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U N I T E D N A T I O N S
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/26
8 June 1993
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sub-Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection
of Minorities
Forty-fifth session
Item 14 of the provisional agenda
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Revised working paper submitted by the Chairperson-Rapporteur,
Ms. Erica-Irene Daes, pursuant to Sub-Commission resolution 1992/33
and Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/31
INTRODUCTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In its resolution 1992/33 of 27 August 1992, the Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities recommended that
the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations,
Ms. Erica-Irene Daes, be entrusted with the task of further elaborating the
paragraphs of the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples
which were agreed upon at second reading and circulating these paragraphs
to the members of the Working Group for their comments. In the same
resolution the Sub-Commission requested the Secretary-General to transmit
the revised and reorganized text of the draft declaration, prepared
pursuant to paragraph 5 of the resolution, to Governments, indigenous
peoples, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The
Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1993/31 of 5 March 1993,
welcomed the recommendation of the Sub-Commission that the Chairperson-
Rapporteur be entrusted with the task of further elaborating the paragraphs
of the draft declaration which were agreed upon at second reading, taking
into consideration, _inter alia_, the comments of Governments, indigenous
people's organizations and other interested parties. The text which follows
constitutes the revised working paper submitted by the Chairperson-
Rapporteur, Ms. Erica-Irene Daes.
GE.93-14037 (E)
PREAMBULAR AND OPERATIVE PARAGRAPHS OF THE DRAFT DECLARATION AS AGREED
UPON BY THE MEMBERS OF THE WORKING GROUP AT FIRST READING
AND REVISED BY THE CHAIRPERSON-RAPPORTEUR, MS. ERICA-IRENE DAES
FIRST PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
AFFIRMING that indigenous peoples are equal in dignity and rights to
all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all individuals and
peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be
respected as such,
SECOND PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
CONSIDERING that all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness
of civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of
humankind,
THIRD PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
REAFFIRMING that all doctrines, policies and practices based on
racism and racial, religious, ethnic or cultural superiority are
scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially
unjust,
FOURTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
REAFFIRMING ALSO that indigenous peoples, in the exercise of their
rights, should be free from discrimination of any kind,
FIFTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
CONCERNED that many indigenous peoples have been deprived of their
human rights and fundamental freedoms, resulting, _inter alia_, in the
dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, as well as in
their poverty and misery,
SIXTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
RECOGNIZING the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent
rights and characteristics of indigenous peoples, especially their rights
to their lands, territories and resources, which derive from their
cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, as well as from
their political, economic and social structures,
SEVENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
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,
EIGHTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
CONVINCED that increasing the control of indigenous peoples over
development affecting them and their lands, territories and resources will
enable them to continue to strengthen their institutions, cultures and
traditions, as well as to promote their development in accordance with
their aspirations and needs,
NINTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
RECOGNIZING ALSO that respect for indigenous knowledge and practices
contributes to sustainable development and management of the environment,
TENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
EMPHASIZING the need for demilitarization of the lands and
territories of indigenous peoples, which will contribute to peace, economic
and social progress and development, understanding and friendly relations
among nations and peoples of the world,
ELEVENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
REAFFIRMING the importance of giving special attention to the rights
and needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and disabled,
TWELFTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
RECOGNIZING in particular that it is in the best interest of
indigenous children for their families and communities to retain shared
responsibility for their upbringing, training and education,
THIRTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
BELIEVING that indigenous peoples have the right freely to determine
their relationships with States in a spirit of coexistence,
FOURTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
CONSIDERING that treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements between States and indigenous peoples continue to be matters
of international concern and responsibility,
FIFTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
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,
SIXTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
BEARING IN MIND that nothing in this Declaration may be used as a
pretext to deny any peoples their right of self-determination,
SEVENTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
ENCOURAGING States to comply with and effectively implement all
international instruments as they apply to indigenous peoples, in
consultation and cooperation with the peoples concerned,
EIGHTEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
BELIEVING that this Declaration is a first step in the recognition,
promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples
and in the development of relevant activities of the United Nations system
in this field,
NINETEENTH PREAMBULAR PARAGRAPH
SOLEMNLY PROCLAIMS the following Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples:
PART I
~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 1
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full and effective enjoyment
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized in the Charter of
the United Nations and in international human rights law;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 2
Indigenous peoples are free and equal to all other human beings and
peoples in dignity and rights, and have the right to be free from
discrimination of any kind based on their indigenous origin or identity;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 3
Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination, in
accordance with international law, subject to the same criteria and
limitations as apply to other peoples in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations. By virtue of this, they have the right, _inter alia_, to
negotiate and agree upon their role in the conduct of public affairs, their
distinct responsibilities and the means by which they manage their own
interests.
