State of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Volume IV, Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

On 13 September 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The adoption of the Declaration marked the culmination of decades of struggle among indigenous peoples for a universal framework establishing minimum standards to ensure the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.

Over a period of more than 20 years, indigenous peoples and Member States worked together to draft the Declaration, setting a precedent for cooperation and partnership between indigenous peoples and Member States. This collaboration has become an established practice and captures the principle of nothing about us without us—important to all, including indigenous peoples, as we move forward with a new global agenda premised on leaving no one behind