A/HRC/39/68 exports and the return of cultural, intellectual and spiritual property to the rightful owners. She argued that the United Nations should establish fair, transparent and objective mechanisms for repatriation, developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples. She focused on relevant articles of the Declaration and stressed that customary laws of indigenous peoples must be respected. She extended the gratitude of the Yaqui nation to the institutions that had provided continuous and mutual support in relation to that work. 80. Ms. Virtanen noted that the University of Helsinki had organized an international conference on indigenous peoples’ rights to cultural heritage in November 2017 as a follow-up to the report of the Expert Mechanism on that theme. Because of discrimination and appropriation of cultural heritage, the university had focused the conference on understanding indigenous communities for the development and implementation of legal frameworks related to cultural heritage. Ms. Virtanen highlighted the importance of indigenous understanding of heritage and the crucial role of the environment in the cocreation of heritage. She stressed the vital role of indigenous participation in all phases leading up to the protection of cultural heritage so as to include indigenous concepts and governance. 81. Closing the panel discussion, Mr. Piyãko mentioned that culture was not a social construction but rather something into which a person was born and which offered direction to the material and spiritual aspects of daily life. He placed particular emphasis on the importance of sacred sites as a means to communicate with the spiritual realm and expressed his serious concerns about the destruction of nature, the disappearance of indigenous languages and the loss of identity of indigenous peoples following past massacres and displacements. As a spiritual leader, he also expressed his concern at the lack of adequate legal instruments for the recognition of traditional plant medicine, referring specifically to past imprisonments for travelling with ayahuasca, essential to the healing rituals he had performed since childhood. He highlighted the need for organizations and institutions to recognize and facilitate a framework in which traditional medicinal systems could be taught and practised. XII. Future work of the Expert Mechanism, including focus of the next annual study 82. Under item 10, the Expert Mechanism decided that its next annual study on the status of the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide in the achievement of the ends of the Declaration, mandated by paragraph 2 (a) of resolution 33/25, would focus on the theme of indigenous peoples, migration and borders. 83. The Expert Mechanism also decided to prepare a report to the Human Rights Council on good practices and lessons learned regarding efforts to achieve the ends of the Declaration, as authorized by paragraph 2 (b) of resolution 33/25. The report would focus on the theme of recognition, reparation and reconciliation. 15