Publicerad 2015-04-22
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UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 14th session, agenda item 7b,
Joint statement on behalf of the Nordic countries, delivered by Norway.
Madame Chair,
I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of the Nordic countries, Denmark with Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and my own country, Norway.
We are very pleased to have this inter active dialogue with the Special Rapporteur. In the dialogue with the Chair of EMRIP earlier today, we emphasized that we see these mechanisms as complementary and we welcome efforts to coordinate their activities. In our view, there is still room for enhancing the coordination among the mandates dealing with the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We are impressed by the Special Rapporteur`s high level of activity, despite the limited resources allocated to her mandate. Furthermore, we are pleased to see that the Special Rapporteur carries out her work within those areas generally targeted by special procedures, such as promotion of good practices, country assessments, thematic studies and communications concerning alleged human rights violations.
A core aspect of the mandate is to examine ways and means of overcoming existing obstacles to the full and effective protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. In her report to the General Assembly in 2014, the Special Rapporteur identified some of these obstacles. We would appreciate if the Special Rapporteur could elaborate on her efforts to tackle these obstacles and whether there are particular challenges that could be highlighted.
The Nordic countries would also like to receive information as to how the Special Rapporteur intends to follow up the request from the Human Rights Council to promote the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant international instruments, including the ILO Convention No. 169. It would be of interest to hear if there are concrete plans for promoting these instruments.
Finally, we have noted with interest that one of the conclusions in the report to the General Assembly is that promotion of good practices, is one of the targeted areas of work identified by the Special Rapporteur. We welcome this point and look forward to learning more about its follow up.
Thank You.