The participation of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations: the problematic institutionalization of a non-state actor

Abstract Since the 1980s, the participation of non-state actors in international organizations has brought promises of greater inclusion and efficiency in the promotion and protection of human rights. The institutional inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations system is a clear example of this evolution, thanks to which an Indigenous elite has made great strides in securing the recognition of Indigenous rights. However, in the context of the vigilance policies by which the UN attempts to monitor respect for human rights, criticism from Indigenous activists has brought attention to the violations of international law by states. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, I demonstrate three key dynamics. First, socialization mechanisms create an Indigenous elite while marginalizing less experienced activists. Second, divergent registers of intervention—elite versus activist—reveal tensions between contributing to international law and denouncing rights violations. Third, resource scarcity and intensifying state repression expose the limits of vigilance policies, as informal networks designed to monitor violations inadvertently expose activists to greater danger. These findings challenge optimistic accounts of civil society participation in international organizations and reveal how institutional inclusion can coexist with systematic exclusion from meaningful protection.