A/HRC/36/56 building the structure of a plurinational State, including provisions on the rights of indigenous peoples recognized in the Declaration. In New Zealand, in 2016, the Maori Language Act was enacted aimed at revitalizing the Maori language. 71. Domestic policies also support implementation. In Cambodia, a 2009 policy on the registration of and the right to use the land of indigenous communities bolstered the 2001 Cambodian Land Law, which had laid the ground for community land titling among indigenous communities. In several African countries, ministries in charge of climate change programmes have taken on board key provisions of the Declaration, including on consultation. In Canada, in its final report, 61 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued numerous calls to action to use the Declaration as a framework for reconciliation, and, early in 2017, the Government of Canada assembled a working group of ministers to review all federal laws and policies as they related to indigenous peoples in line with the Declaration and supporting the implementation of the Commission’s calls to action. 72. In New Zealand, the Whanganui River Deed of Settlement (Ruruku Whakatupua) was passed, creating legal recognition of the Whanganui River as a legal person with its own personality and all of the rights duties and liabilities associated with that. In the United States, several federal-level executive agencies have expressed intent to comply with the Declaration, including in the area of consultation regarding indigenous peoples’ sacred sites located on public lands. 73. Indigenous peoples have also mobilized themselves internally. For example, in Brazil, indigenous peoples drafted their own protocol for consultation and consent. Other such protocols are in the pipeline, including by the Wajãpi, Munduruku and the Xingu peoples. In Peru, the Wampis established an autonomous territorial government. In the United States, a number of American Indian tribal governments have taken measures to implement the Declaration, including, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which translated substantial portions of the Declaration into the Muscogee language. Also in the United States, the Principal Chief and National Council Speaker of the Muscogee Creek Nation signed its own Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2016. Several tribal governments, including the Pit River Tribe and Gila River Tribe, have enacted legislation endorsing the Declaration. Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation, at their eighth assembly, adopted its own strategic programme, entitled “Indigenous 2021: Land, Traditions, Future”. 62 Furthermore, at its seventh meeting, the Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples endorsed a resolution on sustainable development.63 Both of those documents reflect many articles of the Declaration. In New Zealand, the Maori have their own monitoring initiative in implementing the Declaration. 74. Despite those many good practices, indigenous peoples in some regions, including a number of States in Asia and Africa, still struggle for legal recognition and respect for selfdetermination. Without recognition of their status as indigenous peoples, it is difficult to see how they can claim their rights to their lands and territories, which, in turn, are inextricably linked to their culture, way of life and livelihood. These remain contentious issues in many States. States should refrain from hindering or limiting self-determination initiatives and should recognize and learn from indigenous peoples’ own initiatives to advance the implementation of the Declaration at the national level. V. New regional instruments and agreements on indigenous rights 75. The Declaration has contributed to the elaboration of regional agreements on indigenous rights. In 2016, the Organization of American States’ approved the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Importantly, that Declaration recognized the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination, to their ancestral 61 62 63 Available from www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3. Available in Russian from www.raipon.info/documents/Docs_RAIPON/НП%202021+.pdf. See www.fucongress.org/upload/files/f/1/resolution-1762016_1.pdf. 17