United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 61/295 on 13 September 2007
The General Assembly,
Guided
by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
and good faith in the fulfillment of the obligations assumed by States
in accordance with the Charter,
Affirming
that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while
recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider
themselves different, and to be respected as such,
Affirming
also that all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness of
civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of
humankind,
Affirming
further that all doctrines, policies and practices based on or
advocating superiority of peoples or individuals on the basis of
national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are
racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and
socially unjust,
Reaffirming that indigenous peoples, in the exercise of their rights, should be free from discrimination of any kind,
Concerned
that indigenous peoples have suffered from historic injustices as a
result of, inter alia, their colonization and dispossession of their
lands, territories and resources, thus preventing them from exercising,
in particular, their right to development in accordance with their own
needs and interests,
Recognizing
the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of
indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and
social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions,
histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands,
territories and resources,
Recognizing
also the urgent need to respect and promote the rights of indigenous
peoples affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements with States,
Welcoming
the fact that indigenous peoples are organizing themselves for
political, economic, social and cultural enhancement and in order to
bring to an end all forms of discrimination and oppression wherever they
occur,
Convinced
that control by indigenous peoples over developments affecting them and
their lands, territories and resources will enable them to maintain and
strengthen their institutions, cultures and traditions, and to promote
their development in accordance with their aspirations and needs,
Recognizing
that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional
practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and
proper management of the environment,
Emphasizing
the contribution of the demilitarization of the lands and territories
of indigenous peoples to peace, economic and social progress and
development, understanding and friendly relations among nations and
peoples of the world,
Recognizing
in particular the right of indigenous families and communities to
retain shared responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and
well-being of their children, consistent with the rights of the child,
Considering
that the rights affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements between States and indigenous peoples are, in some
situations, matters of international concern, interest, responsibility
and character,
Considering
also that treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements, and
the relationship they represent, are the basis for a strengthened
partnership between indigenous peoples and States,
Acknowledging
that the Charter of the United Nations, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2) and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights,2 as well as the Vienna Declaration and
Programme of Action,(3) affirm the fundamental importance of the right
to self-determination of all peoples, by virtue of which they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development,
Bearing
in mind that nothing in this Declaration may be used to deny any
peoples their right to self-determination, exercised in conformity with
international law,
Convinced
that the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in this
Declaration will enhance harmonious and cooperative relations between
the State and indigenous peoples, based on principles of justice,
democracy, respect for human rights, non-discrimination and good faith,
Encouraging
States to comply with and effectively implement all their obligations
as they apply to indigenous peoples under international instruments, in
particular those related to human rights, in consultation and
cooperation with the peoples concerned,
Emphasizing
that the United Nations has an important and continuing role to play in
promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples,
Believing
that this Declaration is a further important step forward for the
recognition, promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms of
indigenous peoples and in the development of relevant activities of the
United Nations system in this field,
Recognizing
and reaffirming that indigenous individuals are entitled without
discrimination to all human rights recognized in international law, and
that indigenous peoples possess collective rights which are
indispensable for their existence, well-being and integral development
as peoples,
Recognizing
that the situation of indigenous peoples varies from region to region
and from country to country and that the significance of national and
regional particularities and various historical and cultural backgrounds
should be taken into consideration,
Solemnly
proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a
spirit of partnership and mutual respect:
Article 1
Indigenous
peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as
individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized
in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights(4) and international human rights law.
Article 2
Indigenous
peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and
individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of
discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that
based on their indigenous origin or identity.
Article 3
Indigenous
peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right
they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their
economic, social and cultural development.
Article 4
Indigenous
peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the
right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their
internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing
their autonomous functions.
Article 5
Indigenous
peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct
political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while
retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the
political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.
Article 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.
Article 7
1. Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person.
2.
Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace
and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act
of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing
children of the group to another group.
Article 8
1.
Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected
to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:
(a)
Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their
integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic
identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.
Article 9
Indigenous
peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an indigenous
community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and customs of
the community or nation concerned. No discrimination of any kind may
arise from the exercise of such a right.
Article 10
Indigenous
peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.
No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed
consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just
and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.
Article 11
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their
cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain,
protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their
cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artefacts,
designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and
literature.
2.
States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms, which may
include restitution, developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples,
with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual
property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in
violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
Article 12
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and
teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies;
the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their
religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their
ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human
remains.
2.
States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of
ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through fair,
transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction with
indigenous peoples concerned.
Article 13
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and
transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral
traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to
designate and retain their own names for communities, places and
persons.
2.
States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is
protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand and
be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where
necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other
appropriate means.
Article 14
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
educational systems and institutions providing education in their own
languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching
and learning.
2.
Indigenous individuals, particularly children, have the right to all
levels and forms of education of the State without discrimination.
3.
States shall, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, take effective
measures, in order for indigenous individuals, particularly children,
including those living outside their communities, to have access, when
possible, to an education in their own culture and provided in their own
language.
Article 15
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity of their
cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which shall be
appropriately reflected in education and public information.
2.
States shall take effective measures, in consultation and cooperation
with the indigenous peoples concerned, to combat prejudice and eliminate
discrimination and to promote tolerance, understanding and good
relations among indigenous peoples and all other segments of society.
Article 16
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their
own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media
without discrimination.
2.
States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned media
duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. States, without prejudice to
ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage privately owned
media to adequately reflect indigenous cultural diversity.
Article 17
1.
Indigenous individuals and peoples have the right to enjoy fully all
rights established under applicable international and domestic labour
law.
2.
States shall in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples
take specific measures to protect indigenous children from economic
exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous
or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the
child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development, taking into account their special vulnerability and the
importance of education for their empowerment.
