A/72/186
practices and has made country-specific recommendations. The respective Special
Rapporteurs have expressed their concerns over the lack of access by indige nous
peoples to appropriate basic public services as well as the distressing disparities
between the overall social and economic condition of indigenous peoples and that of
the non-indigenous population in both developing and developed countries. 45
38. Adequate policies must meet two basic criteria: they should conform to the
international human rights standards on indigenous peoples; and they should be
developed in cooperation with them and with their full participation, with the aim of
strengthening their self-determination. 46 This may require a reinterpretation of the
concept of development in the light of the Declaration, ensuring that the agency of
indigenous peoples as development actors is recognized in the reconceptualization
of the issues classically addressed by public policies such as economic
development, health or education. Public policies that do not conform with
international human rights standards on the rights of indigenous peoples are likely
to further violate those rights.
39. Within this context, it is essential to consider the link between poverty, in all
its dimensions, and the violation of the right to self -determination. It is also
essential to consider the centrality of the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands,
territories and resources to ensuring their enjoyment of all their human rights. In
this sense, it must be stressed that there has been more progress in the adoption of
measures related to certain social and cultural rights than in those concerning
effective recognition and respect of indigenous peoples’ rights to self-government
and to their lands, territories and natural resources.
40. Public policies should address the underlying causes of poverty and
marginalization that indigenous peoples suffer as a result of the de nial of their
rights. They should also be considered as elements of the coordinated and
systematic action States should develop to ensure that indigenous peoples enjoy
their collective and individual human rights, and not as marginal, stand -alone
initiatives dependent on available funding. The mandate holder has observed
positive examples of public policies to implement indigenous rights on different
sectoral issues, such as for example the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Health Plan 2013-2023 which affirms that it adopts a human rights-based
approach informed by the Declaration. 47 Other examples include the Whanau Ora
policy in New Zealand; the bilingual intercultural education programme in Panama
and the policies for the protection of indigenous peoples in isolation and recent
contact in Bolivia and Ecuador. In El Salvador the recently adopted national policy
on indigenous peoples considers the Declaration as its framework. Canada is
undertaking a review of its policies to ensure coherence wit h the Declaration, and
dialogue processes with indigenous peoples on public policies are ongoing in Costa
Rica or Paraguay.
41. There is a continuous need to review policies and align them with the
Declaration. The commitment made at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples
by Member States to develop and implement, in cooperation with indigenous
peoples, national action plans, strategies and other measures to achieve the ends of
the Declaration 48 provides an opportunity to reverse the current situation a nd
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45
46
47
48
17-12399
See for example mission reports of the Special Rapporteur on visits to Colombia (2009); Nepal
(2009); Australia (2010, 2017); the Republic of the Congo (2011); New Zealand (2011); the
United States of America (2012); and Canada (2014).
See A/HRC/27/52; and A/65/264.
See www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/oatsih -healthplantoc~framework.
General Assembly resolution 69/2, paras. 7 and 8.
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