On October 12, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave an intervention during the Third Committee debate on Agenda Item 69, dedicated to the “Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

In its statement, the Holy See said that the recent tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples modeled the type of solidarity that should characterize the participation of indigenous peoples within the work of the United Nations and in States and society in general: they should be treated as dignified partners whose free, prior and informed consent should be sought in all matters concerning them. With regard to their land and resources, they must have the political, economic and social conditions necessary to be agents of their development and destiny. Their right to cultural and social development must be harmonized with the economic development of the States in which they abide. Their faithful witness to a healthy relationship with nature is a service to all of humanity. At the UN, however, the Holy See underlined that there is a need for an agreed definition of “indigenous peoples” that pertains across various contexts. 

The statement can be found here.