Abstract
The year 2014 marked 25 years of the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), which has played an instrumental role in furthering the rights of indigenous peoples across the world. Historically, indigenous peoples have long bore the weight of multiple forms of marginalization. It is estimated that although indigenous peoples constitute about 5 per cent of the world’s population, they account for 15 per cent of the world’s poor. This note overviews the potential and challenges of cooperatives on securing livelihoods, creating jobs, enhancing protection and ensuring sustainability through close alignment with the guiding principles and the spirit underlying the rights of indigenous peoples.