ABSTRACT
Increasingly concerned by the complexity of human rights issues in different parts of the world, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) decided to establish in 1947 a Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, composed of 26 independent human rights experts. Responding to persistent demands of indigenous peoples, the Commission was also able to create mandate of a Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People. Special Rapporteurs are usually provided by the Office with an assistant; they organized author's country visits, helped gather information, prepared briefs, handled official correspondence and aided him with the drafting of his reports. The author's report to the CHR, presented in March 2002, provides a panorama of the major human rights issues confronting indigenous peoples worldwide. The problem of the human rights implications for indigenous peoples of major development projects was raised as the main focus of his second report to the HRC in 2003.
