Several delegations thanked the Chair for his leadership during the session and at informal meetings and the Secretariat for its hard work and support, and expressed satisfaction with the results of the session. The Vice-Chairs, the facilitators and the “Friends of the Chair” were also thanked for the role they had played in facilitating the work of the IGC at the present session. The interpreters were also thanked for their flexibility and support both in plenary and the informal meetings.
The Delegation of the United States of America, on behalf of Group B, observed that that was the first time that the IGC had actually been able to recommend a renewal of the mandate to the General Assembly and for that, the IGC had a lot to be proud of.
The representative of IPCB, in her capacity as indigenous co-chair along with
Mr. Thomas Alarcon, representative of CAPAJ, extended her appreciation to the Chair for his kind way of working with the indigenous representatives, and for always being open to meeting with them. The Secretariat was thanked for providing meeting rooms and secretarial support. She also acknowledged her fellow indigenous representatives at the meeting for their initiative and support. She also thanked the indigenous representatives from Latin America present at the meeting, who had brought some of their sacred items to lend support to the IGC, to ensure that it achieved work that would benefit future generations.
The representative of Tupaj Amaru thanked the Chair for his tolerance and for allowing representatives of indigenous peoples and communities to take the floor and put forward their suggestions on behalf of the indigenous people they represented. He said that the texts he had provided were based on existing legal instruments, particularly, the two redrafted proposals that he had submitted to the Secretariat. The proposed texts had a normative character and contained three basic articles which comprised: (1) restitution and restoration of indigenous cultural heritage; (2) ratification, acceptance and approval; (3) final provisions stemming from Article 45 of the UNDRIP. He also expressed his gratitude to the indigenous representatives who had supported his proposals.
The Deputy Director General, Mr. Christian Wichard, added his thanks to the IGC for its constructive participation, to the Vice-Chairs, the interpreters and to his colleagues in the TK Division. In particular, he expressed his gratitude to the Chair and said that it had been a great experience to work under his guidance through that biennium.
The Chair, in his closing remarks, said that it had indeed been a great honor and
privilege to preside over the 2010-2011 biennium of the IGC. He was overwhelmed by the
level of cooperation and support that he had received from all delegations. That had made it possible for that biennium to achieve a degree of unprecedented success after many years of what could be described as lacking progress. The IGC had good reason to pat itself on the back for that leap in the quest to add to the development of a text(s) of an international instrument(s) to ensure effective protection of GRs, TK and TCEs. Being the last session, he was pleased that all the delegates had spared no efforts to ensuring that the IGC had a constructive outcome which would be carried forward to the next mandate. In expressing his appreciation, he singled out the “Friends of the Chair” for their commendable efforts in ensuring that a decision on the future work was arrived at. In particular, he thanked the Vice-Chair,
Mr. José Ramón López de León Ibarra (Mexico), for ably facilitating the outcome. He also acknowledged the facilitators for their commendable work and thanked the interpreters for their cooperation. He also thanked the other Vice-Chair, Mr. Vladimir Yossifov (Bulgaria), for his dedicated support and the Secretariat, led by the Director General, for its commitment and support. In conclusion, the Chair said that he might prepare a summary of some of the key issues that needed to be taken forward to the next round of negotiations.
The Chair closed the meeting.
Decision on Agenda Item 12:
The Committee adopted its decisions on agenda items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 on July 22, 2011. It agreed that a draft written report, containing the agreed text of these decisions and all interventions made to the Committee, would be prepared and circulated before September 30, 2011. Committee participants would be invited to submit written corrections to their interventions as included in the draft report before a final version of the draft report would then be circulated to Committee participants for adoption at the next session of the Committee.
