A/75/185 programmes. Given continuing or resurgent waves of transmission, national and local governments must also ensure that human rights-based pandemic emergency protocols are developed together with indigenous peoples. Ensuring that women have a leadership role is particularly important to ending the intersecting discrimination they face, 139 and the situation of indigenous older persons, persons with disabilities, women, children, youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons and human rights defenders must also receive specific attention. 140 91. The collective right of indigenous peoples to health entails the possibility of running their own health-care systems and applying a holistic approach to health care, incorporating their rights to culture, land, language and the natural environment. 92. Many indigenous peoples rely on fragile ecosystems for their sustenance and survival. As they are already threatened by climate change, reducing environmental protection in the name of promoting economic recovery would disproportionately have an impact on indigenous peoples. 141 The pandemic must be an occasion for transformative change, including by ending the overexploitation of natural resources and emissions contributing to global warming, and reversing increasing socioeconomic inequality within and between nations. 93. The Special Rapporteur encourages all Member States and other international actors to act collectively and in solidarity to rapidly scale up emergency support for indigenous peoples in all their diversities, including for sufficient and culturally appropriate testing, personal protective equipment and treatment and for community services such as those relating to water and sanitation, health and social protection. Distribution of relief should never discriminate against anyone on such grounds as indigenous status, ethnicity, race, nationality (including statelessness), disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. 94. The Special Rapporteur endorses already issued guidance and recommendations on the rights of indigenous peoples in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including from OHCHR 142 and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues. 143 95. The Special Rapporteur further highlights the below recommendations to States, indigenous authorities and organizations, international donors, United Nations entities and business companies. Planning and delivery of health care 96. Indigenous authorities, communities and associations should prepare or update contingency plans for pandemics, identifying the areas they can manage entirely independently and those where they may require support. The plans should __________________ 139 140 141 142 143 24/27 See United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, “In Guatemala, investing in indigenous women’s economic empowerment is key to building back better afte r COVID-19”, 29 June 2020, available at https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/6/ feature-empowering-indigenous-women-in-guatemala-in-covid-19-response. See OAS, “Indígenas amazónicos están ‘en grave riesgo’ frente a COVID -19, alertan ONU Derechos Humanos y CIDH”. See Daniel Wilkinson and Luciana Tellez-Chavez, “How COVID-19 could impact the climate crisis”, Foreign Policy in Focus (16 April 2020). Available at https://fpif.org/how-covid-19could-impact-the-climate-crisis. See https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_Indigenous PeoplesRights.pdf. See http://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/ 04/Indigenous-peoples-and-COVID_IASG_23.04.2020-EN.pdf. 20-09737