Chapter 4, ‘Emerging Status as Law? Participation of Indigenous Peoples in International Governance, 2007–2022’, continues the narrative from the point of the adoption of the UNDRIP in September 2007. In this period, the general trend of the proliferation of participatory policies and mechanisms identified in Chapter 3 only intensified. Organizations that had not previously attempted to include Indigenous peoples in a systematic way now adopted mechanisms and policies to do so, while those that had previously instituted such mechanisms or policies sought to enhance them. This chapter maps the contours of this continuing trend, showing how the participation zeitgeist spread through numerous UN organs and international organizations. It assesses the question of states’ and international organizations’ motivations for enabling Indigenous peoples to be heard in such fora. It shows how states and international organizations now increasingly justified participation policies with reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It demonstrates how in nearly all cases barriers to full and effective participation remain.

In Chapter 3, ‘The Proliferation of Indigenous Peoples’ Participation, 1982–2007’, I trace how a pattern of state practice unfurled over a span of 25 years, beginning with the establishment of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) and spreading to numerous other UN organs, international organizations, and other international governance mechanisms. It at first takes a chronological approach, tracing relevant practice from 1988 to 1994 in processes such as the negotiations towards the International Labour Organization Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, UN conferences, and several UN expert workshops. It then considers how momentum grew towards the establishment of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The chapter next turns to consider several parallel trends. It turns to mechanisms for Indigenous peoples’ participation in environment and development negotiations, before tracing Indigenous peoples’ participation in decision-making in international development institutions. The chapter ends by examining three regional stories: the Arctic, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the European Union.

Chapter 2, ‘Finding Support for Indigenous Peoples’ Participation in the Sources of International Law’, turns to a doctrinal analysis. It undertakes an examination of relevant sources of international law on self-determination and Indigenous peoples’ rights, in treaties, declarations, and decisions of international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. We see how the law of self-determination has been interpreted by the latter bodies as meaning – among other things – participation of peoples at the national (but not necessarily the international) level, and how participation is at the heart of the law on self-determination specific to Indigenous peoples. The chapter then turns to customary international law, reviewing and contextualizing various methodologies for its identification and summarizing how the evidence described in later chapters can be interpreted through these methodologies. Through these lenses, I discuss methodological debates, including the legal status we should assign to the UNDRIP in and of itself, how a provision of the UNDRIP might later crystallize into a rule of custom, and how to regard international organizations in relation to the identification of custom.

Maria Panezi explains in Chapter 9 that Indigenous peoples are frequently included in social procurement programs as part of government efforts to correct past injustices and offer assistance towards a better economic future. Both the empowering and the redistributive outcomes of government procurement are equally important for Indigenous peoples and should be immediate priorities of governments that need to advance economic equity. There have been efforts to create a robust procurement regime for Indigenous peoples in various national contexts, especially in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. These programs are works in progress and need to be both supported and evaluated continuously to allow for adaptation. This chapter serves as necessary background for the re-evaluation of transnational (local, provincial, regional, federal and cross-border) procurement policies for Indigenous businesses and service providers.