A/HRC/27/52
• Issues related to the right to education of indigenous peoples, especially bilingual
and intercultural education and access to appropriate and culturally sensitive
educational services;
• Measures to protect and promote indigenous cultural heritage and traditional
knowledge, including developments in conventions and standard-setting processes
related to the protection of traditional knowledge and respect for the right to culture
and the equitable sharing of benefits which accrue from the use of indigenous
peoples’ knowledge, innovations and practices;
• Economic and social rights and other human rights issues regarding indigenous
women and children in various settings, such as migration, trafficking of women and
girls, violent conflicts, the informal economy, child labour, etc.;
• The impacts of policies and programmes of international and regional financial
institutions, multilateral and bilateral investment and trade agreements and foreign
aid on indigenous peoples, especially in relation to development projects affecting
indigenous peoples, including good practices of such cooperation;
• The impact of policies, programmes, decisions under legally binding multilateral
environmental agreements4 on indigenous peoples, particularly with regard to how
their rights enshrined in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
International Labour Organization Convention No. 169 (1989) and other related
human rights instruments are being protected, respected and fulfilled in the
implementation of those Conventions at the national level.
53.
While the previous mandate holders have integrated a focus on women and children
areas into their works, including during country visits, as required under the mandates
established by the Human Rights Council, women and children have never been the focus
of a thematic report. The present Special Rapporteur considers that it is time to rectify that.
She recognizes the need to coordinate closely with other special procedures mandate
holders, especially those dealing with issues of women and children, as well as with treaty
bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
54.
A crucial element for the success of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate will be
assessments of the situation of indigenous peoples in specific countries. To the extent that
time and resources are limited, such visits will have to be prepared carefully for maximum
results. During the first year of her mandate, the Special Rapporteur hopes to carry out
country visits within each of the regions. She notes that the previous Special Rapporteurs,
in addition to visits to northern countries such as the Nordic countries, the United States
and Canada, have carried out numerous visits to the Latin American region. The Special
Rapporteur acknowledges that this is due in large part to the openness of countries within
the Latin American region to visits by the Special Rapporteur to look into issues related to
indigenous peoples. She hopes that countries in other regions, especially in Asia and Africa,
will demonstrate a similar openness during the course of her mandate. The Special
Rapporteur also envisions that visits to specific countries could feed in to her thematic
studies.
55.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur relies on establishing fluid communications
with indigenous organizations and receiving communications from individuals and peoples
regarding their human rights conditions. She has already written several communications to
4
16
Among others, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.