The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

This Declaration was Adopted by The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/295 on 13 September 2007

The Declaration proclaims an historic body of collective rights and human rights of indigenous peoples and individuals.

For the first time in history indigenous peoples’ right to exist was declared to be a legal right.

The Center continued its leadership in seeking endorsement of the declaration by President Barack Obama’s Administration, and in 2010, the United States officially endorsed the UN Declaration.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

Affirming that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing
the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be
respected as such,

Affirming also that all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness of
civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of humankind,

Concerned that indigenous peoples have suffered from historic injustices as a
result of, inter alia, their colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and
resources, thus preventing them from exercising, in particular, their right to development
in accordance with their own needs and interests,

Recognizing that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional
practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of
the environment,

Emphasizing the contribution of the demilitarization of the lands and territories of
indigenous peoples to peace, economic and social progress and development,
understanding and friendly relations among nations and peoples of the world,

Recognizing in particular the right of indigenous families and communities to
retain shared responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and well-being of their
children, consistent with the rights of the child,

Acknowledging that the Charter of the United Nations, the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, as well as the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, affirm the
fundamental importance of the right to self-determination of all peoples, by virtue of
which they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social
and cultural development,

Recognizing and reaffirming that indigenous individuals are entitled without
discrimination to all human rights recognized in international law, and that indigenous
peoples possess collective rights which are indispensable for their existence, well-being
and integral development as peoples,

Solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of partnership
and mutual respect:

Article 1
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as
individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of
the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human
rights law.

Article 2
Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other
peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind
of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that
based on their indigenous origin or identity

Article 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Article 4
Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right
to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as
well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

Article 5
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal,
economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if
they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.

Article 7
1. Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and
mental integrity, liberty and security of person.

2. Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom,
peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be
subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence,
including forcibly removing children of the group to another
group

Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced
assimilation or destruction of their culture.

2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:
(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity
as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands,
territories or resources;
(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of
violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic
discrimination directed against them.

Article 9
Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong
to an indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the
traditions and customs of the community or nation concerned. No
discrimination of any kind may arise from the exercise of such a right.

Article 10
Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.
No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the
indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and,
where possible, with the option of return.

Article 11
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize
their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right
to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future
manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and
historical sites, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and
visual and performing arts and literature.

2. States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms,
which may include restitution, developed in conjunction with
indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual,
religious and spiritual property taken without their free, prior
and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and
customs.

Article 12
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practice, develop and teach their
spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect,
and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and
control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human
remains.

Article 13
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and
transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral
traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to
designate and retain their own names for communities, places
and persons.

2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right
is protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples
can understand and be understood in political, legal and
administrative proceedings, where necessary through the
provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means.

Article 14

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational
systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner
appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.

2. Indigenous individuals, particularly children, have the right to all levels and
forms of education of the State without discrimination.

Article 15
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity
of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which
shall be appropriately reflected in education and public
information.

2. States shall take effective measures, in consultation and
cooperation with the indigenous peoples concerned, to
combat prejudice and eliminate discrimination and to promote
tolerance, understanding and good relations among indigenous
peoples and all other segments of society.

Article 16
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media
in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-
indigenous media without discrimination.

2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-
owned media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. States,
without prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression,
should encourage privately owned media to adequately reflect
indigenous cultural diversity

Article 17
1. Indigenous individuals and peoples have the right to enjoy fully all rights
established under applicable international and domestic labour law.

Article 18
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making
in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives
chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures,
as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-
making institutions.

Article 19
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the
indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative
institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed
consent before adopting and implementing legislative or
administrative measures that may affect them.

Article 20
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their
political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be
secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and
development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and
other economic activities.

2. Indigenous peoples deprived of their means of subsistence and
development are entitled to just and fair redress.

Article 21
1. Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination,
to the improvement of their economic and social conditions,
including, inter alia, in the areas of education, employment,
vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health
and social security.

2. States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate,
special measures to ensure continuing improvement of their
economic and social conditions. Particular attention shall
be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous elders,
women, youth, children and persons with disabilities

Article 22
1. Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous
elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities in the implementation of this
Declaration.

Article 23
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop
priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development.
In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively
involved in developing and determining health, housing and
other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far
as possible, to administer such programmes through their own
institutions.

article 23
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop
priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development.
In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively
involved in developing and determining health, housing and
other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far
as possible, to administer such programmes through their own
institutions.

