A/HRC/36/53 40. The human rights-based approach to business by indigenous peoples plays a double role. Upstream, indigenous peoples’ businesses help to reclaim their rights and downstream, businesses serve as a tool for enhanced enjoyment of rights by indigenous peoples, including within their own communities by specific social groups, notably indigenous women, youth and person with disabilities. C. Discrimination-free appreciation of the contribution indigenous peoples’ businesses and economies make to national development 41. The Declaration is grounded in equality and seeks to address structural discrimination that affects indigenous peoples, including the non-recognition of their contribution to national economies or societies as a whole. To that end, the preamble to the Declaration reaffirms that all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness of civilizations and cultures, and recognizes that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development. 42. One key facet of the discrimination experienced by indigenous peoples is the stereotyped view that they represent an obstacle to development or that their economic activities do not contribute to the economies of the countries they live in. Indigenous peoples’ economic models are often considered wasteful of resources, bound to disappear and “anti-development”. 43. Those prejudiced views are grounded in conceptual frameworks that were and continue to be used to justify land dispossession and economic marginalization. They negate the human rights principles of equality and human dignity, which the Declaration upholds by affirming that all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating superiority of peoples or individuals on the basis of national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust (preamble). 44. Indigenous businesses and traditional livelihoods in fact play an increasingly important role in national economies. In Canada, indigenous businesses contribute approximately Can$ 12 billion to the economy annually. 11 In the United States, over a period of five years, indigenous businesses contributed over US$ 34.4 billion to the national economy. 12 In New Zealand, the Maori economy is worth an estimated $NZ 40 billion, representing 5.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). 13 In other countries, however, there is little data assessing the contribution of indigenous peoples to national economies. For instance, pictures of Maasai culture contribute enormously to the Kenyan national economy, considering the wide use of those images as national symbols, including for the Kenyan national airline and tourist industry. In that and other examples, the contribution of indigenous peoples to their national economies remains invisible, which fosters prejudiced views against indigenous peoples’ industries, economies and cultures. 45. Globally, it has been estimated that pastoralism provides 10 per cent of the world’s meat production. 14 In sub-Saharan Africa, pastoralism, which is often practised by indigenous peoples, accounts for a significant proportion of GDP. For example, pastoralism accounts for 84 per cent of the agricultural GDP in the Niger, 80 per cent of GDP in the Sudan and 50 per cent in Kenya. In Ethiopia, the pastoralist leather industry is the second highest performing industry in terms of foreign trade. 15 The 2010 African Union Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa: Securing, Protecting and Improving the Lives, 11 12 13 14 15 See Bert Archer, “The first Indigenous business incubator is coming to Toronto” Novae (2 February 2017). Available from https://novae.ca/en/2017/02/the-first-indigenous-business-incubator-is-comingto-toronto/. See United States Census Bureau Public Information Office, “Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2012” (Washington D.C., 25 Oct. 2012). See Te Puni Kōkiri, Māori Economy Report 2013 (2015). See State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (United Nations publication, Sales No. 09.VI.13). Ibid. 9