A/HRC/4/111 page 8 5. We call upon the General Assembly to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and urge the early, successful conclusion of negotiations on the OAS draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; 6. We appeal to the States of the region that have not yet acceded to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to do so as a matter of urgency, with a view to its universal ratification, and also to make the declaration provided for in article 14 of the Convention; 7. We urge the organs and programmes of the United Nations, multilateral development agencies and OAS to pay priority and permanent attention to efforts to combat racism and all forms of discrimination, particularly discrimination against women. We request these agencies to mainstream gender and race in all their activities; 8. We ask States to support the mandate of the Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons of African Descent and on Racial Discrimination of the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and of the mechanisms and organs related to efforts to combat discrimination and racism of the United Nations Human Rights Council, in particular the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the Independent Eminent Experts Group to follow up the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the Independent Expert on minority issues; 9. We recommend that States, in cooperation with international organizations working on this issue, develop a racial equality index for the region that would permit the analysis of current forms of racism and discrimination to be standardized and regulated and facilitate their quantification; 10. We recommend also that States, in cooperation with the relevant international agencies, conduct censuses and collect, compile, analyse and publicize statistics and data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, taking into account socio-economic indicators such as health, infant and maternal mortality, life expectancy, literacy rate, education, employment, housing, land ownership, water, sanitation, energy and communications services, poverty and average disposable income. Available quantitative data will facilitate objective, informed decision-making processes and the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies, plans and programmes against discrimination, at the same time respecting human rights and diversity and promoting the participation of the populations concerned in the development of methodologies and instruments; 11. We request States and the United Nations to adapt the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Durban and Santiago Commitments. We consider it necessary to continue the pursuit of gender and ethnic equality as an essential precondition for attaining the MDGs and overcoming poverty in our region. We believe also that the