CH A PT E R 2 The natives living in the interior is not having birth certificates and identity cards that can verify their citizenship status. This is due to various reasons such as late registration of births, lack of supporting documents required by the National Registration Department (NRD) or questionable marital status of the parents. The lack of these documents later lead to problems in getting access to education and healthcare. The SUHAKAM Sarawak Office will endeavour to continuously champion for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak. International commitment to indigenous peoples The 17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) was held from 16 – 27 April 2018 at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. The Permanent Forum is a high-level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a mandate to deal with indigenous issues. The theme for this year’s Permanent Forum is ‘Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources.’ A SUHAKAM Commissioner and an officer attended the Permanent Forum. During the Session, SUHAKAM was invited to speak on a panel on ‘Advancing the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: National and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms’ alongside the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution (NIM). The following questions were addressed: i) How do NHRIs or IACHR promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples? What are the actions undertaken by the institutions, particularly in recent years? ii) A recurring theme in the work of various NHRIs and IACHR is the challenges to the rights of indigenous peoples by land and resource-based business operations, such as mining and agribusiness. How does each institution address the human rights challenges of indigenous peoples? How can those business interests be respectful of indigenous rights? iii) Indigenous human rights defenders have been facing increasing reprisals across the world. The Permanent Forum has encouraged NHRIs to work with indigenous peoples to develop strategies to protect and provide support to those defenders. What have been or can be the specific actions in this regard? SUHAKAM shared the work its conducted to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples such as the NI, conducting workshops and talks for indigenous communities to raise their awareness of human rights and school visits to monitor the quality of education and school facilities for indigenous children. SUHAKAM ANNUAL REPORT 2018 97