E/CN.4/2006/78 page 8 Legislation and case law 21. On occasion the new laws on indigenous issues have the effect of limiting the claims of indigenous people instead of promoting their rights. The Russian Federation recently adopted new laws on the preservation and promotion of the cultural rights of the small peoples of northern Russia, Siberia and the far-eastern area of the country, but did not pay the same attention to the rights of the indigenous peoples to land and natural resources, which are the sources of their main problems. Russia also has laws establishing autonomous regimes for the indigenous peoples, but they have met with resistance from some local and regional Governments, and as a result have not been effectively enforced. 22. In recent years some amendments made to existing laws have in fact curtailed indigenous rights, sometimes in the name of the general interest. In Australia the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 extinguishes aboriginal land ownership and limits the rights of aborigines to negotiate certain forms of land use in future. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has repeatedly expressed its concern about this Act. The recent New Zealand Foreshore and Seabed Act (2004) declares areas falling into that category and traditionally belonging to native Maoris to be State property, thereby curtailing the Maoris’ ancestral rights (see E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.3). 23. In some cases there have been amendments to laws on indigenous rights that negate previous advances. In 2004 an amendment to a federal law in Russia limited the indigenous rights that had been legislated only four years earlier. Previously guaranteed free social services for the indigenous communities were withdrawn, and in an amendment to another law on local communes the State withdrew its economic support and limited local decision-making powers. 24. Cambodia’s Land Law displays a paternalistic attitude in granting rights to the indigenous peoples instead of recognizing them. In Taiwan the 2000 constitutional reform reaffirms the policy of cultural pluralism and commits the State to preserving and fostering the development of indigenous languages and cultures and promoting the political participation of aborigines. Consideration is being given to the idea of establishing autonomous areas for the 12 recognized indigenous peoples. 25. Some countries have established public institutions for reviewing their indigenous legislation and its implementation, such as the Philippines National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Ethnic Minorities Committee in Viet Nam. There are frequent claims that those institutions are not representative of their communities and peoples, being, on the contrary, made up of Government officials. In the Philippines they are appointed by the Presidency; in Australia the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was abolished and replaced in 2004 by the National Indigenous Council, a Government-appointed consultative body. Public administration problems 26. One of the main obstacles to the enforcement of indigenous rights legislation arises precisely from the institutional structures of the public administration, which is often riddled with bureaucratic inertia, rigid regulatory practice, lack of flexibility and creativity, vertical authoritarianism in decision-making, and absence of popular participation. To these one might add the difficulty of setting up efficient reporting and results-assessment mechanisms, not to