An unidentified speaker at a public meeting urged states to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, saying the declaration — adopted by the United Nations in 2007 as General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/295 — recognizes historical injustices and sets norms for redress.

The speaker said the declaration took more than 20 years of negotiation and highlighted the declaration’s “very strong rights for indigenous people, notably the right to self-determination,” which the speaker described as a core principle that allows indigenous peoples to “determine their destiny, to decide on what their education system will be, their health system will be, and how they want to project themselves in the future.”

Why it matters: The speaker argued that adoption alone has not been enough and called on states to bring the declaration into domestic law — a process often described as “domestication” — so international norms have force at the national level. The speaker warned that without domestic implementation, indigenous peoples continue to face criminalization, environmental harms tied to extractive industries, and rising gender-based violence.

The speaker said: “There has been some progress. Implementing an instrument is, first of all, for states to domesticate the instruments. It means you bring that international law into your domestic legal system.” The speaker added that the number of countries that have fully incorporated the declaration into domestic law is “not really enough.”

Describing current harms, the speaker said indigenous people are sometimes treated as “extremists, as terrorists, as enemy of state” when they defend their land, and that extractive projects frequently proceed “without due regard to international standards and to the rights of indigenous peoples.” The speaker listed specific environmental impacts, saying the contamination of rivers, soil and air “affects real indigenous peoples livelihoods.”

The speaker also raised human-rights abuses affecting indigenous women, including “gender based violence increasing in many regions” and instances of forced sterilization that some states have not acknowledged. The speaker said some violence is tied to conflict over natural resources and extractive-industry tensions.

No formal action was recorded during the meeting on the speaker’s remarks. The speaker concluded with an appeal to governments and institutions to “reinvest in human rights, put resources in human rights both internationally, regionally, and locally.”

The meeting record did not identify the speaker by name or affiliation, and no motions or votes followed the comments.