58th session of the Human Rights Council: Presentation of Joan Carling, Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International

March 27, 2025

58th session of the Human Rights Council

Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Theme: Sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Presentation of Joan Carling, Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International

Esteemed members of the Human Rights Council, members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Experts, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and Civil Society, I am honored to speak before you today to highlight the crucial role of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in advancing Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

For centuries, Indigenous Peoples have suffered systemic discrimination, exclusion, and human rights violations. We continue to denied access to justice, dispossessed of our lands, and marginalized in decision-making processes. While the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was adopted in 1965 without explicitly mentioning Indigenous Peoples, CERD has consistently affirmed that racial discrimination against Indigenous Peoples is a serious violation of human rights that requires urgent action.

As we commemorate 60 years of the Convention, we must also look ahead to 2027, which marks two major anniversaries for Indigenous rights: First, it is the 30th anniversary of CERD’s General Recommendation No. 23 on Indigenous Peoples, adopted in August 1997. While only five paragraphs long, General Recommendation 23 was an early affirmation of various foundational rights. These include our rights to territories, to restitution, to informed consent and various cultural rights, which are articulated within the system of fundamental non-discrimination and equality norms. This was an early and very welcome validation of the equality and equal rights of all peoples as set out in the Charter of the UN, guarantees long denied to Indigenous Peoples.

Second, 2027 is also the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. After many years of discussion, the General Assembly adopted this Declaration recognizing the equal rights and dignity of Indigenous Peoples, including our right to self-determination. CERD’s General Recommendation 23 was often cited in the discussions around the Declaration and, since 2007, CERD often refers to the Declaration in its concluding observations, general recommendations, urgent action communications, and decisions. It has affirmed that the standards in the Declaration are consistent with the human rights guarantees in the Convention.

While the Convention, adopted in 1965, makes no mention of Indigenous Peoples, the CERD has long been clear that it applies to Indigenous Peoples and that the failure to guarantee, respect and protect our rights is discriminatory. To achieve this, it has adopted detailed recommendations consistently for over 30 years, including under its much-appreciated early warning and urgent action procedure, and in several important decisions in recent years pursuant to the Article 14 complaints procedure. These recommendations include preventing forced eviction of Indigenous Peoples, challenging racial discrimination in resource extraction, addressing violence against Indigenous Defenders, protecting cultural heritage of Indigenous Peoples. In 2018, I was part of an urgent action decision, so I understand the importance of CERD to victims of human rights violations.

Further, CERD’s General Recommendation No. 25 issued in 2000, acknowledged the intersectional discrimination-- both racial and gender-based oppression experienced by Indigenous Women. In 2022, CEDAW built on this by adopting General Recommendation No. 39, which specifically addresses the need to recognize and protect the inter-related individual and collective rights of Indigenous Women as women and their collective rights as part of Indigenous Peoples. CERD has called for stronger measures to combat violence, discrimination, and economic exclusion faced by Indigenous women across the globe.

Likewise, CERD has illuminated the challenges of eradicating racial discrimination and ensuring tangible equality for Indigenous Peoples which remains evident still in many situations, however. I have no doubt that CERD will continue to raise concern and make recommendations to States to support them to address this problem.

Since it was adopted in 1997, CERD has developed a large body of practice that goes beyond the short but valuable statements in General Recommendation 23. It was also approved prior to the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.

I thereby strongly urge CERD to take the next step by developing an updated General Recommendation on Indigenous Peoples to reflect the past 30 years of progress and respond to the current challenges we face. The updated recommendations shall consider the following

1. Integrating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a key reference
2. Strengthening the legal obligations of states to protect Indigenous lands and resources, cultures, and self-governance
3. Addressing the increasing threats of climate change, extractive industries, and land dispossession
4. Providing clear guidance on ensuring Indigenous participation in decision-making including Indigenous Women.

This step will provide a much-needed legal and policy framework for states to uphold their obligations under the Convention and protect Indigenous rights more effectively.

We stand ready to support CERD in this crucial endeavor.

Thank you.