A/64/338 in the promotion and protection of the rights affirmed therein. The central role of the State is further reinforced by the essentially reparative orientation of the instrument, which requires States to take affirmative measures to attack the systemic problems that indigenous peoples face in the enjoyment of their human rights in ways that are consistent with their specific cultural characteristics and their own expressed wishes. 53. The Declaration requires that “States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take the appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to achieve the ends of this Declaration” (article 38). This general mandate is further elaborated on in other provisions, with specific affirmative measures required from States in connection with almost all the rights affirmed in the Declaration. 54. The kind of State action required to operationalize the rights affirmed in the Declaration thus entails an ambitious programme of legal and policy reform, institutional action and reparations for past wrongs, involving a myriad of State actors within their respective spheres of competence. The former chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Ms. Erica-Irene Daes, described this process as “belated State-building”, a process “through which indigenous peoples are able to join with all the other peoples that make up the State on mutually agreed upon and just terms, after many years of isolation and exclusion”. 18 This spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding between States and indigenous peoples is a theme throughout the Declaration, including in the provision that underlines the value of historical and modern treaties or compacts as mechanisms to advance relations of cooperation between indigenous peoples and States (article 37). 55. Together with the call for specific State action, articles 4 and 39 of the Declaration jointly call upon States to provide financial and technical support for the operation of indigenous self-governance institutions, without prejudice to the support provided through international cooperation. The need for such support naturally follows from the effective recognition of indigenous peoples’ selfgoverning or autonomous systems, which necessarily connect to the wider political and institutional structures of the countries in which these peoples live. In addition, this State support helps empower indigenous peoples in their autonomous management and provision of social services, such as in the area of education, which also contributes to the fulfilment of the States’ general obligations with regard to the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens. 56. Implementing the Declaration will normally require or may be facilitated by the adoption of new laws or the amendment of existing legislation at the domestic level, as envisaged by article 38 of the Declaration, which calls for appropriate “legislative measures”. Also normally required will be new regulatory frameworks, which in most countries are still lacking or are insufficient. It is important to note that the legal and institutional transformations required by the Declaration are usually not sufficiently addressed solely by enacting specific “indigenous laws”, as many States have done, but rather will normally also involve the transformation of broader legal structures in key areas. Domestic courts play a key role in operationalizing the rights of indigenous peoples as affirmed in international __________________ 18 09-50281 Erica-Irene A. Daes, “Some Considerations on the Right of Indigenous Peoples to SelfDetermination”, 3 Transn’l L. & Contemp. Probs. 1, 9 (1993). 17