A/68/317 helping to assist indigenous peoples and States to develop concrete proposals and programmes of action for advancing the rights of indigenous peoples. 6. The Special Rapporteur provides below a summary of activities, which fall within four interrelated work areas: promoting good practices; country reports; cases of alleged human rights violations and thematic studies. Along with describing his activities, the Special Rapporteur provides comments on his achievements and on the difficulties he has faced within these areas of work, and identifies outstanding issues concerning work methods that merit further attention. 1. Promotion of good practices at the national and international levels 7. The Special Rapporteur has a specific mandate from the Human Rights Council, set out in its resolution 15/14 to examine ways and means of overcoming existing obstacles to the full and effective protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, and to identify, exchange and promote best practices. In this connection, he has engaged in a range of activities throughout his mandate to advance legal, administrative and programmatic reforms at the international and the national levels in accordance with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as other international instruments relating to the human rights of indigenous peoples. 8. Many of these activities have taken place in relation to other work areas, that is, in the development of country reports, thematic studies or responses to cases of alleged violations of human rights. These other work areas are standard for special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, regularly supported by the Secretariat. However many of the activities engaged in by the Special Rapporteur to promote good practices have been separate and apart from such standard work areas, very often in response to specific requests by Governments, indigenous peoples and United Nations agencies. The Special Rapporteur’s work to promote good practices has therefore required resourcefulness and innovation. 9. Central to the Special Rapporteur’s promotion of good practices at the national level has been his advocacy to advance commitment to, and operationalization of, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. During the first term of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur focused on encouraging acceptance of the Declaration by those States that did not vote in favour of its adoption by the General Assembly in September 2007. He welcomed the reversal of positions by the four States that had cast votes against the Declaration: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America. Subsequent to their expressions of support for the Declaration, the Special Rapporteur carried out visits to Australia (A/HRC/15/37/Add.4), New Zealand (A/HRC/15/37/Add.9) and the United States of America (A/HRC/21/47/Add.1). The Special Rapporteur also expressed his appreciation for the announcements of support for the Declaration by Colombia and Samoa, two States that had abstained from the vote in 2007. 10. In addition, during the course of his two mandate terms, the Special Rapporteur has responded to requests by State officials and indigenous peoples to provide assistance with constitutional and legislative reform efforts focused on harmonizing national frameworks with applicable international standards related to the rights of indigenous peoples. In 2008 the Special Rapporteur provided technical assistance to the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador within the context of Ecuador’s constitutional revision process, which resulted in one of the most advanced constitutions in the world with respect to the rights of indigenous peoples 4/22 13-42710