The term ‘indigenous peoples’ as used in this work denotes the peoples to which the UN Spe-cial Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (SRIP) refers in his or her reports. I also use the term ‘indigenous peoples’ when discussing politics in the UN, although I acknowl-edge that for the most part the indigenous persons and delegations participating in the UN meetings represent NGOs that in turn speak on behalf of one or more indigenous peoples.
The indigenous peoples, while extremely heterogeneous in their backgrounds, cultures and histories, have commonalities that have brought them together. They share some key expe-riences, most importantly colonisation and loss of lands, the claim that the foreign rule im-posed upon them is illegitimate and the demand for justice and self-determination. These are discussed in Article 1, ‘Indigenous-state Relations in the UN’ (see also Niezen, 2003; Alfred and Corntassel, 2005).
The first attempt by an indigenous leader to draw international attention to the situation of indigenous peoples occurred already in the 1920s, during the League of Nations. Following the Second World War, the establishment of the UN and the adoption of key instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, So-cial and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, created circumstances that were more conducive to advancing the claims of indigenous peoples. The civil rights movements and the decolonisation processes in the 1960s further promoted the formation of indigenous organisations and networks (Niezen, 2003; García-Alix, 2003).
A major UN study in the 1970s on the problem of discrimination against indigenous peo-ples, the Cobo Report,1 revealed that the special situations and needs of indigenous peoples had not been adequately taken into account within the UN system. In addition, the peoples
1 The report is available at http://undesadspd.org/IndigenousPeoples/LibraryDocuments/Mart%C3%ADnez CoboStudy.aspx (accessed 3 April 2014).
were not able to affect issues that concerned them. This study was followed by establishment of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) in 1982. The WGIP was a signifi-cant factor in the formation of the global indigenous movement and the further involvement of indigenous peoples in the UN processes. The WGIP introduced the principle of open par-ticipation for any indigenous NGOs, which was later adopted by the PF and other UN proc-esses dealing with indigenous issues. The main task of the WGIP was to draft the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Following the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the WGIP was discontinued and replaced by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, established in 2007. The mandate of the Expert Mechanism is to provide the Human Rights Council with thematic advice.2
To date, the most significant achievement in the UN related to indigenous peoples, in ad-dition to the establishment of the PF, has been the UNDRIP. 3 The Declaration was adopted in 2007 by the General Assembly after over twenty years of deliberation in the UN: the UNDRIP brings universal human rights to the special context of indigenous peoples. It formulates the rights of indigenous peoples to the extent which and in the structure and format in which the international community of states has recognised them. It constitutes a minimum ‘standard of achievement to be pursued’, but it does not preclude the creation of additional rights in the future (Wiessner, 2009: 3).
The position of Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (SRIP) was estab-lished in 2001 by the Commission on Human Rights as part of what are known as the themat-ic Special Procedures. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur is to promote good practthemat-ices and implement international standards concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, report on the human rights situation of the peoples, address violations of these rights and conduct thematic studies.4
The first suggestions that a permanent indigenous forum might be formed were voiced early on in the indigenous peoples’ involvement in the UN. It had been demonstrated that there was a need for coordination in the UN in issues pertaining to indigenous peoples (Søvn-dahl Petersen, 1999: 9). The PF was eventually established in 2000.
The PF is an advisory body working under the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
It consists of sixteen expert members – eight state members and eight indigenous members – with all sixteen working on an equal footing.5 The mandate of the PF includes all areas of the ECOSOC: economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and
2 The Expert Mechanism has five members that are experts on the rights of indigenous peoples; it holds an-nual sessions in which states, indigenous peoples and other interested parties may participate. http://www.
ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/Pages/EMRIPIndex.aspx (accessed 7 Jan 2013).
3 For the procedural history of the UNDRIP, see http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/pdf/ha/ga_61-295/ga_61-295_ph_e.pdf (accessed 7 Jan 2013).
