A/HRC/30/25
OHCHR office in Guatemala facilitated bilateral meetings with indigenous representatives
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote indigenous peoples’ participation in the
preparatory activities for the World Conference. The OHCHR regional office for South
America, in Chile, organized and participated in a national meeting of indigenous peoples
towards the World Conference, within the framework of an inter-agency project with
indigenous leaders. The meeting aimed at promoting the participation of indigenous leaders
in the World Conference and in the drafting of the outcome document.2
6.
In the lead-up to the World Conference, indigenous representatives focused on the
need to introduce more inclusive United Nations processes and to accord indigenous
representative structures a status that would facilitate their effective participation. As such,
the outcome document includes a request for the Secretary-General to submit specific
recommendations on how to enable participation of indigenous peoples at the United
Nations, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its
seventieth session.
7.
Following the World Conference, the OHCHR office in the Plurinational State of
Bolivia coordinated and initiated dialogues with various United Nations agencies to provide
technical assistance in the design of actions, adaptation and implementation of
commitments contained in the outcome document.
8.
OHCHR continued to play an active role in various inter-agency initiatives, as it
chaired the Support Group during the reporting period. The Support Group had engaged
actively in the World Conference then supported follow-up to its outcome document, in
which the Support Group’s important role in ensuring coordinated and coherent United
Nations action in relation to indigenous peoples was recognized.
9.
Supporting such follow-up was the main focus of the annual meeting of the Support
Group, hosted by OHCHR in Geneva on 1 and 2 December 2014. The meeting brought
together focal points for indigenous peoples’ issues from 17 agencies and benefitted from
the active participation of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the
Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the focal point of the Permanent
Forum for the Support Group.
10.
At the meeting, the Support Group began preparation of a system-wide action plan,
to be developed in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples and Member
States. The Support Group discussed lessons that could be drawn from other United
Nations system-wide action plans, including those on youth and gender, and highlighted
key considerations, such as the need to root the action plan in the Declaration, the
importance of engaging United Nations regional and country presences and the relevance of
the post-2015 development agenda. A small informal working group was set up to further
advance work on the action plan in cooperation with indigenous and Member State
partners.
11.
The Support Group also took stock of various initiatives concerning the
development and use of indicators related to indigenous peoples and is now working to
build support for operationalizing agreed indicators, including with a view to their
application in connection with the post-2015 development agenda. In addition, the Support
Group examined how to encourage national human rights institutions to advance
indigenous peoples’ rights at the national and international levels, in line with the outcome
document of the World Conference.
2
General Assembly resolution 69/2.
3
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