adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven the following Convention, which may be cited as the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957: PART I. GENERAL POLICY Article 1 1. This Convention applies to-(a) members of tribal or semi-tribal populations in independent countries whose social and economic conditions are at a less advanced stage than the stage reached by the other sections of the national community, and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations; (b) members of tribal or semi-tribal populations in independent countries which are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonisation and which, irrespective of their legal status, live more in conformity with the social, economic and cultural institutions of that time than with the institutions of the nation to which they belong. 2. For the purposes of this Convention, the term semi-tribal includes groups and persons who, although they are in the process of losing their tribal characteristics, are not yet integrated into the national community. 3. The indigenous and other tribal or semi-tribal populations mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article are referred to hereinafter as "the populations concerned". Article 2 1. Governments shall have the primary responsibility for developing co-ordinated and systematic action for the protection of the populations concerned and their progressive integration into the life of their respective countries. 2. Such action shall include measures for-(a) enabling the said populations to benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which national laws or regulations grant to the other elements of the population; (b) promoting the social, economic and cultural development of these populations and raising their standard of living; (c) creating possibilities of national integration to the exclusion of measures tending towards the artificial assimilation of these populations. 3. The primary objective of all such action shall be the fostering of individual dignity, and the advancement of individual usefulness and initiative. 4. Recourse to force or coercion as a means of promoting the integration of these populations into the national community shall be excluded. Article 3 1. So long as the social, economic and cultural conditions of the populations concerned prevent them from enjoying the benefits of the general laws of the country to which they belong, special measures shall be adopted for the protection of the institutions, persons, property and labour of these populations. 2. Care shall be taken to ensure that such special measures of protection-(a) are not used as a means of creating or prolonging a state of segregation; and (b) will be continued only so long as there is need for special protection and only to the extent that such protection is necessary. 3. Enjoyment of the general rights of citizenship, without discrimination, shall not be prejudiced in any way by such special