A/HRC/EMRIP/2019/2 I. Introduction 1. In accordance with its mandate under Human Rights Council resolution 33/25, at its eleventh session, held in July 2018, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples decided to carry out the present study on indigenous peoples’ rights in the context of borders, migration and displacement, as reflected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 2. For that purpose, the Expert Mechanism held a seminar in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 5 and 6 November 2018. The present study was informed by presentations shared at the seminar and submissions by Member States, indigenous peoples, national human rights institutions, academics and others.1 3. The Expert Mechanism recognizes the need to examine the issues concerning the nexus between migration and indigenous peoples. The limited work done to date on this topic, including the lack of disaggregated data on indigenous migration, limits and at the same time motivates the present study. The study is intended to constitute a step forward in the understanding of the issues and needs of indigenous peoples, as they relate to the rights in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It will explore the causes, consequences and experiences of indigenous peoples on the move, from an indigenous perspective, and will provide advice to States on how to ensure the protection of their rights of in that context. 4. Migration can mean different things for a range of indigenous peoples, 2 including a form of indigenous culture itself, such as that of the Sami reindeer herders. In addition to individual rights and interests, indigenous migration affects the collective rights of indigenous communities and has consequences for entire communities, for those who leave and those left behind (see E/2006/43-E/C.19/2006/11). While the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration attempts to address the issue of international migration, it merely includes indigenous peoples as a vulnerable group without recognizing the specificities and consequences of their migration experience. The global compact on refugees makes no reference to indigenous refugees. The Expert Mechanism hopes that the present study will be used to take account of the needs of indigenous peoples in the context of the implementation of those compacts, and in compliance with the Declaration. 5. Colonization, both historical and ongoing, is often the backdrop to migration. In the indigenous context, colonization refers to the processes by which indigenous peoples have been and continue to be dispossessed of their lands, resources, governments and cultures. For example, since the colonization of the fifteenth century, the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of North America, known to them as “Turtle Island”, has been split between two States, the Canada and the United States of America, each exerting significant power over them. 3 Indigenous peoples often orient themselves around features of the natural landscape, whether river, forest, mesa or tundra, that transcend the 1 2 3 2 All the submissions will be available after the July session of the Expert Mechanism at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/Pages/BordersMigrationDisplacement.aspx. In the context of the present study: the term “migration” refers to all movement of indigenous peoples, internal and across international borders; “migrant” refers to “any person who is outside a State of which they are a citizen or national, or, in the case of a stateless person, their State of birth or habitual residence” (see “Principles and Guidelines, supported by practical guidance, on the human rights protection of migrants in vulnerable situations”, available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/PrinciplesAndGuidelines.pdf); “displacement” is used in the context of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement where displacement is internal and forced (E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex) “refugee” is as defined in article 1 (A) (2) of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended in the Protocol thereto; “borders” in the context of the present study may be either internal or international (i.e., between sovereign States). See Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders, available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/OHCHR_Recommended_Principles_Guidelines.pdf. www.oneidaindiannation.com/the-haudenosaunee-creation-story/.