mattias, Indigenous Peoples’ Status in the International Legal System (Oxford University Press, 2016). Wiessner, Siegfried, “Indigenous sovereignty: a reassessment in light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 41 (2008), p. 1176. The Human Rights Committee, for instance, found that Australia had not sufficiently protected indigenous self-determination and needed to take steps to “secure for the indigenous inhabitants a stronger role in decision-making over their traditional lands and natural resources ” (A/55/40 (Vol. I), paras. 506–507). The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights found an infringement of article 1 in the case of an economic land concession in a protected forest area in Cambodia, causing environmental degradation and displacement of indigenous peoples (E/C.12/KHM/CO/1, para. 15). For further examples, see Saul, Ben, Indigenous Peoples and 9/23