The hard work of José R. Martinez Cobo was not in vain. From his desk, the report entitled Study of the Problem of Discrimination Against Indigenous Population written in 1982 initiated significant events in the following two decades, leading to the reading of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007. This day is commemorated worldwide as the UN Declaration Day for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples/UNDRIP). Cobo’s report shocked many people when global economic downturn hit in the early 1980s. He described a group of people who were consistently discriminated against by the policies of countries around the world.

At least ten actions were deemed necessary by the world to respect the rights of indigenous peoples according to Cobo’s report, concerning the recovery of indigenous peoples’ rights to: land; health; housing; education; language; socio-cultural and legal institutions; employment and training; political rights; religious rights; and administrative justice through legal assistance. Following Cobo’s report, a working group on indigenous peoples was established within the UN in 1982. This working group was part of the six working groups under the command of the Sub-Commission on Human Rights. For 24 years, this working group designed specific instruments related to the protection of indigenous peoples worldwide.

The process was slow due to the concerns of countries regarding some core provisions of the draft declaration, namely the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and control over natural resources on indigenous lands. Disintegration became a concern for countries that neglected the existence of legal pluralism within their borders.Dashlibroon and Zamani (2020) in the Journal of Critical Reviews stated that “the supremacy of law in societies transitioning from dictatorship to democracy is highly confrontational. This is because the national legal capacity in such transitional countries cannot grasp the local law within their nation. Meanwhile, the formalism or informalism of the law cannot be effective in such constantly conflicting situations. An adaptive legal system should be developed instead.”

It was not until 1994 that the working group submitted the first draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples to the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. The draft was sent for consideration to the UN Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Human Rights. The 1994 draft was further detailed by the inter-sessional working group for adoption by the UN General Assembly. However, during the first decade of 1995-2004, the working group failed to finalize the 1994 draft declaration, leading to an extension of their mandate into the second two decades of 2005-2015.

On June 29, 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Then, on December 28, 2006, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights adopted a draft resolution initiative on indigenous peoples’ declaration supported by several countries such as European and Latin American nations. However, an initiative led by Namibia, together with several African countries, produced a revised draft. In its new form, the draft called for the General Assembly to “postpone and carefully consider the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as to allow more time for further consultations in each represented country.”

Finally, on September 13, 2007, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by 144 countries, with 4 votes against from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Clearly, these countries still uphold White Supremacy within their political systems and consider it a burden to recognize indigenous tribes within their