A/HRC/21/24 (c) Answer the question “How does your organization, or yourself if you wish to participate as an academic or expert, want to contribute to the Expert Mechanism?”; (d) Describe the organization’s work with regard to indigenous peoples’ issues. 21. OHCHR reviews information provided in accreditation letters provided by the organizations and the answers to the questions on the form to determine whether to grant accreditation, in particular with a view to ensuring that the activities of the requesting organizations relate to the mandate of the Expert Mechanism. 22. Except for the five members of the Expert Mechanism, all participants in the annual sessions of the Expert Mechanism take part as observers, including States, national human rights institutions, indigenous peoples’ organizations and other non-State actors, irrespective of their accreditation. All observers enjoy the same opportunity to participate in the sessions with written and oral interventions. C. Working Group on Indigenous Populations (1982–2006) 23. Established in 1982 by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 1982/34, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, a subsidiary body of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, itself a subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights, was the first United Nations body to open participation to indigenous peoples’ organizations without consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. The Working Group comprised five members of the Sub-Commission, who were independent experts on human rights. The Working Group decided at its first session that indigenous peoples’ organizations without consultative status with the Economic and Social Council should be able to participate as observers in the Working Group alongside States, non-governmental organizations with Economic and Social Council consultative status and others. OHCHR and its predecessors managed the accreditation process. D. Commission on Human Rights working group on a United Nations draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (1995–2006) 24. In its resolution 1994/45, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights adopted the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples as submitted to it by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and recommended that the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council should take effective measures to ensure that representatives of indigenous peoples were able to participate in the consideration of the draft declaration by those two bodies, regardless of their consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. 25. In its resolution 1994/49, on participation of indigenous persons and organizations in bodies of the United Nations during discussion of the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Sub-Commission recommended that the Commission should approve the participation of indigenous persons and organizations, without regard to consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, during discussion of the draft declaration at meetings of United Nations bodies, including the Commission itself. 26. In turn, in resolution 1995/32, the Commission decided to establish an open-ended intersessional working group with the sole purpose of elaborating a draft declaration. The Commission invited relevant United Nations organs, bodies, programmes and specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council which were interested in contributing to the activities of the Working Group to participate in its work, in accordance with established practice. In addition, it decided 8