The articles in this volume deal with many of the issues, which have been and continue to be on the international law and human rights agenda of Erica-Irene A. Daes. She is an international personality, with a long and varied career, but she has been and is passionately involved in a wide range of issues related directly or indirectly to the Greek experience and the Greek diaspora.
The energy and output of Erica Daes culminated in her tireless efforts to seek protection for the world's indigenous peoples. It is in this capacity that the international human rights community has best learned to know and appreciate her. As an independent expert, she has served as Chairman of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and she has carried out studies on indigenous land rights, intellectual and cultural rights, and indigenous heritage. She played a key role in bringing about an international year (1993) and a decade (1995-2004) for the promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples.
Most importantly, Erica Daes was the principal drafter of the UN draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, which has become known as the Daes Declaration and which is reproduced in an annex to this book. Other annexes contain excerpts from her documents prepared in the context of her UN career, some of which have not been previously published.