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The European Union will finance up to �5 million new projects this year to promote the rights of indigenous people. This will be under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). This was stated in a statement issued in Accra yesterday by the External Action Service of the office of the European Union Delegation to Ghana to mark the celebration of the International Day of the World�s Indigenous Peoples. The statement said, �Today we join the indigenous peoples in celebrating their rich cultural heritage, and we pay tribute to the enormous contribution their traditions and knowledge have made to the world's cultural heritage.� It stated that the EU continued to be a staunch supporter of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Indigenous peoples� rights, as defined in the UNDRIP, form an integral part of the EU�s human rights policy. The EU underlines the importance of the successful realisation of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in September 2014, said the statement. According to the statement, they continued their engagement in the discussions and support the participation of indigenous peoples' delegates aiming to translate the UNDRIP into concrete action and changes on the ground and also note the importance of the engagement of indigenous peoples in the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda. The EU raises the rights of indigenous peoples, wherever relevant, in contacts with third countries and regional organisations, as well as in multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Organisation of American States and the African Union. It also gives financial support to civil society projects, to indigenous peoples' delegates at UN bodies and relevant activities of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the statement added.