Modified from (no changes in language: I have left
out headers identifying the paragraphs as "First
preambular paragraph; Second preambular . . .," and
"Operative paragraph 1; Operative paragraph 2;
...".
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E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/33
Annex 1
PREAMBULAR AND OPERATIVE PARAGRAPHS OF THE DRAFT
DECLARATION AS AGREED UPON BY THE MEMBERS OF THE
WORKING GROUP AT FIRST READING
Preamble
AFFIRMING that all indigenous peoples are free
and equal in dignity and rights to all peoples in
accordance with international standards, while
recognizing the right of all individuals and
peoples to be different, and to be respected as
such,
CONSIDERING that all peoples contribute to the
diversity and richness of civilizations and
cultures, which constitute the common heritage of
humankind,
CONVINCED that all doctrines, policies and
practices of racial, religious, ethnic or cultural
superiority are scientifically false, legally
invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust,
CONCERNED that indigenous peoples have often
been deprived of their human rights and fundamental
freedoms, resulting in the dispossession of their
lands, territories and resources, as well as in
their poverty and marginalization,
CONSIDERING that treaties, agreements and other
constructive arrangements between States and
indigenous peoples continue to be matters of
international concern and responsibility,
WELCOMING the fact that indigenous peoples are
organizing themselves in order to bring an end to
all forms of discrimination and oppression wherever
they occur,
RECOGNIZING the urgent need to respect and
promote the rights and characteristics of
indigenous peoples, especially their rights to
their lands, territories and resources, which stem
from their history, philosophy, cultures and
spiritual and other traditions, as well as from
their political, economic and social structures,
REAFFIRMING that indigenous peoples, in the
exercise of their rights, should be free from
adverse distinction or discrimination of any kind,
ENDORSING efforts to revitalize and strengthen
the societies, cultures and traditions of
indigenous peoples, through their control over
development affecting them or their lands,
territories and resources, as well as to promote
their future development in accordance with their
aspirations and needs,
RECOGNIZING that the lands and territories of
indigenous peoples should not be used for military
purposes without their consent and reaffirming the
importance of demilitarization of their lands and
territories, which will contribute to peace,
understanding, economic development and friendly
relations among all peoples of the world,
EMPHASIZING the importance of giving special
attention to the rights and needs of indigenous
women, youth and children, and in particular to
their right to equality of educational
opportunities and access to all levels and forms of
education,
RECOGNIZING in particular that it is usually in
the best interest of indigenous children for their
family and community to retain shared
responsibility for their upbringing and education,
BELIEVING that indigenous peoples have the right
to freely determine their relationships with the
States in which they live, in a spirit of
coexistence with other citizens,
NOTING that the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights affirm the fundamental importance of the
right of self-determination of all peoples, by
virtue of which they freely determine their
political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development,
BEARING IN MIND that nothing in this Declaration
may be used as an excuse for denying to any people
its right of self-determination,
ENCOURAGING States to comply with and
effectively implement all international instruments
as they apply to indigenous peoples, in
consultation with the peoples concerned,
SOLEMNLY PROCLAIM the following Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
PART 1
Indigenous peoples have the right of self-
determination, in accordance with international law
by virtue of which they may freely determine their
political status and institutions and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development. An
integral part of this is the right to autonomy and
self-government;
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full
and effective enjoyment of all of the human rights
and fundamental freedoms which are recognized in
the Charter of the United Nations and in
international human rights law;
Indigenous peoples have the right to be free and
equal to all other human beings and peoples in
dignity and rights, and to be free from adverse
distinction or discrimination of any kind based on
their indigenous identity;
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted
as implying for any State, group or individual any
right to engage in any activity or to perform any
act contrary to the Charter of the United Nations
or to the Declaration on Principles of
International Law concerning Friendly Relations and
Cooperation among States in accordance with the
Charter of the United Nations;
Indigenous peoples have the collective right to
exist in peace and security as distinct peoples and
to be protected against genocide, as well as the
individual rights to life, physical and mental
integrity, liberty and security of person;
Indigenous peoples have the collective and
individual right to maintain and develop their
distinct ethnic and cultural characteristics and
identities, including the right to self-
identification;
Indigenous peoples have the collective and