An integral part of this is the right to autonomy and self-
government;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 4
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate fully in the
political, economic, social and cultural life of the State while
maintaining their distinct political, economic, social and cultural
characteristics;
PART II
~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 5
Indigenous peoples have the collective right to exist in peace and
security as distinct peoples and to be protected against any type of
genocide.
Consequently, they have the individual rights to life, physical and
mental integrity, liberty and security of person;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 6
Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right to be
protected against ethnocide and cultural genocide, including the prevention
of and redress for:
(a) Removal of indigenous children from their families and
communities under any pretext;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of
their integrity as distinct societies, or of their cultural or
ethnic characteristics or identities;
(c) Any form of forced assimilation or integration by imposition of
other cultures or ways of life;
(d) Dispossession of their lands, territories or resources;
(e) Any propaganda directed against them;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 7
Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right to
maintain and develop their distinct characteristics and identities,
including the right to identify themselves as indigenous;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 8
The right of an indigenous person to belong to an indigenous nation
or community is a matter of his or her individual choice and no
disadvantage of any kind may arise from the exercise of such a choice;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 9
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
just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 10
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) Recruit indigenous children into the armed forces under any
circumstances;
(c) Force indigenous people to abandon their lands and territories
and means of subsistence and relocate them in special centres
for military purposes;
PART III
~~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 11
Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize and practise their
cultural traditions. This includes the right to maintain, protect and
develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such
as archeological and historical sites and structures, artefacts, designs,
ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literatures, as
well as the right to the restitution of cultural, religious and spiritual
property taken without their free and informed consent or in violation of
their laws;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 12
Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise and teach
their 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. States shall take effective
measures to preserve, respect and protect the sacred places and cemeteries
of indigenous peoples;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 13
Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and
transmit to future generations their languages, oral traditions, writing
systems and literatures, and to designate and maintain their own names for
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 appropriate means;
PART IV
~~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH
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 educational systems and institutions;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 15
Indigenous peoples have the right to have the dignity and diversity
of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations reflected in all
forms of education and public information. States shall take effective
measures, in consultation with indigenous peoples, to eliminate prejudice
and to promote tolerance, understanding and good relations;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 16
Indigenous peoples have the right to the use of and access to all
forms of media in their own languages;
PART V
~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 17
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate fully at all levels
of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and
destinies through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with
their own procedures;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 18
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate fully, through
procedures determined in consultation with them, in devising legislative
and administrative measures that may affect them. States shall obtain the
free and informed consent of the peoples concerned before implementing such
measures;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 19
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their
economic and social systems, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own
means of subsistence, and to engage freely in their traditional and other
economic activities, including hunting, fishing, herding, gathering,
forestry and cultivation. Indigenous peoples who have been deprived of
their means of subsistence are entitled to Just and fair compensation;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 20
Indigenous peoples have the right to special measures for the
immediate, effective and continuing improvement of their economic and
social conditions, including in the areas of employment, vocational
training and retraining, housing, health and social security.
