Joint Statement on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples and members of the United Nations Treaty

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) – 17th session

Item 5: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Interactive dialogue with UNPFII, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples and members of the United Nations Treaty Bodies

Joint Statement by Denmark on behalf of a group of countries

9 July 2024

Chair,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of a group of countries and my own, Denmark together with Greenland.

We reaffirm our full and firm commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

We would like to raise our concern with the use of the term Indigenous Peoples in conflation with local communities in international instruments concerning in particular the environment, biodiversity and climate change. We are concerned that when these terms are grouped together, it risks conflating the terms and risks a perception that these terms are synonymous – which they are not. 

Indigenous Peoples have affirmed their identity as Indigenous Peoples, which States have subsequently recognized in international law and incorporated into international instruments. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples embodies a fundamental international instrument that outlines the inherent collective rights of Indigenous Peoples and affirms their identity as Peoples equal to all other peoples.  Unduly linking of Indigenous Peoples with local communities and other terms contains the risk - intentionally or not - of blurring the concept of Indigenous Peoples.

We convey our support to the efforts of the Permanent Forum, the Expert Mechanism, and the Special Rapporteur on addressing this issue and we encourage “all United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and climate to refrain from the use of the term “local communities” in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, and to distinguish between the terms, in ongoing processes, policies and new international agreements at all levels. This includes engaging directly with Indigenous Peoples to resolve this issue.”

Esteemed experts, what do you see as the biggest challenges to remedy the conflation of Indigenous Peoples with local communities?