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behalf should be forthright when submitting information to the Special Rapporteur
if the same matter has also been submitted to another special procedures mandate,
United Nations human right treaty bodies, regional human rights mechanism, or
other relevant procedure, so that adequate coordination between the mechanisms can
take place and unnecessary duplication avoided.
52. Finally, the Special Rapporteur has participated in the preparations for the
high-level session of the General Assembly to be known as the World Conference on
Indigenous Peoples and convened in September 2014. He participated in an initial
preparatory meeting to discuss the World Conference in Copenhagen in January
2012 and a second meeting, together with members of the Permanent Forum and the
Expert Mechanism, in Guatemala in December 2012. In addition, in June 2013, the
Special Rapporteur spoke at an indigenous peoples’ preparatory session for the
World Conference, held in Alta, Norway, which resulted in a draft outcome
document detailing the indigenous representatives’ collective expectations and
proposals for the World Conference. He has also participated in panels on the World
Conference in the context of the 2013 annual sessions of the Permanent Forum and
the Expert Mechanism, as well as during a half-day panel on the World Conference
during the twenty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council in September 2013.
3.
Coordination with regional human rights bodies
53. The Special Rapporteur has also striven to maintain a dialogue with regional
human rights institutions. Given the specific relevance of the Americas region to the
mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, his principal
coordination in this regard has been with the institutions of the inter-American
human rights system: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The main aspect of coordination has been
in relation to specific cases under review by both the Special Rapporteur and the
institutions of the inter-American system.
54. The Special Rapporteur has also followed up with several Governments
regarding the status of implementation of decisions previously made within the
inter-American system. For example, in December 2008, he participated in
discussions leading up to a ceremony in Awas Tingni, Nicaragua, during which the
Government presented the indigenous community with its long-awaited title to its
ancestral lands as required by a 2001 judgement of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights. In addition, as noted above, in March 2011, the Special Rapporteur
visited Suriname to provide technical assistance to the Government to develop laws
to recognize and protect indigenous peoples’ rights to lands and resources, which
was in the context of the judgement of the Inter-American Court in the case of the
Saramaka People vs. Suriname. Further, in July 2011, the Special Rapporteur
provided expert testimony before the Inter-American Court in the case of the
Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku v. Ecuador, regarding consultation and free,
prior and informed consent.
55. With respect to coordination with other regional human rights institutions, in
April 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated in an Exchange workshop on
indigenous peoples’ rights between the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights, and the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights, held in Banjul. The workshop provided the Special Rapporteur with
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