A
rticle 24
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional
medicines and to maintain their health practices, including
the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and
minerals. Indigenous individuals also have the right to access,
without any discrimination, to all social and health services.

2. Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
States shall take the necessary steps with a view to achieving
progressively the full realization of this right.

Article 25
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their
distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or
otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal
seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to
future generations in this regard.

Article 26
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which
they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.

2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands,
territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other
traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.

Article 27
States shall establish and implement, in conjunction with
indigenous peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open
and transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous
peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems,
to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples
pertaining to their lands, territories and resources, including
those which were traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or
used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right to participate in this
process.

Article 28
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include
restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the
lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise
occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged
without their free, prior and informed consent.

2. Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned, compensation
shall take the form of lands, territories and resources equal in quality, size and legal status
or of monetary compensation or other appropriate redress.

Article 29
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the
environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States
shall establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such
conservation and protection, without discrimination.

2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of
hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples
without their free, prior and informed consent.

Article 30

1. Military activities shall not take place in the lands or territories of indigenous
peoples, unless justified by a relevant public interest or otherwise freely agreed with or
requested by the indigenous peoples concerned.

Article 31
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect
and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and
traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations
of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human
and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the
properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs,
sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts.
They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and
develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage,
traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.

2. In conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take
effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of
these rights.

Article 32
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop
priorities and strategies for the development or use of their
lands or territories and other resources.

2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the
indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative
institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent
prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or
territories and other resources, particularly in connection with
the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or
other resources.

3. States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair
redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall
be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social,
cultural or spiritual impact.

Article 33
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own
identity or membership in accordance with their customs
and traditions. This does not impair the right of indigenous
individuals to obtain citizenship of the States in which they live.

2. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the structures
and to select the membership of their institutions in accordance
with their own procedures.

Article 34
Indigenous peoples have the right to promote, develop and
maintain their institutional structures and their distinctive
customs, spirituality, traditions, procedures, practices and, in
the cases where they exist, juridical systems or customs, in
accordance with international human rights standards

Article 35
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the responsibilities
of individuals to their communities.

Article 36
1. Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have
the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities
for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as
well as other peoples across borders.

Article 37
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance and
enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with
States or their successors and to have States honor and respect such treaties, agreements
and other constructive arrangements.

Article 38
States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples,
shall take the appropriate measures, including legislative
measures, to achieve the ends of this Declaration.

Article 39
Indigenous peoples have the right to have access to financial
and technical assistance from States and through international
cooperation, for the enjoyment of the rights contained in this
Declaration.

Article 40
Indigenous peoples have the right to access to and prompt
decision through just and fair procedures for the resolution of
conflicts and disputes with States or other parties, as well as to
effective remedies for all infringements of their individual and
collective rights. Such a decision shall give due consideration to
the customs, traditions, rules and legal systems of the indigenous
peoples concerned and international human rights.

Article 41
The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system
and other intergovernmental organizations shall contribute to
the full realization of the provisions of this Declaration through
the mobilization, inter alia, of financial cooperation and technical
assistance. Ways and means of ensuring participation of
indigenous peoples on issues affecting them shall be established.

Article 42
The United Nations, its bodies, including the Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues, and specialized agencies, including at
the country level, and States shall promote respect for and full
application of the provisions of this Declaration and follow up the
effectiveness of this Declaration.

Article 43
The rights recognized herein constitute the minimum standards for the survival,
dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world 

Article 44
All the rights and freedoms recognized herein are equally guaranteed to male and
female indigenous individuals.

Article 45
Nothing in this Declaration may be construed as diminishing or
extinguishing the rights indigenous peoples have now or may
acquire in the future.

Article 46
1. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for
any State, people, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act contrary to the Charter of the
United Nations or construed as authorizing or encouraging
any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in
part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and
independent States.

2. In the exercise of the rights enunciated in the present
Declaration, human rights and fundamental freedoms of all
shall be respected. The exercise of the rights set forth in
this Declaration shall be subject only to such limitations as
are determined by law and in accordance with international
human rights obligations. Any such limitations shall be non-
discriminatory and strictly necessary solely for the purpose
of securing due recognition and respect for the rights
and freedoms of others and for meeting the just and most
compelling requirements of a democratic society.

3. The provisions set forth in this Declaration shall be interpreted
in accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, respect
for human rights, equality, non-discrimination, good governance
and good faith