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Fourteenth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
New York, 20 April - 1 May 2015
Agenda Item 7: Human Rights
27 April 2015
Statement by Albert Deterville,
Chair-Rapporteur
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Thank you, Madame Chair. Greetings to all of your Excellencies: Permanent Forum
members, indigenous peoples, States, international organisations and all meeting
participants.
Allow me to begin by extending my congratulations to you, Ms. Davis, on
your appointment as Chair.
On behalf of my colleagues of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, I thank you for this opportunity to share with you the work of the Expert
Mechanism over the past year. Allow me to begin by congratulating and thanking all the
members and Secretariat staff of the Permanent Forum for the excellent organization of this
session.
Madame Chair, allow me to provide a brief background of the Expert Mechanism.
The Expert Mechanism was established by the Human Rights Council in 2007 and is a
research based advisory body to the Human Rights Council - the main intergovernmental
body dealing with human rights at the United Nations. We apply all human rights standards
in our work, but our key reference is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
as the normative human rights framework in advancing and realizing the rights of
Indigenous peoples worldwide. Before speaking more about this, for the benefit of all
delegations attending the Permanent Forum, I would like to provide information about our
upcoming session.
The 8th session of the Expert Mechanism will take place in Geneva from 20 to 24 July 2015.
A significant number of States, Indigenous peoples, international organisations and national
human rights institutions participate in the sessions of the Expert Mechanism, together with
the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous peoples and a representative of the
Permanent Forum.
As Chairperson of the Expert Mechanism, it is my pleasure to share with you some updates
on the work of the Expert Mechanism in the past year:

The Expert Mechanism held its 7th session in July 2014. Participants included over 50
Member States and approximately 150 indigenous peoples’ organizations and civil
society organizations, as well as national human rights institutions and academics.
We conducted panel discussions on the Post-2015 development agenda and on the
role of parliaments in the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. Our 7th session was also an opportunity to discuss the World
Conference on Indigenous Peoples, just a few days before it took place. The Expert
Mechanism also adopted two studies during the 7th session:
o A follow-up on study access to justice in the promotion and protection of the
rights of indigenous peoples, with a focus on restorative justice and
indigenous juridical systems, particularly as they relate to achieving peace
and reconciliation, including an examination of access to justice for
indigenous women, children and youth and persons with disabilities; and
o A study on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples
in natural disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparedness initiatives.

I would like to thank all those States, indigenous peoples’ organizations, NGOs and
national human rights institutions that contributed to our studies.

The two studies, together with a number of proposals made by the Expert
Mechanism, were presented to the Human Rights Council at its Twenty-Seventh
Session in September 2014. This session also included a half-day panel discussion on
the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in disaster risk
reduction initiatives.

In its resolution 27/13, of September 2014, the Human Rights Council encouraged all
parties to consider the good practices and recommendations included in the two
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studies “as practical advice on how to attain the goals of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” In the same resolution, the
Council requested the Expert Mechanism to prepare a study on the promotion and
protection of the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural heritage,
including through their participation in political and public life, to be presented to
the Council at its 30th session in September 2015.

At the 7th Session, the Expert Mechanism also made proposals to the Human Rights
Council regarding the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, the implementation
of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Post-2015 Development
Agenda, business and human rights, and indigenous human rights defenders.

In January 2015, the Expert Mechanism participated in the Permanent Forum’s
Expert Group Meeting on the theme “Dialogue on an optional protocol to the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.

In February 2015, OHCHR and the University of Lapland (Finland) co-organized an
expert seminar on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples
with respect to their cultural heritage. The main objective of the seminar was to
obtain substantive input to the Expert Mechanism’s study on this theme, to be
discussed at the upcoming 8th session. The Seminar brought together approximately
40 participants, including members of the Expert Mechanism, the Special Rapporteur
on the rights of indigenous peoples, Sámi experts on cultural heritage and human
rights, and academics and practitioners working on cultural heritage issues
throughout the world. The topics on the seminar's agenda included indigenous
peoples’ participation in the protection of their cultural heritage; links between
lands, territories and the environment and cultural heritage; and redress and
restitution where rights relating to cultural heritage have been violated. These are all
themes that will be addressed in the study.

In March 2015, the Expert Mechanism held its first ever inter-sessional meeting,
which took place at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg on 9 and
10 March. The meeting provided us with an opportunity for to discuss more in-depth
the review of our mandate, as requested in the outcome document of the World
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Conference on Indigenous Peoples. I would like to thank the Government of Canada
for its kind support in making this meeting possible.
The Expert Mechanism has been working on two specific projects, as requested by the
Human Rights Council in resolution 27/13, of September 2014.

As outlined above, the Expert Mechanism is carrying out a study on the promotion
and protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural
heritage.

The Expert Mechanism also continues to report on the responses received to
questionnaires addressed to states and Indigenous peoples on best practices
regarding appropriate measures and implementation strategies in order to attain the
goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The study on cultural heritage, as well as the report on the questionnaires will be made
available at the Expert Mechanism’s 8th session, where further contributions by participants
will be considered. The study and report will then be finalised for the Human Rights
Council’s thirtieth session in September 2015.
We have also devoted a great deal of time and attention this year to the review of the
Expert Mechanism’s Mandate, as requested by the General Assembly in paragraph 28 of the
outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. We encourage
Member States and indigenous peoples to contribute to this process, with the ultimate goal
of allowing the Expert Mechanism to “more effectively promote respect for the Declaration,
including by better assisting Member States to monitor, evaluate and improve the
achievement of the ends of the Declaration” (General Assembly Resolution 69/2, paragraph
28).
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples informs every aspect of the work of
the Expert Mechanism, and each report, advice and study that we have presented to the
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Human Rights Council relates to the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Declaration,
including economic, social and cultural rights.
I welcome this opportunity to hear from indigenous peoples’ organizations and State
delegations today about advances made in the promotion and protection of the rights of
indigenous peoples, making the lives of indigenous peoples worldwide better, for today and
for future generations.
In conclusion, Madame Chair, I would like to thank the Permanent Forum for its on-going
contribution to the work of the Expert Mechanism and, on behalf of my fellow Experts,
express my appreciation for our continued collaboration. It is critical that the Expert
Mechanism, the Permanent Forum, and the Special Rapporteur continue to work together
in a collaborative way as we carry out our respective mandates, in order to strengthen the
recognition of the human rights of Indigenous peoples within the UN system and beyond.
Thank you.
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