HRC47 - NB8 statement - Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
14th session
Intersessional Roundtable on possible steps to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meeting of the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them
16 July 2021
NB8-statement
Madame Chair,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries, Estonia, Denmark together with Greenland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and my own country Finland.
We thank the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for holding this intersessional roundtable on this important topic. Today’s discussion is a welcomed continuance to the panel discussion held during the 12th session of the EMRIP.
As Article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states, ways and means of ensuring the participation of indigenous peoples on issues affecting them shall be established. To achieve this, the cooperation of all stakeholders is needed, and the views of indigenous peoples themselves must be heard and respected. In this regard, we are pleased today’s discussion is possible, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
We, the Nordic-Baltic countries, remain committed to further elaborate a process for ensuring the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions at the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them.
Distinguished panelists,
What is the next crucial step for the Human Rights Council to take, in order to keep this issue on the agenda and to ensure the full, effective and meaningful participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions at meetings on issues affecting them?
I thank you.