04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly number of documents, the most recent and most comprehensive of which is the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which was adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities by its resolution on August 26, 1994. Among the rights recognized by the UN Draft is the restitution of lands, territories and even the resources which the indigenous peoples have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without the free and informed consent of the indigenous peoples. A Historical Backdrop on the Indigenous Peoples The term "indigenous" traces its origin to the Old Latin word indu, meaning "within." In the sense the term has come to be used, it is nearer in meaning to the Latin word indigenus, which means "native."[3] "Indigenous" refers to that which originated or has been produced naturally in a particular land, and has not been introduced from the outside.[4] In international law, the definition of what constitutes "indigenous peoples" attains some degree of controversy. No definition of the term "indigenous peoples" has been adopted by the United Nations (UN), although UN practice has been guided by a working definition in the 1986 Report of UN Special Rapporteur Martinez Cobo:[5] Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sections of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sections of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems. This historical continuity may consist of the continuation, for an extended period reaching into the present, of one or more of the following factors: (a) Occupation of ancestral lands, or at least of part of them; (b) Common ancestry with the original occupants of these lands; (c) Culture in general, or in specific manifestations (such as religion, living under a tribal system, membership of an indigenous community, dress, means of livelihood, life-style, etc.); (d) Language (whether used as the only language, as mothertongue, as the habitual means of communication at home or in the family, or as the main, preferred, habitual, general or normal language); (e) Residence in certain parts of the country; or in certain regions of the world; elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/36882 77/148