ADRIP Working Group Holds its First Meeting

September 19, 2025

The Working Group established by the Organization of American States (OAS) in June 2023 held its first meeting in Mexico City on September 8 - 10, 2025. While the Working Group is the mechanism adopted by the OAS for the implement the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (ADRIP), this initial session dealt more with process and administrative matters rather than substantive matters.

The creation of the ADRIP Working Group was the culmination of over 30 years of work by the OAS and Indigenous peoples. The process began in January 1991 at a meeting in Mexico City organized by the OAS and its subsidiary body, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC), along with invited representatives of Indigenous peoples. The OAS was represented by Osvaldo Kreimer, while the IAHRC was represented by its Chairman, Patrick Robinson. There were around 10 Indigenous representatives, including Roger Jones of the Assembly of First Nations, Clem Chartier, of the Red River Métis and Armstrong Wiggins of the Indian Law Resource Center based in Washington, D.C.

The purpose for the December 1991 meeting was to examine the potential of pursuing some form of document/instrument which could be adopted by the OAS in recognition of the 500^th anniversary in 1992 of the so-called discovery of the Americas in 1492. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was recognized that achieving anything of significance by 1992 was not possible, with the Indigenous delegates insisting that the OAS must strive to adopt an instrument that recognizes the rights of Indigenous peoples who, collectively, have been adversely affected by colonization.

Shortly afterward, the OAS initiated a process with the engagement of Indigenous peoples which could potentially lead to the adoption of an instrument recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Thus began a long process of meetings held in various locations throughout the Americas between States governments and Indigenous peoples.

In June 2016, the OAS General Assembly sitting in the Dominican Republic adopted the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by consensus. In June 2017 sitting in Mexico the OAS GA adopted a five-year plan of action aimed at implementing the ADRIP, which was extended in June 2021 for a further five years.

Finally, in June 2023 the OAS GA sitting in Washington D.C. adopted a resolution establishing a Working Group as the mechanism mandated to work towards the implementation of the ADRIP by State members. This was based on a recommendation from a meeting of the OAS and Indigenous representatives hosted by the government of Guatemala in March 2023.

Now that the process has reached this stage, it will be interesting to see what progress can be made in convincing States members to implement the rights of Indigenous peoples contained in the Declaration (ADRIP).

This hopefully will include convincing the government of Canada to embrace the Declaration and become a part of the Working Group process.

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