A/HRC/21/53 political methodology and organization. In many cases, indigenous peoples have maintained their traditions orally, embedded in their languages. As some submissions to the Expert Mechanism stated, indigenous peoples’ control over their languages can be a tool in their decolonization.19 23. Recognition of the close connection between indigenous peoples’ cultural and language rights and their rights related to their lands, territories and resources is necessary to ensure respect for indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination,20 as recognized in the Special Rapporteur’s report on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land. 21 The Special Rapporteur outlines the following elements of the relationship of Indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources: 22 (i) a profound relationship exists between indigenous peoples and their lands, territories and resources; (ii) this relationship has various social, cultural, spiritual, economic and political dimensions and responsibilities; (iii) the collective dimension of this relationship is significant; and (iv) the intergenerational aspect of such a relationship is also crucial to indigenous peoples’ identity, survival and cultural viability. 24. The maintenance and development of indigenous peoples’ cultures requires the protection of their lands, territories and resources. Indigenous peoples’ traditional territories, where their homes and kinships are located, are the spaces in which they practise their cultures. Indigenous peoples’ connections to traditional territories, to their homes and to their communities, are important, even for those who have migrated elsewhere for work and education, to maintaining and developing indigenous cultures.23 25. Often there is a close relationship between indigenous peoples’ cultures and languages and their physical and spiritual environments. Moreover, languages can contain information about practices associated with indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources such as knowledge about hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. Environmental and other harms to indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources can be devastating to their cultures. For all these reasons, it is imperative to protect and respect indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories and resources. 26. Nomadic indigenous peoples have frequently faced additional challenges in seeking to have their rights to their land, territories and resources recognized, which has adversely impacted on their ability to practise, protect and promote their languages and cultures. Some of the problems stem from failures to recognize and respect indigenous peoples’ laws regulating the use of their lands, territories and resources and ways of life which are different from that of non-indigenous populations. 27. International human rights standards and jurisprudence have clearly recognized the relationship between indigenous peoples’ cultures and their rights to their lands, territories and resources. The Declaration recognizes “the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources” and states the conviction that “control 19 20 21 22 23 Kontinónhstats – The Mohawk Language Custodians. For example, when indigenous peoples conduct cultural ceremonies and songs that express treatymaking principles, these ceremonies and songs protect their traditional lands, territories and resources. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/21. Ibid. http://www.aippnet.org/home/publication/reports. 7