A/74/149
to the key provisions related to lands and resources, has been reiterated by United
Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur. 40
48. In 1995, the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous People was signed
as one of the 12 peace agreements that make up the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting
Peace between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria
Nacional Guatemalteca. Under the chapter on civil, political, social and economic
rights, the Agreement provided measures regarding the recognition of indigenous
authorities, the need to develop a decentralized administrative structure and the need
to attain higher levels of participation of indigenous peoples at all levels of decisionmaking, including through the adoption of mechanisms for consultation. The
Agreement also included a call for the recognition of indigenous justice systems and
addressed some issues related to the rights to land. In 2005, the agreements were
converted into national law. The Peace Secretariat of Guatemala has assessed the
implementation of the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace as being slow, a
concern reiterated by United Nations entities and regional human rights bodies. 41 As
observed by the Special Rapporteur, the adequate recognition of indigenous autonomy
or self-government, including the respect for indigenous government institutions, is
still pending, and it is being further eroded by institutions derived from the agrarian
regime and the decentralization laws. 42
3.
Constitutional recognition of indigenous autonomy or self-government
49. In several countries, aspects of the right of indigenous peoples to
self-determination, including the exercise of autonomy or self-government, have been
constitutionally recognized. The recognition ranges from the acknowledgement of
advisory functions and certain indigenous institutions to the incorporation of a wide
range of territorial and self-government rights. In terms of the incorporation of such
rights, the more advanced frameworks of constitutional and legal recognition are in
Latin America. Some constitutions in Asia contain autonomy arrangements and
acknowledge indigenous customary law and customa ry land tenure, while some
constitutions in Africa have included the recognition of certain aspects of
self-government, such as traditional authorities. Finally, a few countries have
embarked upon nation-building processes as the natural consequence of the
recognition of the plurinational, multi-ethnic and multicultural nature of their
societies.
50. Constitutional recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in Latin America
has allowed for the formalization of different models of indigenous autonomy an d
self-government at the territorial, regional and municipal levels. Most of the
constitutions have had some indigenous rights incorporated into them, together with
the recognition of the multi-ethnic and multicultural reality of the societies in the
region, although gaps in the implementation of the constitutional commitments, in
particular those arising from provisions related to lands, territories and natural
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40
41
42
14/23
E/C.19/2011/6; E/C.19/2014/4; Raja Devasish Roy, “Challenges for juridical pluralism and
customary laws of indigenous peoples: the case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh ”,
Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 2004);
A/HRC/9/9/Add.1, para 50; BGD 4/2014; CCPR/C/BGD/CO/1, para. 12.
Peace Secretariat of Guatemala, Agenda Política de la Paz 2017–2026: Compromisos por
Cumplir, (Guatemala City, April 2017); A/HRC/39/17/Add.3, paras. 17–18, 35 and 102–103;
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala:
Diversity, Inequality and Exclusion (OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 43/15, 31 December 2015); see also
E/CN.4/2003/90/Add.2 and CERD/C/GTM/CO/16-17, paras. 15–16.
A/HRC/39/17/Add.3, paras. 63, 73–75 and 103.
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