Liudmyla Korotkikh, a lawyer of the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, took part in the first intersessional meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on enhancing the participation of indigenous peoples in the work of the Council.
‘We believe that a separate mechanism for accreditation of indigenous peoples in the work of the Council should be established. It is important that such a mechanism operate independently of other UN structures with transparent decision-making procedures. This mechanism should also have two different accreditation procedures for indigenous peoples‘ representative institutions and indigenous peoples’ organisations,’ she said.
The expert emphasised that such a mechanism should consist of representatives of all 7 socio-cultural regions, as stated in the Report of the HRC Expert Seminar 2022. Such an approach would make possible an objective procedure where the recognition of indigenous institutions is done by indigenous peoples themselves, which is most in line with the provision of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Full text of the statement
First of all, I would like to acknowledge the extremely important role of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, thanks to whose support I and other indigenous representatives are able to participate in today’s meeting.
Over these two days, we have been discussing the importance of increasing indigenous peoples’ participation in the UN Human Rights Council.
This is not an easy process that requires a detailed discussion of all aspects in order to avoid any abuse and speculation.
Based on the principles and criteria that we discussed yesterday and today, it is important to introduce an accreditation mechanism that is as consistent as possible with the purpose and objectives of the work of indigenous peoples in the UN Human Rights Council.
That is why we believe that there should be a separate mechanism for accrediting indigenous peoples in the work of the Council. It is important that such a mechanism operate independently of other UN structures with transparent decision-making procedures. This mechanism should also have two different accreditation procedures for indigenous peoples‘ representative institutions and indigenous peoples’ organisations.
In particular, such a mechanism should consist of representatives from all 7 socio-cultural regions, as stated in the Report of the HRC Expert Seminar 2022. Such an approach would make possible an objective procedure where the recognition of indigenous institutions is done by indigenous peoples themselves, which is most in line with the provision of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
It is important to organise the process of forming such a mechanism in such a way that it earns the trust of indigenous peoples and includes representatives from each socio-cultural region who are recognised experts, knowledgeable about the regional diversity of indigenous peoples and their representative institutions, and fully independent of any regional authority.
By respecting these conditions, we can create a mechanism that is legitimate and best contributes to the goal of increasing indigenous peoples’ participation in the UN Human Rights Council.