A/HRC/60/66 how to realize those rights, and public services. Importantly, article 21 of the Declaration implies the importance of the collection of data in the context of improving the social and economic conditions of Indigenous Peoples. 8. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Human Rights Declaration, of 2012, promotes equality, non-discrimination and cultural integrity, supporting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their knowledge and data systems. 9. The American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in its article XVIII, stipulates that Indigenous Peoples and individuals have the right, as appropriate, to access to their data, medical records, and documentation of research conducted by individuals and institutions, whether public or private. 10. Other instruments across the United Nations system also recognize existing rights in relation to data. These include article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which emphasizes respect for and the preservation and maintenance of knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous Peoples embodying traditional lifestyles. 11. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, adopted in May 2024, marks a significant milestone in international law. It obliges States to require applicants for the granting of a patent, where the claimed invention is based on genetic resources or traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, to disclose the country of origin of the genetic resources or the source of the genetic resources, or the Indigenous Peoples or local community that provided the traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources or the source of the traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. This is a positive step towards preventing misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. 12. The WIPO Treaty acknowledges the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and states that information systems, such as databases, containing information on Indigenous traditional knowledge may be established.5 13. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) maintains databases of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and monitors the situation of linguistic diversity. The participation of Indigenous Peoples in managing this information and its protection from misuse is of key importance.6 14. A requirement relating to the collection and use of disaggregated data concerning Indigenous Peoples is implicitly contained in the International Labour Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169). 15. Human rights treaty bodies have declared data disaggregation to be an important tool to ensure non-discrimination. In its general recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous women and girls, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called upon States to systemically collect disaggregated data and undertake studies, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, to assess and inform measures to prevent violence against Indigenous women and girls. In its concluding observations on the combined twenty-second and twenty-third periodic reports of Peru, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination welcomed the fact that, for the first time, the national census on Indigenous communities included an ethno-racial variable based on the principle of self-identification, thereby providing more complete information on the country’s demographic composition.7 16. Indigenous Peoples are mentioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development six times and, under the system of global indicators, data related to Indigenous Peoples are subject to collection and monitoring. A human rights-based approach to data collection and disaggregation is therefore part of the international obligations of States in the field of human rights. 5 6 7 GE.25-12012 See https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/gratk/summary_gratk.html. Presentation by Alexey Tsykarev (in Russian), expert seminar, December 2024. CERD/C/PER/CO/22-23, para. 5. 3