For nations and peoples typically called “Indigenous,” 2014 will be an important year in the international arena. This coming September, the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to convene a High Level Plenary Meeting (HLPM) regarding the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Plans are underway, and the planned event is generating considerable discussion, pro and con, amongst Indigenous Peoples’ representatives.

According to a United Nations resolution, the HLPM is “to be known as” a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.” This gives the mistaken impression that it is a UN World Conference. It isn’t. A genuine world conference is usually nine to ten days long, whereas the U.N. High Level Plenary Meeting is going to be about 180 minutes long in its entirety, over a two-day period in New York.

The idea for a UN HLPM was initiated by states, starting with the government of Bolivia. The HLPM has been promoted as a gathering that will work toward implementing the 46 Articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Most importantly, the HLPM will be used as an opportunity for the state governments of the world to draft and adopt an “outcome document.” Evidently, the text of that document will serve as a framework for states to “implement” the declaration. However, while there may be some opportunity for a few Indigenous representatives to make suggestions, Indigenous nations and peoples will have no direct input in the drafting of the outcome document; its contents and interpretation will be determined according to the intentions and dominant prerogatives of states.