Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

272 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
Chapter 2.6. The second are a whole host of different voluntary
mechanisms associated with the companies themselves,
some of which are also inspired by the UN. Probably the best
known of these voluntary mechanisms is the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises. As with a legal strategy, it will
help to have good advice and partners in the international
indigenous movements or international NGOs to assist with
any initiative.
2.7.1 UN Human Rights Mechanisms
Indigenous Mechanisms
Various UN human rights bodies have done a great deal
to advance the rights of indigenous peoples. This has happened
through the intensive lobbying of indigenous peoples
themselves, starting with the Haudenosaunee of North
America asserting their rights before the UN’s predecessor,
the League of Nations, in the 1920s. After a gap of some years
the American indigenous movement from the US took their
concerns to the UN Human Rights Commission, seeking
access to its Decolonization Committee. This led in1982 to the
UN creating a Working Group on Indigenous Populations,
which worked for over 20 years to elaborate human rights
standards suited to the particular circumstances of indigenous
peoples. Eventually it would also lead to the adoption of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. 1
The primary outcome is that there are now three UN
bodies that are mandated to deal specifically with indigenous
peoples’ issues. They are the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an
advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).