Publications | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

Indigenous peoples contribute extensively to humanity's cultural diversity, enriching it withmore than two thirds of its languages and an extrordinary amount of its traditional knowledge. There are over 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries, living in all regions of the world. The situation of indigenous peoples in many parts of the world is critical today. Poverty rates are significantly higher among indigenous peoples compared to other groups. While they constitute 5 per cent of the world's population, they are 15 per cent of the world's poor. Most indicators of well-being show that indigenous peoples suffer disproportionately compared to non-indigenous peoples. Indigenous…

Official Documents

General Assembly Resolutions A/RES/69/159 Rights of Indigenous Peoples (18 December 2014) A/RES/69/2 Outcome Document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (25 September 2014)A/RES/68/149 Rights of Indigenous Peoples (18 December 2013) A/RES/67/153 Rights of indigenous peoples (20 December 2012)
Press release: GA/SHC/4063 A/RES/66/296 Organization of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (17 September 2012)
Press release: GA/11283.
Adopted without vote.A/RES/66/142 Rights of indigenous peoples (19 December 2011)
Press…

Reports on MDGs and Indigenous Peoples

The Millennium Declaration, signed by 147 Heads of State and Government, provided an opportunity for a renewed focus on indigenous peoples in the international development debate. However, despite the MDGs many successes, the goals did far from address indigenous peoples' aspirations for human rights, equality and participation in the processes around the MDGs. This has been documented in various publications: MDG Reports, CCAs, UNDAFs and Indigenous Peoples: A Desk Review 2010
AR | EN | ES | FR | RU | ZH March 10 2010 | Adobe Acrobat (pdf) MDG Reports and Indigenous Peoples: A desk review, No. 3, Feb 2008
AR | EN | ES | FR | RU | ZH March 3 2008 | Adobe Acrobat (pdf) Desk…

Martínez Cobo Study

Study of the Problem of Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations Final report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Mr. José Martínez Cobo Introduction (30 July 1981) E/CN.4/Sub.2/476
10 August 1982E/CN.4/Sub.2/1982/2
5 August 1983E/CN.4/Sub.2/1983/21

Chapter I: Measures adopted by the United Nations E/CN.4/Sub.2/476/Add.4 Chapter II: Action taken by the specialized agencies E/CN.4/Sub.2/1982/2/Add.1 Chapter III: Action taken by the Organization of American States E/CN.4/Sub.2/1982/2/Add.2 Chapter IV: Other international action E/CN.4/Sub.2/476/2/Add.5 Chapter V: Definition of indigenous populations E/CN.4/Sub.2/1982/2/Add.6 Chapter VI: Composition of the…