4 For more information, see the webpage of the Special Rapporteur. Available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/
Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/SRIPeoplesIndex.aspx (accessed 7 Jan 2013).
5 States nominate their members, and the participating state members are then elected by ECOSOC based on five regional groupings of states. Indigenous organisations nominate their members and the participat-ing indigenous members are then appointed by the President of ECOSOC based on seven socio-cultural regions. For information on the members, see the UN PF webpage: http://undesadspd.org/IndigenousPeo-ples/AboutUsMembers.aspx (accessed 1 April 2014).
human rights. Its remit is to gather and disseminate information and does not entitle it to decide on specific human rights violations or to develop indigenous rights standards.
The PF has the tasks of raising awareness and cooperation on as well as coordination and integration of indigenous issues within the UN. These it promotes through its secretariat at UN Headquarters in New York. The Forum has an annual 10 day session, each of which has to date been held at UN Headquarters. The annual session issues recommendations to the ECOSOC, UN agencies, states, indigenous and civil society organisations, private sector ac-tors and the media. In addition, the PF prepares other reports and reviews on the situations of indigenous peoples (Handbook for Participants, 2007).
The participants in the PF’s annual sessions, who represent indigenous peoples, member states and civil society organisations, have numbered about 1200 people (Handbook for Par-ticipants, 2007). Representatives of indigenous peoples, states, UN agencies and other par-ticipating organisations can give statements on the mandated issue-areas during the annual sessions. An important part of the annual meeting is the lobbying work done by indigenous peoples’ organisations outside the formal plenary session. In addition, various side-events are organised during the sessions.
The UN has played an essential part in the development of the global indigenous move-ment by functioning as a platform for enhancing cooperation among indigenous peoples around the world. Indigenous peoples themselves have been instrumental in getting their issues on the UN agenda and gaining more opportunities for participation and visibility in the organisation. Dahl (2012) even states that indigenous peoples have been able to create ‘an indigenous space’ within the UN. The Global Indigenous Caucus – a product of the coopera-tion between indigenous peoples in the UN – holds preparatory meetings prior to the annual session of the PF. The Caucus has been an important element in the creation and strengthen-ing of solidarity among indigenous peoples around the world.
The demands of the indigenous peoples and issues pertaining to them have become a per-manent item on the UN agenda, which can be seen as adding legitimacy and accountability to the work of the organisation: in addition to having better opportunities to inform states of their situation, the peoples can participate more efficiently than before and hold states ac-countable for their decisions. The stated aims of this enhanced participation, both for the UN in its rhetoric and for indigenous peoples themselves, are to improve the conditions for indigenous peoples and bring them justice. The peoples have pushed for institutional changes and greater inclusiveness of international political processes as part of their claim to self-determination. Institutional reforms and legal advances, such as the PF and the adoption of the UNDRIP, can be taken to signify a recognition of the special international status of indig-enous peoples (e.g. Morgan, 2011).
The establishment of the PF has heightened the importance of the UN as the focal point for the political endeavours of the international indigenous peoples’ movement. I found it per-tinent to first analyse the debates on the establishment on the PF and, second, to analyse the politics that has taken place in the Forum since it was established. The PF is an arena in which indigenous peoples and states meet and in which indigenous peoples can form stronger link-ages among themselves. Analysing the PF has provided an opportunity to study actual poli-tics and the ways in which the relations between states and indigenous peoples play out in an international political forum.
The initial research topic of the dissertation was the international political agency of in-digenous peoples; that is, I sought to answer the question, how can inin-digenous peoples – as peoples that demand self-determination – be political actors in an organisation formed by sovereign states (the UN)? The impetus for this inquiry was provided by the institutional ad-vances that had taken place on indigenous issues in the UN, particularly with the establish-ment of the PF. While this basic interest in the international political agency of indigenous peoples informs the dissertation throughout, the perspective on power which I ultimately adopted and the level at which I chose to study that agency changed during the course of the work.