A/74/149 realization of the right to autonomy or self-government. The overview is not exhaustive, nor does it reflect an attempt to classify or constrain ongoing realities into fixed models. The general categories provided below are intended to reflect some ongoing processes. 1. De facto exercise of autonomy and self-government 36. In some areas, indigenous peoples freely exercise their right to autonomy or self-government independently of State recognition. For example, isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin and the Gran Chaco have decided to avoid contact with outsiders. That decision is their expression of self-determination. Several countries, including Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, have adopted legislation or public policies to respect that principle and to provide for protective measures, in particular to safeguard traditional territories from intrusion. 24 37. Many indigenous peoples live in remote areas in which there is little or no State presence and have limited interaction with outside societies and population centres. In that situation, they continue to control their lands and resources and exercise their own government functions, even if there is no State recognition of their rights or even of their existence. That de facto exercise may be put at risk when, for economic, strategic or other reasons, their areas become valuable to the State or other interested parties. 38. The lack of State capacity, for financial and other reasons, allows indigenous peoples to continue to exercise all or part of their self-governing functions. For example, in some countries, the ordinary justice system is present only in limited areas of the national territory, and indigenous communities maintain their customary justice systems, with good results in terms of violence prevention. 25 Indigenous guards operate in the fields of community security and territorial protection in several indigenous territories in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, among others. 26 39. The Special Rapporteur considers that the lack of formalization of indigenous peoples’ rights risks making them dependent upon the will of the State and outside interests. States have a duty to legitimize those rights through adequate legal and administrative measures developed in cooperation with indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples in many countries are requesting such recognition, 27 although in certain circumstances some indigenous peoples, nations and communities prefer to remain unrecognized and forgo the protections that come with recognition in order to maintain control and independence over their structures. 28 40. Inadequate legal and administrative measures adopted for the formal recognition of indigenous rights, in particular with regard to lands, territories and resources, may __________________ 24 25 26 27 28 19-11889 A/HRC/39/17/Add.1; OHCHR, “Directrices de protección para los pueblos indígenas en aislamiento voluntario y en contacto inicial de la región amazónica, el Gran Chaco y la región oriental de Paraguay”, Geneva, May 2012; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact in the Americas (OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 47/13, 2013). As shown in official statistics in Guatemala. See A/HRC/39/17/Add.3, paras. 78, 79; A/HRC/42/37/Add.1 and A/HRC/42/37/Add.2. A/HRC/15/37/Add.3, paras. 24 and 62; A/HRC/39/17/Add.2, para. 52; A/73/176, para. 74; A/HRC/42/37/Add.1. For example, in Australia (A/HRC/15/37/Add.4, para.14, and A/HRC/36/46/Add.2, para. 22) and New Zealand (A/HRC/18/35/Add.4, paras. 46–47). In Guatemala, indigenous organizations, together with the public prosecutor, and with the support of OHCHR, promoted a constitutional amendment for the recognition of indigenous customary justice. Unfortunately, it was rejected by Congress (see GTM 1/2017). A/HRC/15/35, para. 51; see also examples in Mexico (E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.2, paras. 54–55 and 68, and A/HRC/39/17/Add.2, para. 53) and the United States of America (E/C.19/2018/7, para. 25). 11/23