E/CN.4/2002/97 page 3 Executive summary Pursuant to the resolution establishing his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has undertaken a number of activities, beginning with attendance at the annual session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) in July 2001, where he met with government delegates, indigenous peoples, human rights organizations and staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In September he attended the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in South Africa. Furthermore, in response to numerous invitations, he addressed a number of seminars on issues related to his mandate organized by, among others, the World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Commission on Human Security. This first report to the Commission on Human Rights is not a narrative of the Special Rapporteur’s activities since his appointment. Rather, he wishes to provide a panorama of the main human rights issues besetting indigenous people at the present time and to set out a framework and agenda for his activities in the future. The report consists of four parts: (a) an overview of activities carried out in the United Nations system in relation to the human rights of indigenous people; (b) the principal issues and problems of indigenous peoples at the present time; (c) a summary of the main content of numerous communications on the situation of indigenous people (the addendum contains a more detailed account of these indigenous claims); (d) an outline of the Special Rapporteur’s future activities. The United Nations system carries out numerous activities relating to indigenous peoples. Notable among them are the annual sessions of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations which since 1982 has examined the situation of indigenous populations and makes recommendations on the topic. Its principal achievement has been the preparation of the “Draft United Nations declaration on indigenous rights”, currently being considered by the Commission on Human Rights. A similar declaration is being prepared in the regional system of the Americas. However, the only legally binding instrument on indigenous rights so far is International Labour Organization Convention No. 169, ratified to date by 14 States. Within the framework of the International Decade for the World’s Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004), the specialized agencies have developed guidelines concerning their activities with indigenous people, and the World Bank is overhauling its own policies in this field. There has been much legislative activity concerning indigenous peoples at the national level, mainly in Latin America, but also in South-East Asia and Africa. Peace agreements involving States and indigenous peoples were signed in recent years in Guatemala, Mali and Mexico, but their implementation is still problematic. The major issues involving indigenous rights relate to land, territory, the environment and natural resources; the administration of justice and legal conflicts; poverty, standards of living and sustainable development; language, culture and education; self-government, autonomy, political participation and the right to self-determination. Across-the-board