A/62/286 directly includes the indigenous peoples living in those regions. In most cases, however, indigenous peoples’ hopes for a peaceful solution to conflict situations have been frustrated by the failure to implement these peace agreements or by the implementation of conflicting Government policies, particularly in the areas of demilitarization, internal migration and land rights. Occasionally, patterns of violence and human rights abuses typical of the conflict situations that these agreements seek to address are still discernible. 58. Women and girls are particularly affected by armed conflicts involving indigenous peoples, where sexual violence is systematically used as a weapon of war. Their situation of vulnerability makes them more likely than other population groups to be victimized by human trafficking networks or forced to become economic migrants under conditions of extreme precariousness, abuse and violence. V. Conclusion 59. The effective recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights is a human rights imperative which no country can subordinate to the objectives of national unity or development and which, in fact, strengthens progress towards these objectives rather than hindering it. The Special Rapporteur calls on all Member States and particularly, on this occasion, the Asian States to give priority attention to indigenous communities, regardless of the legal status afforded to these groups in their domestic systems, taking into consideration international norms and the positive examples found in comparative legislation in Asia and other parts of the world. 60. Asian States should be actively and constructively involved in international discussions concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly regarding the Human Rights Council’s activities in this area. Asian States, particularly those that are parties to International Labour Organization Convention No. 107, should consider promptly ratifying ILO Convention No. 169 concerning indigenous and tribal peoples in independent countries. 61. To enable the world’s indigenous peoples to exercise all their human rights fully and effectively, the international community must recognize and respect the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2006. The United Nations system, at all levels, has the ineluctable responsibility of championing the principles and objectives of this Declaration for the benefit of the hundreds of millions of people in the world who are of indigenous origin and whose rights have been trampled for so long. The General Assembly, in accordance with the founding principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations, should now embark on this momentous task. 14 07-48664

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