Parallel and related to the reshaping of development theories and strategies there is a growing debate on the relationship between development and human rights. An indication of how this 'right to development' should be understood was given at the Global Consultation on the Right to Development as a Human Right in 1990, in Geneva, where development was defined as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process aiming at continued improvement of the well-being of the entire population and the creation of an enabling environment for people. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, as well as the Vienna Declaration, as adopted in 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights, are founded on the concept of Human dignity which has been interpreted as respect for the intrinsic worth of the human being. These guidelines should be seen as a crystallisation of the above processes and as an effort to give the UNDP Country Offices an instrument to prevent that indigenous peoples continue to be the victims of development projects and strategies that fail to take into account human needs. It may be noted that the ILO Convention 169, and the earlier ILO Convention 107, have been ratified by a growing number of countries and may, therefore, have become part of the international obligations of these countries.
Indigenous peoples belong to the poorest and most vulnerable on earth.
Although they differ among themselves in terms of economic development and the extent to which they have been able to preserve their cultural autonomy and economic independence, many indigenous societies share common characteristics. Most societies and communities have maintained their own distinct cultural traditions, and continue to speak their own languages, which are, for the most part, unwritten. As a result they have rarely completely assimilated within the national societies in which they live. Instead, they often live in subordinate positions within national societies. They generally inhabit marginal and inhospitable territories.