The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions 2.3. PUBLIC OFFICIALS Public officials are pivotal players in ensuring that a State complies with its international human rights obligations, such as the Declaration. For this reason, providing training and professional development programmes for public officials on indigenous peoples and their human rights is a necessary element to achieving the ends of the Declaration. All public officials with roles that impact either directly or indirectly on the realization of indigenous peoples’ human rights should receive training and professional development. This includes officials working in government departments with specific mandates concerning indigenous peoples’ issues, as well as officials working in other government departments which inevitably impact on the land and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, such as officers in environmental and forestry departments, territorial and land management departments and cultural affairs departments. All public officials whose work impacts on the realization of indigenous peoples’ human rights should undertake: • General human rights training • Targeted training specifically related to indigenous peoples’ human rights. NHRIs can undertake a number of strategies in this regard. This work should be done in cooperation with the relevant authorities.194 Since its establishment in 2009, the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh has worked to create a culture of human rights within the bureaucracy and the broader public. The rights of Adivasi (indigenous peoples) have been identified by the Commission as a priority area. One key area of activity has been to work with Government officials around human rights-based responses to Adivasi when developing and implementing government policies.194 In the first instance, NHRIs can advocate, develop and implement training programmes for public officials whose works impacts on indigenous peoples. This advocacy should seek the integration of human rights principles and standards into any indigenous-related training programmes that are currently being provided to public officials. Where there is an absence of training materials for public officials focused on working with indigenous peoples, NHRIs can seek to develop materials that incorporate a human rights-based approach and the standards contained in the Declaration.195 The Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Nicaragua has developed and published 14 training modules on various human rights issues, including one specifically focused on the human rights of indigenous peoples. A basic human rights training module has also been developed for public officials and employers, which has a particular emphasis on non-discrimination and equality. The Office has conducted over 1000 training workshops with public officials.195 194 Presentation to subregional consultation organized by OHCHR, The Operationalization of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by National Human Rights Institutions, Auckland, New Zealand, 1-3 December 2010. 195 Response to OHCHR questionnaire on possible good practices in addressing the rights of indigenous peoples. 62 | Chapter 7: Awareness raising and education