A/HRC/44/35 17. Over the past 34 years, more than 2,400 indigenous peoples’ representatives had participated in United Nations meetings and processes thanks to support from the Fund. That participation had led to concrete impacts, including the issuance of recommendations on the rights of indigenous peoples to Member States from treaty bodies, enhanced dialogue among Governments and indigenous representatives and communities, and increased capacity of indigenous peoples themselves in engaging with processes and mechanisms of the United Nations. Citing several examples, Ms. Cunningham also underlined that training activities implemented by the Fund had strengthened indigenous peoples’ participation in United Nations meetings and processes. 18. Ms. Cunningham pointed out that beneficiaries of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples had contributed to several important processes, including the drafting and adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 69/2. The Board of Trustees of the Fund was scoping the possibility of further expanding the Fund’s mandate in order to, inter alia, allow for greater participation in United Nations processes on climate change and the Forum on Business and Human Rights, and facilitate meetings with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples during country visits. 19. Mr. Deer began his statement by indicating that while it was an honour to address the Human Rights Council on such an important issue, the Council had always been a difficult venue for indigenous peoples to navigate, owing to restrictive rules and brief time allocations. He also pointed out that the Council’s annual panel discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples had been reduced from three hours to two. 20. He acknowledged the great personal and financial cost that indigenous peoples from all over the world bore when attending Human Rights Council sessions, with many never getting the chance to take the floor. Most distressing to him was the fact that indigenous peoples had to register as NGOs in order to enter the Council chamber or take the floor. The NGO label was unfair to indigenous peoples’ representative institutions because indigenous peoples had structures or organizations that performed the same duties as some Governments, including laws and regulations, education systems, health systems, land tenure systems and membership or citizenship requirements. 21. He underlined that indigenous representatives were present at the dialogue not to advocate for the participation of NGOs, but to advocate for the enhancement of the participation of indigenous representatives and institutions as chosen by indigenous peoples themselves, as was their right. Also of significance was the inability of the NGO label to encapsulate the unique function of indigenous peoples as custodians of their cultures, languages, spirituality, political systems and their way of relating to other peoples. 22. Mr. Deer urged the Human Rights Council to show leadership in implementing the right of representation of indigenous peoples, rather than waiting for directions from the General Assembly. He referred to the status of national human rights institutions in the Council as a possible example of how indigenous peoples could be accredited at a level higher than NGOs and similar to observer status. He concluded by urging Member States to implement a process to institute the right of true representation of indigenous peoples in the human rights system. 23. Ms. Hakala opened by referring to the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, to article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to the report of the Secretary General on ways and means of promoting participation at the United Nations of indigenous peoples’ representatives on issues affecting them, which was presented to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-first session (A/HRC/21/24). 24. She summarized the process that had led to the present interactive dialogue. She recalled how, at its seventieth session, the General Assembly had requested the President of the Assembly to conduct consultations on the possible measures necessary, including procedural and institutional steps and selection criteria, to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies (see General Assembly resolution 70/232). 4