Fifty-first session (1997)*
General recommendation XXIII on the rights of indigenous peoples
1.
In the practice of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in particular in
the examination of reports of States parties under article 9 of the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the situation of indigenous peoples has always
been a matter of close attention and concern. In this respect, the Committee has consistently affirmed
that discrimination against indigenous peoples falls under the scope of the Convention and that all
appropriate means must be taken to combat and eliminate such discrimination.
2.
The Committee, noting that the General Assembly proclaimed the International Decade of the
World’s Indigenous Peoples commencing on 10 December 1994, reaffirms that the provisions of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination apply to
indigenous peoples.
3.
The Committee is conscious of the fact that in many regions of the world indigenous peoples
have been, and are still being, discriminated against and deprived of their human rights and
fundamental freedoms and in particular that they have lost their land and resources to colonists,
commercial companies and State enterprises. Consequently, the preservation of their culture and their
historical identity has been and still is jeopardized.
4.
The Committee calls in particular upon States parties to:
(a)
Recognize and respect indigenous distinct culture, history, language and way of life
as an enrichment of the State’s cultural identity and to promote its preservation;
(b)
Ensure that members of indigenous peoples are free and equal in dignity and rights
and free from any discrimination, in particular that based on indigenous origin or identity;
(c)
Provide indigenous peoples with conditions allowing for a sustainable economic and
social development compatible with their cultural characteristics;
(d)
Ensure that members of indigenous peoples have equal rights in respect of effective
participation in public life and that no decisions directly relating to their rights and interests are taken
without their informed consent;
(e)
Ensure that indigenous communities can exercise their rights to practise and revitalize
their cultural traditions and customs and to preserve and to practise their languages.
5.
The Committee especially calls upon States parties to recognize and protect the rights of
indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their communal lands, territories and resources
and, where they have been deprived of their lands and territories traditionally owned or otherwise
inhabited or used without their free and informed consent, to take steps to return those lands and
territories. Only when this is for factual reasons not possible, the right to restitution should be
substituted by the right to just, fair and prompt compensation. Such compensation should as far as
possible take the form of lands and territories.
*
Contained in document A/52/18, annex V.
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