A/HRC/57/62 23. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Law No. 22/030 on the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous Pygmy Peoples was adopted in 2022. The explanatory memorandum indicates that, in addition to the constitutional provisions imposing duties on public authorities to ensure the equality of all citizens by eliminating all forms of discrimination, the Government is also required to bring its laws into accordance with the specific international instruments relating to the promotion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.32 24. Despite the fact that the Amazigh language is recognized as an official language in the Constitution of Morocco, the legislation provided for in the Constitution to define the modalities of its integration into education and public life has not yet been promulgated. As a result, several laws and regulations still exclude the protection of the Amazigh language in many priority areas.33 25. In Costa Rica, over the years representatives of Indigenous Peoples have submitted various proposals for legal reform that would protect Indigenous territories and recognize and protect Indigenous Peoples’ self-government authorities. None of the proposals has been successful. Within the framework of the universal periodic review, there has been recognition of the centrality of the issue of Indigenous governance. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples also recognized that point and urged Costa Rica to enact the Autonomous Development of Indigenous Peoples Bill. Nevertheless, the Bill was shelved in 2018.34 26. Canada has advanced implementation of the Declaration through legislation. In 2019, the Canadian province of British Columbia passed its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.35 In 2021, similar legislation came into force at the federal level. 36 Both Acts provide road maps for government and Indigenous Peoples to work together to implement the Declaration. The federal Act requires Canada to harmonize its legislation, including the Indian Act, with the rights provided for in the Declaration. Indigenous Peoples have raised concerns about omissions in the Act, such as the lack of reference to the creation of an independent Indigenous human rights commission,37 and the absence of formal structures and processes to ensure accountability and meaningful Indigenous consultation and cooperation, including an appropriate budget for monitoring implementation.38 27. While New Zealand recognizes the rights affirmed in the Declaration, it reportedly views many of the rights as merely aspirational, thereby questioning the legal status and effect of the Declaration. The Government continues to resist the idea that changes may be required to the laws and constitutional frameworks of New Zealand in order to ensure consistency with the Declaration. There is no recognition of the Declaration, and therefore no positive obligation for its implementation in New Zealand legislation or its constitutional arrangements.39 28. In Bangladesh, Parliament passed the fifteenth amendment to the National Constitution of Bangladesh in 2011. During the amendment process, demands from Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and leaders on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Peoples, their languages and cultures, control over their land, territory and natural resources, and constitutional guarantee of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997, were allegedly disregarded. 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 GE.24-13517 Submission from Action Communautaire pour la Promotion des Défavorisés Batwa (ACPRODBATWA) (in French). Submission from Tijani El Hamzaoui (in French). A/HRC/51/28/Add.1, para. 28. British Columbia, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act [SBC 2019] chap. 44, available at https://canlii.ca/t/544c3. Canada, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act [S.C. 2021, chap. 14]. Presentation by Marie Belleau at the expert meeting, November 2023. See also submission from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Métis National Council. Submission from Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples. See also submission from Assembly of First Nations. Submission from New Zealand Human Rights Commission, November 2023. 7