The Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) was a subsidiary body within the structure of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
. It was established in 1982, and was one of the six working groups overseen by the
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the main subsidiary body of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (defunct 2006).
The WGIP had the following mandate:
* to review developments pertaining to the promotion and protection of
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
and fundamental freedoms of
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
;
* to give attention to the evolution of international standards concerning
indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...
.
Following the establishment of the
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
,
the role of the Working Group, which was a substructure of the disbanded
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of ...
came under review. Some governments argued, that the working group duplicated the work of the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
(UNPFII) and should therefore be discontinued, while indigenous peoples and NGOs pointed out that the UNPFII is not a human rights body and that the Working Group is the only body within the United Nations system that specifically deals with standard-setting concerning the human rights of indigenous peoples.
Eventually, the working group was discontinued and replaced by the
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which held its first session in Geneva from 29 September to 3 October 2008.
See also
*
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
*
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 is an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO Convention 169, or C169. It is the major binding international convention concerning indigenous peoples and tribal peopl ...
*
International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on 9 August each year to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigen ...
External links
Archived version of the Working Group's home page the successor of the Working Group
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)
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Indigenous rights organizations
Working groups
Organizations established by the United Nations