individual right to be protected from cultural
genocide, including the prevention of and redress
for:
(a) Any act which has the aim or effect
of depriving them of their integrity
as distinct societies, or of their
cultural or ethnic characteristics
or identities;
(b) Any form of forced assimilation or
integration by imposition of other
cultures or ways of life;
(c) Dispossession of their lands,
territories or resources;
(d) Any propaganda directed against them;
Indigenous peoples have the right to revive and
practice their cultural identity and traditions,
including the right to maintain, develop and
protect the past, present and future manifestations
of their culture, such as archaeological and
historical sites and structures, artifacts,
designs, ceremonies, technology and works of art,
as well as the right to the restitution of
cultural, religious and spiritual property taken
from them without their free and informed consent
or in violation of their own laws;
Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest,
practice and teach their own spiritual and
religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the
right to maintain, protect, and have access in
privacy to religious and cultural sites; the right
to the use and control of ceremonial objects; and
the right to the repatriation of human remains;
Indigenous peoples have the right to revive,
use, develop, promote and transmit to future
generations their own languages, writing systems
and literature, and to designate and maintain their
own names of communities, places and persons.
States shall take effective measures to ensure that
indigenous peoples can understand and be understood
in political, legal and administrative proceedings,
where necessary through the provision of
interpretation or by other effective means;
Indigenous peoples have the right to all levels
and forms of education, including access to
education in their own languages, and the right to
establish and control their own educational systems
and institutions. Resources shall be provided by
the State for these purposes;
Indigenous peoples have the right to have the
dignity and diversity of their cultures, histories,
traditions and aspirations reflected in all forms
of education and public information. States shall
take effective measures to eliminate prejudices and
to foster tolerance, understanding and good
relations;
Indigenous peoples have the right to the use of
and access to all forms of mass media in their own
languages. States shall take effective measures to
this end;
Indigenous peoples have the right to adequate
financial and technical assistance, from States and
through international cooperation, to pursue freely
their own political, economic, social, cultural and
spiritual development, and for the enjoyment of the
rights contained in this Declaration;
Indigenous peoples have the right to recognition
of their distinctive and profound relationship with
the total environment of the lands, territories and
resources which they have traditionally occupied
and otherwise used;
Indigenous peoples have the collective and
individual right to own, control and use the lands
and territories they have traditionally occupied or
otherwise used. This includes the right to the full
recognition of their own laws and customs, land-
tenure systems and institutions for the management
of resources, and the right to effective measures
by States to prevent any interference with or
encroachment upon these rights. Nothing in the
foregoing shall be interpreted as restricting the
development of self-government and self-management
arrangement not tied to indigenous territories and
resources;
Indigenous peoples have the right to restitution
or, where this is not possible, to just and fair
compensation or lands and territories which have
been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without
their free and informed consent. Unless otherwise
freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned,
compensation shall preferably take the form of
lands and territories of quality, quantity and
legal status at least to those which were lost;
Indigenous peoples have the right to the
protection and, where appropriate, the
rehabilitation of the total environment and
productive capacity of their lands and territories,
and the right to adequate assistance, including
international cooperation, to this end. Unless
otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples
concerned, military activities and the storage or
disposal of hazardous materials shall not take
place in their lands and territories;
Indigenous peoples have the right to special
measures for protection, as intellectual, of their
cultural manifestations, such as literature,
designs, visual and performing arts, seeds, genetic
resources, medicines and knowledge of the useful
properties of fauna and flora;
Indigenous peoples have the right to require that
States and domestic and transnational corporations
consult with them and obtain their free and
informed consent prior to the commencement of any
large-scale projects, particularly natural resource
development projects or exploitation of mineral and
and other subsoil resources, in order to enhance
the projects' benefits and to mitigate any adverse
economic, social, environmental and cultural
effects. Just and fair compensation shall be
provided for any such activity or adverse
consequence undertaken;
Indigenous peoples have the right to special
State measures within available resources for the
immediate, effective and continuing improvement of
their economic and social conditions, with their
free and informed consent, that reflect their own
