Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to United Nations press release entitled General Assembly Adopts Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples; ‘Major Step Forward’ towards Human Rights for All, Says President, published on 13 September 2007, whether it remains the Government’s policy that (a) national minority groups and (b) other ethnic groups within the UK do not fall within the scope of the indigenous peoples to which the Declaration applies.

The UK fully recognises that individuals belonging to indigenous communities are entitled to the full protection of their human rights and fundamental freedoms in international law. The UK supports the provisions in the Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) that underline this. Human rights are universal and apply equally to all. Our position remains that national minority groups, and other ethnic groups within the territory of the United Kingdom, and its overseas territories, do not fall within the scope of indigenous people, to which UNDRIP applies.