Attention shall be paid to the special needs of indigenous elders,
women, youth, children and disabled;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 21
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities
and strategies for their development. In particular, indigenous peoples
have the right to determine and develop all health, housing and other
economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to
administer such programmes through their own institutions;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 22
Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and
health practices, including the right to the protection of vital medicinal
plants, animals, and minerals;
PART VI
~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 23
Indigenous peoples have the right to recognition of their distinctive
and profound relationship with their lands and territories. The use of the
term "lands and territories" in this Declaration means the total
environment of the lands, air, water, sea, sea-ice, flora and fauna and
other resources which indigenous peoples have traditionally owned or
otherwise occupied or used;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 24
Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right to own,
control and use their lands and territories. This includes the right to the
full recognition of their 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;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 25
Indigenous peoples have the right to the restitution of lands and
territories which have been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without
their free and informed consent and, where this is not possible, to just
and fair compensation. Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples
concerned, compensation shall take the form of lands and territories at
least equal in quality, size and legal status;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 26
Indigenous peoples have the right to the recreation and protection of
the total environment and the productive capacity of their lands and
territories, as well as to assistance for this purpose from States and
through international cooperation. Military activities and the storage or
disposal of hazardous materials shall not take place in the lands and
territories of indigenous peoples, unless otherwise freely agreed upon by
the peoples concerned;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 27
Indigenous peoples have the right to special measures to protect, as
intellectual property, their sciences, technologies and cultural
manifestations, including genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of
the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs
and visual and performing arts;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 28
Indigenous peoples have the right to require that States obtain their
free and informed consent prior to the commencement of any projects on
their lands and territories, particularly in connection with natural
resource development or exploitation of mineral or other subsurface
resources. Pursuant to agreement with the indigenous peoples concerned,
just and fair compensation shall be provided for any such activities and
measures taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social,
cultural or spiritual impact;
PART VII
~~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 29
Indigenous peoples have the right to autonomy and self-government in
matters relating to their internal and local affairs, including culture,
religion, education, information, media, health, housing, employment,
social welfare, economic activities, land and resources management,
environment and entry by non-members, as well as internal taxation for
financing these autonomous functions;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 30
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the structures and to
select the membership of their autonomous or self-governing institutions in
accordance with their own procedures;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 31
Indigenous peoples have the right to retain and develop their
customs, laws and legal systems, in a manner not incompatible with
universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to have
these recognized in the legal system and political institutions of the
State;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 32
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the responsibilities
of individuals to their communities in a manner not incompatible with
universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 33
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop contacts,
relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural,
political, economic and social purposes, with other indigenous peoples
across borders;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 34
Indigenous peoples have the right to the observance and enforcement
of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with
States or their successors, according to their original intent. Upon the
request of the indigenous peoples concerned, States shall provide for the
submission of disputes which cannot otherwise be settled to competent
international bodies;
PART VIII
~~~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 35
States shall take effective and appropriate measures, in consultation
with the indigenous peoples concerned, to give full effect to the
provisions of this Declaration. The rights contained herein shall be
adopted and included in national legislation in such a manner that
indigenous peoples can avail themselves of such rights in practice;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 36
Indigenous peoples have the right to adequate financial and technical
assistance, from States and through international cooperation, to pursue
freely their political, economic, social, cultural and spiritual
development, and for the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms contained in
this Declaration;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 37
Indigenous peoples have the right to have access to and prompt
decision through mutually acceptable and fair procedures for the resolution
of conflicts and disputes with States, as well as to effective remedies for
all infringements of their individual and collective rights;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 38
The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system
shall contribute to the full realization of the provisions of this
Declaration through the mobilization, _inter alia_, of financial and
technical cooperation;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 39
The United Nations shall monitor the implementation of this
Declaration through a body at the highest level with special competence in
this field and with the direct participation of indigenous peoples. United
Nations human rights bodies shall promote respect for the provisions of
this Declaration;
PART IX
~~~~~~~
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 40
The rights contained herein constitute the minimum standards for the
survival and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 41
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as diminishing or
extinguishing existing or future rights indigenous peoples may have or
acquire;
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 42
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, group or person 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.
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