AG/RES. 1549 (XXVIII-O/98)

PROPOSED AMERICAN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS

(Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on June 2, 1998)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the report of the Permanent Council on the "American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Populations"; and

CONSIDERING:

That, in resolution AG/RES. 1022 (XIX-O/89), the General Assembly requested the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to prepare a juridical instrument relative to the rights of the Indian peoples, and that the instrument was presented to the Assembly at its twenty-seventh regular session;

That, in resolution AG/RES. 1479 (XXVII-O/97), the General Assembly urged the member states to present, by December 31, 1997, their observations and recommendations on the "Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" prepared by the IACHR, and requested the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) and the Inter-American Indian Institute (III) to transmit their comments on that proposed declaration to the Permanent Council, taking into account those observations and recommendations; and

That the III, the CJI, and several member states have already submitted their comments to the Permanent Council,

RESOLVES:

1. To acknowledge the progress made in studying the "Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

2. To thank the Inter-American Indian Institute (III), the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI), and the member states for their comments on the "Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

3. To instruct the Permanent Council to continue to consider the "Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Populations"; to convene a meeting of government experts on this subject, taking into account the observations of the member states and the opinions of the III and the CJI, during the second half of 1998, in keeping with resources allocated in the program-budget and other resources; and to take the measures it considers appropriate with a view to the adoption of a declaration by the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth regular session.