Working Group on Indigenous Populations

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The Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) is a subsidiary body within the structure of the United Nations. It was established in 1982, and is one of the six working groups overseen by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The WGIP has the following mandate:

to review developments pertaining to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples;
to give attention to the evolution of international standards concerning indigenous rights.

Following the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Working Group, which was a substructure of the disbanded United Nations Commission on Human Rights, is currently under review and is likely to be discontinued in its current form. Whether it will be replaced by a body with a similar mandate or one that includes a wider range of issues, is subject to decision by the Human Rights Council. Governments have argued, that the working group duplicates the work of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and should therefore be discontinued, while indigenous peoples and NGOs point out that the UNPFII is not a human rights body and that the Working Group is the only body within the United Nations system that specifically deals with standard-setting concerning the human rights of indigenous peoples.