3.
Indigenous individuals have the right not to be subjected to any
discriminatory conditions of labour and, inter alia, employment or
salary.
Article 18
Indigenous
peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters
which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by
themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to
maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions.
Article 19
States
shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples
concerned through their own representative institutions in order to
obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and
implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect
them.
Article 20
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their
political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in
the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to
engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.
2. Indigenous peoples deprived of their means of subsistence and development are entitled to just and fair redress.
Article 21
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the
improvement of their economic and social conditions, including, inter
alia, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training and
retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security.
2.
States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate, special
measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and social
conditions. Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special
needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with
disabilities.
Article 22
1.
Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of
indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities
in the implementation of this Declaration.
2.
States shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to
ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and
guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.
Article 23
Indigenous
peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and
strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular,
indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing
and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes
affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes
through their own institutions.
Article 24
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to
maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their
vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Indigenous individuals
also have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social
and health services.
2.
Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall
take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full
realization of this right.
Article 25
Indigenous
peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive
spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise
occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other
resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in
this regard.
Article 26
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and
resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise
used or acquired.
2.
Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the
lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of
traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as
those which they have otherwise acquired.
3.
States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands,
territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due
respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the
indigenous peoples concerned.
Article 27
States
shall establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous peoples
concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process,
giving due recognition to indigenous peoples’ laws, traditions, customs
and land tenure systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of
indigenous peoples pertaining to their lands, territories and resources,
including those which were traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or
used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right to participate in this
process.
Article 28
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include
restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable
compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have
traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been
confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior
and informed consent.
2.
Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned,
compensation shall take the form of lands, territories and resources
equal in quality, size and legal status or of monetary compensation or
other appropriate redress.
Article 29
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of
the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or
territories and resources. States shall establish and implement
assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and
protection, without discrimination.
2.
States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or
disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or
territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed
consent.
3.
States shall also take effective measures to ensure, as needed, that
programmes for monitoring, maintaining and restoring the health of
indigenous peoples, as developed and implemented by the peoples affected
by such materials, are duly implemented.
Article 30
1.
Military activities shall not take place in the lands or territories of
indigenous peoples, unless justified by a relevant public interest or
otherwise freely agreed with or requested by the indigenous peoples
concerned.
2.
States shall undertake effective consultations with the indigenous
peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular
through their representative institutions, prior to using their lands or
territories for military activities.
Article 31
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and
develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional
cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences,
technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds,
medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral
traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and
visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain,
control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such
cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural
expressions.
2.
In conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take effective
measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.
Article 32
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities
and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories
and other resources.
2.
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous
peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order
to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any
project affecting their lands or territories and other resources,
particularly in connection with the development, utilization or
exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
3.
States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for
any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to
mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual
impact.
Article 33
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own identity or
membership in accordance with their customs and traditions. This does
not impair the right of indigenous individuals to obtain citizenship of
the States in which they live.
2.
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the structures and to
select the membership of their institutions in accordance with their own
procedures.
Article 34
Indigenous
peoples have the right to promote, develop and maintain their
institutional structures and their distinctive customs, spirituality,
traditions, procedures, practices and, in the cases where they exist,
juridical systems or customs, in accordance with international human
rights standards.
Article 35
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the responsibilities of individuals to their communities.
Article 36
1.
Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international
borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and
cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political,
economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other
peoples across borders.
2.
States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall
take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the
implementation of this right.
Article 37
1.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance and
enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements
concluded with States or their successors and to have States honour and
respect such treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.
2.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as diminishing or
eliminating the rights of indigenous peoples contained in treaties,
agreements and other constructive arrangements.
Article 38
States
in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take the
appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to achieve the
ends of this Declaration.
Article 39
Indigenous
peoples have the right to have access to financial and technical
assistance from States and through international cooperation, for the
enjoyment of the rights contained in this Declaration.
Article 40
Indigenous
peoples have the right to access to and prompt decision through just
and fair procedures for the resolution of conflicts and disputes with
States or other parties, as well as to effective remedies for all
infringements of their individual and collective rights. Such a decision
shall give due consideration to the customs, traditions, rules and
legal systems of the indigenous peoples concerned and international
human rights.
Article 41
The
organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other
intergovernmental organizations shall contribute to the full realization
of the provisions of this Declaration through the mobilization, inter
alia, of financial cooperation and technical assistance. Ways and means
of ensuring participation of indigenous peoples on issues affecting them
shall be established.
Article 42
The
United Nations, its bodies, including the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues, and specialized agencies, including at the country level, and
States shall promote respect for and full application of the provisions
of this Declaration and follow up the effectiveness of this Declaration.
Article 43
The
rights recognized herein constitute the minimum standards for the
survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.
Article 44
All the rights and freedoms recognized herein are equally guaranteed to male and female indigenous individuals.
Article 45
Nothing
in this Declaration may be construed as diminishing or extinguishing
the rights indigenous peoples have now or may acquire in the future.
Article 46
1.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, people, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to
perform any act contrary to the Charter of the United Nations or
construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember
or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political
unity of sovereign and independent States.
2.
In the exercise of the rights enunciated in the present Declaration,
human rights and fundamental freedoms of all shall be respected. The
exercise of the rights set forth in this Declaration shall be subject
only to such limitations as are determined by law and in accordance with
international human rights obligations. Any such limitations shall be
non-discriminatory and strictly necessary solely for the purpose of
securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of
others and for meeting the just and most compelling requirements of a
democratic society.
3.
The provisions set forth in this Declaration shall be interpreted in
accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, respect for human
rights, equality, non-discrimination, good governance and good faith.