The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) was established by the Human Rights Council, the UN’s main human rights body, in 2007 under resolution 6/36 as a subsidiary body of the Council. It provides the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It assists Member States in achieving the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The 16th session of the Expert Mechanism is from 17-21 July 2023 in Palais des Nations, Geneva.
At its intersessional meeting held in Geneva in December 2022, the Expert Mechanism decided to hold two consecutive panel discussions at its sixteenth session, to examine (a) the right of Indigenous Peoples to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities, with a focus on fishing practices; and (b) the impact of the legacies of colonialism on the rights of LGBTQIA+ members of Indigenous Peoples.
The two panel discussions will bring together Indigenous experts in the field, who will open a debate on the subject. The first panel discussion will focus on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to maintain their economic systems and be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities, in accordance with articles 20 and 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The discussion will consider international, national and subnational legislation, protection measures, remedies, and gaps and barriers to fishing practices not only from the perspective of economic activities, subsistence and food security but also as part of the culture and traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples.
The second panel discussion will address the ongoing challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ members of Indigenous Peoples in relation to the impact of the legacies of colonialism on their rights, including the right to free, prior, and informed consent, to be free from any kind of discrimination, and not to be subjected to forced assimilation; to share experiences of, and initiatives taken by LGBTQIA+ members of Indigenous Peoples to address related consequences; and to discuss the measures that States and Indigenous Peoples can take to address ongoing challenges and the solutions to them, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.