A/HRC/27/52/Add.1 issues, such as the administration of justice, traditional governance, institution-building in the territories and for the authorities, and food security). A panel made up of indigenous representatives appointed by their peoples and government representatives has been established to draw up the plan. The Government has expressed the hope that an executive decree can be issued that will convert the plan into a policy of State. The Special Rapporteur considers that this would be a key achievement, provided that the plan is truly based on the aspirations of indigenous peoples and that sufficient funds are allocated for its implementation. 23. Following the Special Rapporteur’s visit, the Government announced that it would establish an office for indigenous affairs at the deputy ministerial level in order to address the problems of the country’s indigenous peoples. The Special Rapporteur considers this to be a positive step, provided that this office is given a large enough budget and that indigenous peoples are given a role in its work. 24. Panama is a party to major international treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. At the regional level, Panama has ratified the American Convention on Human Rights and has recognized the competence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Government also voted in favour of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. 25. One of the concerns brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention in many parts of the country has to do with the fact that Panama has not yet ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (no. 169). The Government has taken some decisive steps towards ratification, including the establishment of an inter-institutional working group on ILO Convention no. 169 in 2010. The working group, composed of a number of different government agencies, prepared a report in which it analysed the historical, social, legal and political reasons why Panama should ratify ILO Convention no. 169 and stated that it had not found any disadvantages associated with its ratification.30 Accordingly, the Government informed the Human Rights Council that, in response to recommendations made at the universal periodic review regarding the ratification of that convention, the working group had concluded its work and advocated ratification (A/HRC/16/2, para. 431). 26. However, the Government has since notified the Ombudsman’s Office that it will not ratify ILO Convention No. 169 for constitutional, economic, political, administrative, social, legal and environmental reasons,31 and it restated this position to the Special Rapporteur during his visit. Having considered the Government’s position in the light of the relevant background information, particularly the working group’s analysis of the Convention, the Special Rapporteur is of the view that the Government’s refusal has no solid legal basis and that Panama should proceed with ratification. 30 31 8 Letter from the Ministry of Labour, the Indigenous Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ombudsman’s Office, the National Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Peoples and the National Directorate for Indigenous Policy to Roxana Méndez, Minister of the Interior (28 October 2010). See, for example, the letter from Fernando Núñez-Fábriga, Minister of the Interior, to Patria Portugal, Ombudsperson, A.J. No. 1495 (3 June 2013). GE.14-07234