About the mandate

Overview

The studies and advice of the Expert Mechanism aim to provide a better understanding of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to propose concrete actions that States, indigenous peoples, civil society, international organizations, national human rights institutions and others can take in order to further its implementation.

The Expert Mechanism’s studies and advice place special emphasis on the participation of indigenous peoples themselves in decisions that affect them.

Reviewing and updating the mandate

In September 2016, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 33/25, which amended the mandate of the Expert Mechanism. EMRIP’s new mandate is to provide the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of indigenous peoples as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and assist Member States, upon request, in achieving the ends of the Declaration through the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights of indigenous peoples. Specific new elements of the mandate include:

• Upon request, assisting Member States and/or indigenous peoples in identifying the need for and providing technical advice regarding the development of domestic legislation and policies relating to the rights of indigenous peoples;
• Providing Member States, upon their request, with assistance and advice for the implementation of recommendations made at the universal periodic review and by treaty bodies, special procedures or other relevant mechanisms;
• Upon the request of Member States, indigenous peoples and/or the private sector, engaging and assisting them by facilitating dialogue, when agreeable to all parties, in order to achieve the ends of the Declaration;
• Identifying, disseminating and promoting good practices and lessons learned the efforts to achieve the ends of the Declaration, including through reports to the Human Rights Council;
• Expansion of the membership from five to seven experts, in order to reflect the seven indigenous sociocultural regions.

For more detail, please refer to Human Rights Council resolution 33/25.

Resolutions

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Review of the mandate

In September 2015, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 30/11, which requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to convene a two-day expert workshop to review the mandate of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to propose recommendations on how it can more effectively promote respect for the Declaration.

Expert workshop

In order to implement resolution 30/11, OHCHR organized a two-day expert workshop on 4 and 5 April 2016 in Geneva. It had the following objectives:

• To propose recommendations on how the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can more effectively promote respect for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including by better assisting Member States to monitor, evaluate and improve the achievement of the ends of the Declaration.
• To assess of the work of the Expert Mechanism since its establishment, including good practices, challenges, gaps and lessons learned.
• To collect, discuss and propose recommendations by various stakeholders regarding the review of the mandate of the Expert Mechanism.

Documents:

• Concept note
• Agenda: English | Français  | Español

Report from the Expert Workshop

Access the Expert Workshop report in all six official UN languages.

Inputs received

Written contributions from States, indigenous peoples and other stakeholders were requested in order to ensure broad input to the review of the Expert Mechanism’s mandate with the deadline of 14 March 2016. The questionnaire below was designed to guide written contributions. (English | Français | Español)

Summary of responses to the questionnaire (PDF).

States:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Bolivia
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Democratic Republic of Congo: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (JPG)
• Denmark and Greenland
• Finland
• Guatemala
• Namibia
• Norway
• Russian Federation English | Russian
• United States
• Venezuela

Indigenous peoples and others:

• Arctic Indigenous Peoples organizations and institutions
• Bubi People, Bioko Island
• Campaign for the Indigenous Protocol
  English | Spanish
• CAPAJ
• Citizen Potawatomi Nation
• Congres Mondial Amazigh
• Indian Law Resource Center
• Indigenous World Association
• International Indian Treaty Council
• Lumad Mindanaw Peoples Federation
• The National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund
• Nepal Laborious Society Centre
• Shiprock Community Development Corporation, Navajo Nation
• Tamaynut
• Report of the open-ended meeting of indigenous peoples on the follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples
• National Human Rights Commission, New Zealand
• The Center for World Indigenous Studies
• Current membership of the Expert Mechanism

Individuals:

• Mattias Ahren
• Albert Barume
• Otilia Lux di Coti
• Wilton Littlechild
• Patrick Thornberry
• Alexey Tsykarev
• Tracey Whare
• Alexandra Xanthaki