Assembly of Armenians of Western Armenia

Speech 2 – WIPO from 5 to 9 June 2023

Madam President, dear delegates of the Member States,

Our delegation supports the facilitators’ variant, but there is one point we would like to understand.Indigenous peoples have worked for more than 50 years to get the Member States to adopt a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and their right to self-determination.In the preamble to our instruments, point 1, this same declaration is cited and specified, but through aspirations, it is mechanically extended to local communities.

This means that we now find ourselves in a situation where local communities have a status equivalent to that of indigenous peoples, both in terms of beneficiaries (art. 4) and in terms of the scope of protection (art. 5). 

Is there a legal text approved by the Member States on the status of local communities?

Thank you Madam President