A/HRC/39/68 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 6/36, the Human Rights Council established the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a subsidiary body to assist the Council in the implementation of its mandate by providing it with thematic expertise on the rights of indigenous peoples, as requested by the Council. In the resolution, the Council established that the thematic expertise would focus mainly on studies and research-based advice, and that the Expert Mechanism might suggest proposals to the Council for its consideration and approval. 2. In September 2016, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 33/25 amending the Expert Mechanism’s mandate: the Expert Mechanism was mandated to provide the Council with expertise and advice on the rights of indigenous peoples as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to assist Member States, upon request, in achieving the ends of the Declaration through the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights of indigenous peoples. The specificities of the new mandate are set out in the resolution. 3. The Expert Mechanism held its eleventh session in Geneva from 9 to 13 July 2018. The summary of the discussions in sections V to XII below is not intended to be a verbatim record, but rather an overview of the main points raised by expert members and other participants. The individual contributions of all participants can be viewed on the webcast of the session.1 The items of the agenda are presented in the report in the order in which they were taken up at the session. II. Intersessional activities 4. Since its tenth session, held in July 2017, the Expert Mechanism has undertaken several official intersessional activities. In September 2017, it held an interactive dialogue with the Human Rights Council at the latter’s thirty-sixth session as part of the process of submission of the Expert Mechanism’s study on good practices and challenges, including discrimination, in business and in access to financial services by indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women and indigenous persons with disabilities (A/HRC/36/53). On the same occasion, Albert Kwokwo Barume, outgoing Chair of the Expert Mechanism, served as moderator of the half-day panel discussion in the Council on the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In January 2018, the Expert Mechanism participated in the expert group meeting on sustainable development in territories of indigenous peoples convened by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. 5. The Expert Mechanism held its intersessional meeting in Santiago in December 2017. The meeting comprised a two-day expert seminar on free, prior and informed consent and a three-day private working meeting of the Expert Mechanism. The Expert Mechanism is grateful to the Human Rights Centre of Diego Portales University for co-organizing and hosting the expert seminar, whose main objective was to obtain substantive input to the Expert Mechanism’s study on free, prior and informed consent. The seminar brought together approximately 40 participants, including members of the Expert Mechanism, practitioners from several regions, indigenous human rights advocates, academics and staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 6. The Expert Mechanism participated at the seventeenth session of the Permanent Forum. In addition, several members of the Expert Mechanism engaged with United Nations agencies, regional human rights mechanisms, Member States and civil society organizations at the country level, including through activities related to capacity-building. The Expert Mechanism also provided input to the Human Rights Committee’s general comment on the right to life. 1 Available at http://webtv.un.org. 3