A/HRC/36/57 representative of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund. Participants considered the following issues: updates on planned activities for the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration; the selection and coordination of thematic studies; the coordination of country engagement; and the consultation process to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them. The three mechanisms decided, inter alia, to draft a joint statement to mark the tenth anniversary of the Declaration. VIII. Indigenous peoples’ participation in the United Nations system 37. Ms. Charters, in her capacity as an independent adviser to the President of the General Assembly, provided a detailed update on progress in relation to General Assembly resolution 70/232, in which the Assembly had requested its President to conduct consultations on the possible measures necessary to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them. Consultations on the various elements of the Assembly resolution had taken place from late 2016 until May 2017. The consultations had reached an impasse and States had shared a draft resolution deferring any action on the matter. The principal issues of contention were: the venues for participation by indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions; the application process; the criteria to determine whether the organizations were genuinely representative of indigenous peoples; and State recognition as a mandatory criterion for participation. The principal concern of the indigenous community was that those issues had the potential to undermine existing standards on the rights of indigenous peoples in international human rights law, including the Declaration. 38. Several States, representatives of indigenous peoples and other participants echoed those concerns, noting that it was critical that the negotiations should not undermine existing standards on the rights of indigenous peoples. Notwithstanding the current lack of consensus, participants expressed the view that negotiations should continue and that States should continue to work on the process, provided that the negotiations were consistent with the standards set out in the Declaration. That could be achieved, for example, through the adoption of a procedural resolution that committed States to the process and provided guidance for the way forward. Participants also suggested that the Expert Mechanism voice its support for the process and provide advice to the Human Rights Council on steps the latter could take to support it. In the light of the difficulties encountered during the process, participants emphasized the added importance of the Voluntary Fund and the OHCHR Indigenous Fellowship Programme. IX. Ten years of implementation of the Declaration: good practices and lessons learned 39. Statements from the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, members of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, indigenous peoples, Member States and other participants demonstrated that, since its adoption by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, there have been a number of positive developments in the implementation of the Declaration. Firstly, it has proven to be an invaluable tool in galvanizing indigenous peoples to campaign for their rights at the national level. States have demonstrated their commitment to implementing the Declaration through a number of measures, including constitutional amendments, national action plans and specific policies such as the revitalization of indigenous languages. Secondly, and of particular significance, is the Declaration’s application as a source of law in regional human rights mechanisms, for example by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Kaliña and Lokono Peoples v. Suriname and by the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights in African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights v. The Republic of Kenya (the Ogiek case). At the international level, the Declaration has also increased the attention paid by treaty bodies to the rights of indigenous 9