A/69/267 14. The Special Rapporteur appreciates the attention paid to the situation of indigenous peoples by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other treaty monitoring bodies, procedures and mechanisms, including human rights monitoring bodies at the regional level, and underlines her commitment to work in a collaborative manner to further strengthen the complementarity between those holding mandates on general human rights and those holding specific mandates with regard to indigenous peoples’ rights. B. Self-determination and non-discrimination as cross-cutting principles 15. Central to the contextualization of universal human rights to the situation of indigenous peoples are the rights to non-discrimination and self-determination. These rights are enshrined in a broad range of human rights instruments of general applicability, but are featured throughout the Declaration, including in relation to economic, social and cultural rights. The complementarity of these two principles are captured in the preamble of the Declaration, which affirms “that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such ”. 16. In the context of development, contemporary standards related to indigenous peoples have a dual overarching aim. On the one hand, they strive to effectively address discrimination against indigenous peoples so they can fully benefit from development efforts to achieve an adequate standard of living. On the other hand, the standards aim to ensure respect for their right to define and pursue their self-determined development paths in order to safeguard their cultural integrity and strengthen their potential for sustainable development. Thus, the i nternational framework pursues these two complementary aims through the cross -cutting principles of non-discrimination and self-determination. 17. The right to non-discrimination in the context of economic, social and cultural rights aims at ensuring substantial equality in the progressive achievement of these rights. It should be noted that the principle of non-discrimination has two dimensions: to ensure equality for all indigenous individuals, both men and women, and for indigenous peoples as collectives. This is made explicit in the Declaration, which stipulates that “Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity” (article 2), and further that all rights and freedoms in the Declaration “are equally guaranteed to male and female indigenous individuals ” (article 44). 18. For its part, the right to self-determination in the context of economic, social and cultural rights is intended to combat historical assimilation and ensure that indigenous peoples can maintain their cultural integrity and pursue their own aspirations for self-determined development. Beyond this rights-based goal, increasing indigenous peoples’ self-determination over their development has been shown to have significant practical benefits across a range of indicators, that is, indigenous peoples who are able to pursue their own developmen t priorities and strategies fare better than those who cannot. Further discussion about the need for self-determined development for indigenous peoples, as well as the identification of ongoing obstacles and advancements made in this regard, is included in section IV, below. 6/23 14-58847