The United Nations General Assembly, on 23 December 1994, declared 9 August every year as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples in its resolution 49/214. This date was chosen as it marks the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations' first meeting, which was held in 1982.

Beginning in 1923 and revived during Wounded Knee 73', Indigenous Peoples from Four Sacred Directions, secured a significant victory in Geneva in September 1977 at the United Nations Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas.

Collective efforts succeeded in pressuring member states of the United Nations to recognize our special status, not as less than human, but as Indigenous Peoples with inherent rights. This led to the establishment of the International Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and, ultimately, the 2007 passing of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which underwent the longest period of debate and negotiation of any human rights instrument.

Observances occur annually in Indigenous communities worldwide and this year via UN online on Friday, 9 August 2024. This year's UN theme is "Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact."