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After over 20 years of discussing and defining, the UN-Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples finally has been approved. According to the evaluation report for the first international decade of indigenous people, the presence of the indigenous matter to governments is, to say the least, unequal; their situation is usually alluded to the position of exemplifying certain problem areas, such as poverty, discrimination, inequality, invisibility and exclusion, cultural differences, restricted access to basic services, lower life expectancy or high percentage of migration. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted on 13th of September 2007 represents one of the most important developments in the promotion and protection of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. Article 3 of the Declaration speaks of the controversial right of self-determination of indigenous peoples, which seems to me the most interesting issue. I concentrated on this topic investigating more thoroughly the situation concerning self-determination for its special importance to indigenous peoples and so to the Mayan population in Mexico.

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Mag.iur. Martina Maria Linzer,born in 1985 in Austria,studies of law and roman languages in Graz and Mexico from 2003-2009,field studies in indigenous communities in Chiapas and Guatemala,currently writing PhD-thesis on CSR,since 2003 working as journaliste,since 2009 managing director of GS gain&sustain OG (Consulting and EU-Projectmanagement).

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