A/HRC/38/23 right to health and the right to education; deficiencies in the collection of data regarding indigenous peoples; and lack of access to culturally sensitive sexual and reproductive health. 23. Some delegations emphasized that, while developments at the international level were important, dialogue and action at the domestic level should also be prioritized, including the use of the Declaration by national courts. The delegations also pointed to the links and interplay between the Declaration and other human rights instruments and mechanisms. 24. Several delegations and other stakeholders highlighted ongoing initiatives to address the situation of indigenous peoples’ human rights in their respective countries. Those initiatives included: the development of national action plans for indigenous peoples, or their inclusion in broader national development strategies in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals; the establishment of mechanisms to involve indigenous peoples in decision-making; improvements to data collection; the inclusion of indigenous peoples’ rights in sectoral public policies; measures to improve indigenous peoples’ political representation; the creation of specific institutions to address their situation and concerns; land demarcation and titling programmes; the promotion of income-generating activities, such as community-based ecotourism; training for civil servants and other stakeholders; and targeted training for indigenous bilingual teachers. IV. Concluding comments from the panellists and moderator 25. Ms. Ángel said that it was very important for indigenous youth to be able to organize themselves at the national and international levels, in order to bolster their participation in decision-making and in the design of programmes that might affect them. That approach implied not only setting aside places for young people but also providing, as a matter of priority, funding to facilitate their participation. The Sustainable Development Goals constituted a key channel for the involvement of indigenous youth, who must participate in national and international-level consultations. In addition to work at the international level, indigenous youth had a key role to play in implementing the Declaration at the national and local levels. 26. With regard to the way in which indigenous youth reacted when faced with climate change and disasters, in Oaxaca, Mexico, young persons contributed actively as members of humanitarian brigades. Indigenous peoples’ ways of organizing themselves had also been fundamental in responding to disasters, as had the transfer of ancestral knowledge, which also played a key role in disaster prevention. There was a need to invest in the young generation. Such support for youth was a crucial way of supporting indigenous persons of all ages. 27. Ms. General said that it was vital to ensure collaboration across the United Nations system, and to learn about the realities of indigenous peoples on the ground and why those realities had not advanced far enough in the past 10 years. The expertise that existed within the United Nations system should be used to provide recommendations. The inclusion of the empowerment of indigenous women as one of the focus areas at the March 2017 session of the Commission on the Status of Women served as an example in that regard. The new technical assistance functions of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples had great potential. The treaty bodies and the universal periodic review had a significant role to play regarding indigenous peoples. The adoption of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was a welcome development, providing a strong and useful tool for the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas. 28. It was disheartening and frustrating to see that the past 10 years had brought very little in the way of tangible, quantifiable improvements to the lives of indigenous peoples. However, much good work was being carried out at the community and international levels, and indigenous youth faced the challenge of bringing all that work together, in order to make the rights enshrined in the Declaration a reality in the daily lives of indigenous peoples. She invited States to continue consulting and collaborating with indigenous peoples to develop national plans of action to remedy existing shortcomings in laws, policies and practices, and highlighted the important role that national human rights 5