Editing Indigenous peoples (section)

====United Nations====
No definition of Indigenous peoples has been adopted by a United Nations agency. The Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues states, "in the case of the concept of 'indigenous peoples', the prevailing view today is that no formal universal definition of the term is necessary, given that a single definition will inevitably be either over- or under-inclusive, making sense in some societies but not in others."<ref name="PFII-2009">{{Cite book |last=Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues |title=State of the World's Indigenous Peoples |publisher=United Nations |year=2009 |location=New York |pages=4–7}}</ref>

However, a number of UN agencies have provided statements of coverage for particular international agreements concerning Indigenous peoples or "working definitions" for particular reports.<ref name="PFII-2009" />

The International Labour Organization's (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (ILO Convention No. 169), states that the convention covers:<blockquote>peoples in independent countries who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonisation or the establishment of present state boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.<ref name="Sanders2">{{cite journal |last=Sanders |first=Douglas E. |year=1999 |title=Indigenous peoples: Issues of definition |journal=International Journal of Cultural Property |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=4–13 |doi=10.1017/s0940739199770591 |s2cid=154898887 | issn = 0940-7391}}</ref></blockquote>The convention also covers "tribal peoples" who are distinguished from Indigenous peoples and described as "tribal peoples in independent countries whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations."{{Sfn|Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues|2009|p=5}}

The convention states that self-identification as indigenous or tribal is a fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the convention applies.<ref name="UNHR-2013" /> The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples does not define Indigenous peoples but affirms their right to self-determination including determining their own identity.{{Sfn|UNHR Fact Sheet No. 9|2013|pp=4-5}}