A/75/185 D. Responses and solutions by indigenous peoples to the crisis 50. Throughout their histories, indigenous peoples have repeatedly, in some cases almost continuously, had to overcome adversity and threats to their very survival. When faced during the current pandemic with inadequate support from national authorities, they have once again resorted to their own institutions, creativity and knowledge to manage the virus and keep their communities alive. Indigenous organizations have mobilized at the regional level to relay information about their situation, to present an indigenous perspective on the crisis and solutions to address it, and to push national Governments to action. Self-isolation 51. The most common immediate measure taken by most indigenous peoples across the world has been to prevent transmission of the virus by restricting movement in and out of their communities. In fact, many groups have practised community -wide self-isolation historically. In the Philippines, the Igorot peoples drew on ubaya, an annual tradition predating the COVID-19 crisis which is a period of isolation for the community to rest and self-reflect during the agricultural cycle. 66 Rapa Nui indigenous leaders in Chile, lacking the administrative power to suspend the two daily incoming flights to their island, invoked an ancestral law called Tapu calling for coexistence and respect for the rules of nature, on the basis of which the whole community went into voluntary quarantine and reportedly managed the spread of the virus. 67 In Denmark and Greenland, indigenous authorities have stopped the propagation of the virus by imposing an isolation period on all their communities. In Algeria, wherever they could organize themselves autonomously, Amazigh communities reportedly closed their territories to non-essential foreign visitors, set up entry and exit controls and advised their members to stay home. According to the communities, this form of self-governance yielded positive results, as the number of infected people in these territories has remained very low. 68 52. Indigenous communities who decided to close access to their communities did not always receive police or financial support to do so or to enforce community health checkpoints; 69 in some cases, indigenous communities were reportedly warned that closing the roads to their communities would result in criminal charges. 70 53. Mitigation of the virus based on isolation is not always an all-or-nothing proposition. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, for instance, the Mosetén people, in agreement with trusted merchants, instituted controlled markets near, yet outside, their villages to avoid the need for people from the indigenous community to visit the town or for outside merchants to enter the indigenous communities. In the market, sellers and buyers maintain physical distance and use personal protective equipment. 71 __________________ 66 67 68 69 70 71 20-09737 See https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/kasiyanna-particular-challenges-indigenous-peoplesfacing-covid19. Submission by Rapa Nui people. Submission by the World Amazigh Congress. Submissions by Chiefs of Ontario and the Navajo Nation. Joint submission by Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes and EarthRights International. Hillard Caplan and others, “Voluntary collective isolation as a best response to COVID -19 for indigenous populations? A case study and protocol from the Bolivian Amazon”, The Lancet, vol. 395 (15 May 2020). Available at https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S01406736%2820%2931104-1. 15/27