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7. These State positions constitute serious violations of international law, including the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter and the peremptory norm that prohibits racial discrimination.
8. Clearly, if we are to achieve a strong Declaration that sets minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the world’s Indigenous peoples, the deliberations of the Working Group must be guided by and must respect explicit international criteria. Consistent with the U.N. Charter, proposals that create discriminatory double standards or otherwise undermine the human rights of Indigenous peoples must be eliminated.
9. Therefore, we respectfully submit the following
recommendations: Recommendations
10. We call upon the Permanent Forum to strongly recommend to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that it urge the Working Group:
i) to carry out its mandate, at all times, in a manner that fully upholds the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and is wholly consistent with international law and its progressive development;
ii) to adopt new and dynamic methods of work, with particular regard for the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples; and
iii) to invite the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, as well as other experts on Indigenous peoples’ human rights, to attend and contribute to the formal or informal sessions of the Working
Group. Rationales for above recommendations
11. The first two recommendations fully reflect the texts agreed upon by Indigenous representatives at the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus meeting in Geneva on April 10, 2005. Similar texts were proposed without success by Indigenous representatives, as amendments to the CHR’s Resolution 2005/50 that extended the mandate of the Working Group for this coming year.
12. The rationales or substantiating arguments for all three recommendations have been elaborated in detail in a Joint Submission entitled Assessing the International Decade: Urgent Need to Renew Mandate and Improve the U.N Standard-Setting Process on Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights. It was formally submitted by Indigenous peoples to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on March 30, 2004. Last year, copies in English and Spanish were provided to all of the Members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
13. In regard to Recommendation i) above, we firmly believe that the criteria specified should be applied to the intersessional Working Group since they reflect existing commitments and long-standing approaches under international law.
14. For example, the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter require actions “promoting and encouraging respect” for human rights and not undermining them. According to the Charter, the duty to promote respect for human rights is to be based on “respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples”.
15. Yet these obligations have never been explicitly applied by the Chair of the Working Group as essential criteria. As a result, some States continue to propose amendments to the draft U.N. Declaration that would severely undermine our human rights.
16. Similarly, the Chair of the Working Group has never required that proposals by States or other participants be “consistent with international law and its progressive development”. Thus, a number of States regularly propose discriminatory double standards within the Working Group to the detriment of more than 300 million Indigenous people worldwide.
17. The notion of “progressive development” is an essential element that is used in diverse ways in the U.N. Charter. For example, in its studies and recommendations, the U.N. General Assembly, which includes all Member States, is required under Article 13 to encourage the “progressive development of international law and its codification”. A similar affirmation is found in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
18. In addition, the Statute of the International Law Commission, established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1947, declares that the “Commission shall have for its object the promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification”.
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