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Panel Explains its Work to UN Forum on Indigenous Issues

​The Inspection Panel on May 10 sponsored an event at the 15th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York to explain its mandate and process, and to discuss lessons emerging from Panel cases related to indigenous peoples over two decades.

Panel member Zeinab Bashir ElBakri moderated the event at the United Nations headquarters and Operations Officer Birgit Kuba presented the emerging lessons, which will form the foundation of a Panel report to be published later this year. That report will be part of the Panel’s “Emerging Lessons Series,” which was launched at the 2016 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Spring Meetings with a report on emerging lessons from cases involving involuntary resettlement.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, took part in the event and welcomed the lessons, saying she hoped they would serve to ensure that protections for indigenous peoples are maintained and possibly strengthened in new World Bank safeguards. She also emphasized to the audience the importance of working with the Panel in the service of indigenous peoples.