priorities;
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine,
plan and implement, as far as possible through
their own institutions, all health, housing and
other economic and social programmes affecting
them;
Indigenous peoples have the right to their
traditional medicines and health practices. This
includes the right to protection of the vital
medicinal plants, animals, and minerals. The above
may not be construed as a limitation to indigenous
health systems, if they so wish;
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate
on an equal footing with all other citizens and
without adverse discrimination in the political,
economic, social and cultural life of the State and
to have their specific character duly reflected in
the legal system and in political and socio-
economic and cultural institutions, as appropriate,
including in particular proper regard to, full
recognition of and respect for indigenous laws,
customs and practices;
Indigenous peoples have the right (a) to
participate fully at all levels of government,
through representatives chosen by themselves, in
decision-making about the implementation of all
national and international matters which may affect
their rights, lives and destinies; (b) to be
involved, through appropriate procedures,
determined in consultation with them, in devising
laws or administrative measures that may affect
them directly. States have the duty to obtain their
free and informed consent before implementing such
measures;
Indigenous peoples have the right to autonomy in
matters relating to their own internal and local
affairs, including education, information, mass
media, culture, religion, health, housing,
employment, social welfare in general, traditional
and other economic and management activities, land
and resources administration, environment and entry
by non-members, and the environment, as well as
internal taxation for financing these autonomous
functions;
Indigenous peoples have the right to decide upon
the structures of their autonomous institutions, to
select the membership of such institutions
according to their own procedures, and to determine
the membership of the indigenous peoples concerned
for these purposes; States have the duty to
recognize and respect the integrity of such
institutions and their memberships;
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine
the responsibilities of individuals to their own
community, consistent with universally recognized
human rights and fundamental freedoms and with the
rights contained in this declaration;
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain
and develop traditional contacts, relations and
cooperation, including activities for economic,
social, cultural and spiritual purposes between
indigenous peoples across borders. States should
adopt measures to facilitate such contacts;
Indigenous peoples have the right to claim that
States or their successors honour treaties and
other agreements concluded with indigenous peoples,
and to submit any disputes that may arise in this
matter to competent national or international
bodies, according to their original intent, or
courts;
Indigenous peoples have the individual and
collective right to access and prompt decision by
mutually acceptable and fair procedures for
resolving conflicts or disputes with States. These
procedures may include, as appropriate,
negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration
or judicial settlement at national courts and,
where domestic remedies have been exhausted,
international and regional human rights review
mechanism for complaints;
States have the duty, in consultation with the
indigenous peoples concerned, to take effective
measures to ensure the full enjoyment of the
exercise of the indigenous rights and other human
rights and fundamental freedoms referred to in this
Declaration;
These rights contained herein constitute the
minimum standards for the survival and the well-
being of the indigenous peoples of the world;
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted
as diminishing or extinguishing existing or future
rights indigenous peoples may have to acquire;
Indigenous peoples have the right to special
protection and security in periods of armed
conflict. States shall observe international
standards for the protection of civilian
populations in circumstances of emergency and armed
conflict, and shall not:
(a) Recruit indigenous people against their will
into the armed forces and, in particular,
for use against other indigenous peoples;
(b) Force indigenous people to abandon their
land and territories and means of
subsistence and relocate them in special
centres for military purposes;
Indigenous peoples have the right to retain and
develop their customary laws and legal systems
where these are not incompatible with human rights
and fundamental freedoms and enshrined in
international human rights instruments;
Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed
from their lands or territories. Where relocation
occurs it shall be with the free and informed
consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and
after agreement on a fair and just compensation
and, where possible, the option of return;
The application of the provisions of this
Declaration shall not adversely affect the rights
and benefits of the indigenous peoples concerned or
of any other national of a State pursuant to other
international instruments, treaties or laws.
===============================================
Preston Hardison
Center for Indigenous Environment and Development
4224 University Way
Seattle, WA 98105
cied@u.washington.edu