A/HRC/45/22 28. The OHCHR Regional Office for South America and the International Labour Organization (ILO) signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly conduct seminars and workshops on the use of international human rights protection mechanisms. The objectives of those activities are to strengthen the capacity of indigenous peoples to participate effectively in the design of laws and public policies. The Regional Office and the Working Group on business and human rights, in cooperation with ILO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, organized the fourth regional consultation on business and human rights for Latin America and the Caribbean, held in September 2019 in Santiago. Two sessions were focused on the rights of indigenous peoples, including on access to remedy for indigenous peoples in the context of business activities.7 The Regional Office also supported the first international, interdisciplinary and intercultural course on the international protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, organized jointly with the International Institute for Law and Society in Lima. 29. OHCHR documented the impact on indigenous peoples in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela affected by the Arco Minero del Orinoco mining project and the expansion of illegal mining, including on their collective rights, particularly in Bolívar State (A/HRC/44/54). The discriminatory impact of such projects on the individual rights of indigenous peoples was also highlighted in a report to the forty-third session of the Human Rights Council (see A/HRC/43/3/Add.3). 30. In February 2020, representatives of OHCHR met with representatives of the Ministry of the People’s Power for Indigenous Peoples of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Ministry subsequently facilitated meetings between OHCHR and the council of elders of the Pemon Peoples and between OHCHR and 25 indigenous authorities representing nine indigenous groups living within the Arco Minero del Orinoco region of Bolívar State, in order to engage with them and monitor the human rights situation among the population. 31. During the reporting period, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that several States guarantee the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples prior to the approval of any project or any legislative or administrative measure affecting them (see, for example, E/C.12/ECU/CO/4 and E/C.12/CMR/CO/4). States were also requested by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to undertake consultations with indigenous groups and impartial human rights impact studies prior to project development (CERD/C/COL/CO/17-19, para. 19 (a)–(c); CERD/C/SLV/CO/18-19, para. 23 (a)–(f); CERD/C/GTM/CO/16-17, para. 20 (a)–(d); and CERD/C/MEX/CO/18-21, para. 21 (a)–(d)). 32. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that States adhere to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and involve children in processes affecting their lives, ensuring that development projects, hydroelectric projects, business activities and the implementation of legislative or administrative measures, such as the establishment of protected areas, are subject to consultations and adhere to the provisions of the Declaration (CRC/C/CRI/CO/5-6, para. 44 (d)). C. Land rights 33. In many States, the lack of or the inadequate recognition of indigenous land rights and the expropriation of indigenous lands and natural resources continues, placing indigenous peoples in a particularly precarious situation and leading to increases in conflicts on their territories (A/HRC/36/46, para. 50; and A/HRC/39/17, para. 17), which hindered the enjoyment by indigenous peoples of their rights to development, self-determination and control over their traditional lands, territories and resources, during the reporting period. 34. In 2019, the OHCHR office in Cambodia continued to work with the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, local governments and civil society organizations to support indigenous peoples’ efforts to apply for collective land titles. The country office provided 7 6 Information on the session is available at https://sched.co/TKvN and https://sched.co/TKvW.