Special Rapporteur's Annual Report to UN General Assembly

The UN General Assembly hall. (Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, presented his annual report to  the 67th Session of the General Assembly, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 18/8. In his report (available here), the Special Rapporteur provides a summary of his activities since his previous report to the General Assembly in 2011.

According to the report's summary, he "also provides comments on the need to harmonize the myriad activities within the United Nations system which affect Indigenous peoples. Specific United Nations processes and programmes reviewed include those relating to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; the World Intellectual Property Organization; the Convention on Biological Diversity; the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development; the World Bank Group; and programmes aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. 

The Special Rapporteur notes that the United Nations system has done important work to promote the rights of Indigenous peoples. However, greater efforts are needed to maximize action throughout the United Nations system to promote the rights of Indigenous peoples and to ensure that all actions within the system which affect Indigenous peoples are in harmony with their rights, particularly their rights as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Special Rapporteur makes a series of recommendations to this end."

More information about the Special Rapporteur is available on his website.

Anaya Report to UN Human Rights Council

From the Special Rapporteur's
Youtube channel

The United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council on July 7th, 2012. The report summarises the activities of the Special Rapporteur over the past year, including his examination of the thematic issue of violence against Indigenous women, and reports on his continuing study of issues related to extractive industries operating on or near Indigenous territories. 

From the summary, “The Special Rapporteur addresses some issues that have arisen during his consultations over the past year with indigenous peoples, business enterprises, States and non-governmental organizations. In particular, he notes that a focus on the rights implicated in the context of a specific extractive or development project is an indispensable starting point for discussions involving extractive industries operating in or near indigenous lands. In this connection, consultation and free, prior and informed consent standards are best conceptualized as safeguards against measures that may affect indigenous peoples’ rights. The Special Rapporteur also suggests that the “protect, respect and remedy” framework, which is incorporated into the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, should apply to advance the specific rights of indigenous peoples in the same way as it applies to advance human rights more generally.”

Find the full report here. Learn more about the work of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples here. Follow the Special Rapporteur on Twitter at @unsr_jamesanaya and find his videos on Youtube here.