Part I The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Background, content and implementation Chapter 5: The implementation of the Declaration KEY QUESTIONS • What is the legal status of the Declaration? • How does the Declaration relate to other international standards? • What role can NHRIs play to advance the rights of indigenous peoples? 1. THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE DECLARATION The Declaration was adopted through resolution 61/295 of the General Assembly. Unlike treaties or conventions, resolutions do not per se create legally binding obligations on States. However: … as a resolution adopted with the approval of an overwhelming majority of Member States, the Declaration represents a commitment on the part of the United Nations and Member States to its provisions, within the framework of the obligations established by the Charter of the United Nations.151 The Declaration does not create new or special rights for indigenous peoples; rather, it elaborates on existing human rights standards and articulates them as they apply to the particular situation of indigenous peoples. Therefore, the Declaration illustrates the interdependent and indivisible nature of international human rights norms and standards: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples represents an authoritative common understanding, at the global level, of the minimum content of the rights of indigenous peoples, upon a foundation of various sources of international human rights law. The product of a protracted drafting process involving the demands voiced by indigenous peoples themselves, the Declaration reflects and builds upon human rights norms of general applicability, as interpreted and applied by United Nations and regional treaty bodies, as well as on the standards advanced by ILO Convention No. 169 and other relevant instruments and processes. The Declaration does not attempt to bestow indigenous peoples with a set of special or new human rights, but rather provides a contextualized elaboration of general human rights principles and rights as they relate to the specific historical, cultural and social circumstances of indigenous peoples. The standards affirmed in the Declaration share an essentially remedial character, seeking to redress the systemic obstacles and discrimination that indigenous peoples have faced in their enjoyment of basic human rights. From this perspective, the standards of the Declaration connect to existing State obligations under other human rights instruments.152 In a joint statement to celebrate the 2008 International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, made this call for a political commitment to the Declaration: 151 A/64/338, para. 48. 152 A/HRC/9/9, paras. 85-86. Chapter 5: The implementation of the Declaration | 37