Following more than two decades of negotiation, the United Nations in 2007 adopted a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

The international human rights instrument emphasizes the rights of indigenous people everywhere—from the Andes Mountains in South America to the sacred aboriginal lands in Australia—to maintain their own institutions, cultures and traditions.

A ceremony was held in New York on the eve of the closing of the latest session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the declaration.

Dianne Penn reports.

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