UN expert on indigenous peoples’ rights to visit Greenland and Denmark

Press release from UN City Copenhagen/UN Human Rights

GENEVA (6 March 2020) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, will carry out an official country visit to Denmark and Greenland from 10 to 19 March 2020.

“I look forward to learning about how the Greenland Self-Government has been established and is functioning in practice, as this sets an interesting model for indigenous peoples in other parts of the world,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

The UN expert will examine diverse range of issues affecting indigenous peoples, including self-governance, the administration of justice, the situation of children and youth, housing, access to health services including mental health, climate change and the right to development and natural resources.

“Despite progress, important challenges have been brought to my attention, including in relation to the protection of the rights of children. I look forward to meeting first-hand with Greenlanders to understand these challenges as well as the measures taken to address them,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

Most of her visit, being held at the invitation of the Governments of Denmark and Greenland, will be carried out in Greenland. The UN expert will also meet Greenlanders living in Denmark.

Tauli-Corpuz will meet with Governments and State officials, indigenous organisations, civil society, academics and UN representatives. She will also visit communities to discuss their priorities and concerns.

The Special Rapporteur will hold a news conference to share her preliminary findings and recommendations at 11:00 on Thursday 19 March at the pressroom of UN City, Marmorvej 51, Copenhagen. Access to the conference is limited to accredited journalists, who must register in advance (see information below).

The UN expert will present her final report to the Human Rights Council in September 2020.

ENDS

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Philippines), is a human rights activist working on indigenous peoples’ rights. Her work for more than three decades has been focused on movement building among indigenous peoples and also among women, and she has worked as an educator-trainer on human rights, development and indigenous peoples in various contexts. She is a member of the Kankana-ey, Igorot indigenous peoples in the Cordillera Region in the Philippines.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

See the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

UN Human Rights, Country Page – Denmark

To register for the press conference in Copenhagen, please contact Flemming Johannesen
(+45 4533 6022 / flemming.johannesen@one.un.org)

For further inquiries and media requests during and after the visit, please contact Christine Evans
(+41 22 917 9197 / cevans@ohchr.org) or write to indigenous@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Xabier Celaya
(+ 41 22 917 9445 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts

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Date of publication: 6 Mar 2020

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