International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

This exciting book is the only one of its kind. International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (Aspen Elective Series) will be the first published compilation of materials and commentary intended for use in courses focusing on the subject of indigenous peoples within the international human rights system. S. James Anaya, co-author of the well-known casebook, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy and Practice, uses carefully edited material from varied sources to illustrate the major issues facing indigenous peoples today. This unique addition to the Elective Series features: complete or edited versions of all the major contemporary international documents concerning indigenous peoples--declarations, treaties, decisions, and interpretive statements by international human rights and other institutions on the topic--placed in the context of relevant historical antecedents. materials highlighting the major issues concerning indigenous peoples, including issues of self-determination, culture, lands and resources, collective rights, state responsibility for historical wrongs, and the meaning of the "indigenous" rubric. The issues are then linked to actual cases concerning or situations faced by indigenous groups. edited materials from a range of authors along with insightful commentary providing in-depth discussion of the issues and developments discussion of the international and domestic mechanisms by which human rights norms concerning indigenous peoples are implemented. This provides students with an understanding of the practical implications of the norms and their potential strategic value. background material on the authority and workings of the various international institutions that are addressing indigenous issues, enabling students to understand the legal or political significance of the relevant developments and place those developments within the broader context of the international human rights system An invaluable resource for any course dealing with international human rights, International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (Aspen Elective Series) has just the right mix of institutional and case material, historical background and recent developments, and perceptive commentary.




The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples set key standards for the treatment of indigenous people, and has significantly developed how indigenous rights are viewed and enforced. This commentary thematically assesses all aspects of the Declaration's provisions, providing an overview of its impact.--




Handbook of Indigenous Peoples' Rights


Book Description

This handbook will be a comprehensive interdisciplinary overview of indigenous peoples’ rights. Chapters by experts in the field will examine legal, philosophical, sociological and political issues, addressing a wide range of themes at the heart of debates on the rights of indigenous peoples. The book will address not only the major questions, such as ‘who are indigenous peoples? What is distinctive about their rights? How are their rights constructed and protected? What is the relationship between national indigenous rights regimes and international norms? but also themes such as culture, identity, genocide, globalization and development, rights institutionalization and the environment.




The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

The development and adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was a huge success for the global indigenous movement. This book offers an insightful and nuanced contemporary evaluation of the progress and challenges that indigenous peoples have faced in securing the implementation of this new instrument, as well as its normative impact, at both the national and international levels. The chapters in this collection offer a multi-disciplinary analysis of the UNDRIP as it enters the second decade since its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 2007. Following centuries of resistance by Indigenous peoples to state, and state sponsored, dispossession, violence, cultural appropriation, murder, neglect and derision, the UNDRIP is an achievement with deep implications in international law, policy and politics. In many ways, it also represents just the beginning – the opening of new ways forward that include advocacy, activism, and the careful and hard-fought crafting of new relationships between Indigenous peoples and states and their dominant populations and interests. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.




Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

Adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the “minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.” The Declaration responds to past and ongoing injustices suffered by Indigenous peoples worldwide, and provides a strong foundation for the full recognition of the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples. Despite this, Canada was one of the few countries to oppose the Declaration. With essays from Indigenous leaders, legal scholars and practitioners, state representatives, and representatives from NGOs, contributors discuss the creation of the Declaration and how it can be used to advance human rights internationally.




Indigenous peoples and human rights


Book Description

This study of the rights of indigenous peoples looks at the historical, cultural, and legal background to the position of indigenous peoples in different cultures, including America, Africa and Australia. It defines "indigenous peoples" and looks at their position in international law.




Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance


Book Description

"Comparing three different versions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP), Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance analyses the implications of the changes made to DRIP for Indigenous Peoples and Nations. This is a foundational text for Indigenous law and rights and the global struggle of Indigenous Peoples in the face of modern states. Between 1994 and 2007, three different versions of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples were passed by various bodies of the United Nations, culminating in the final version passed by the UN General Assembly. Significant differences exist between these versions--differences that deeply affect the position of all Indigenous Peoples in the world community. In Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance, Charmaine White Face gives her well-researched comparative analysis of these versions. She puts side-by-side, for our consideration, passages that change the intent of the Declaration by privileging the power and jurisdiction of nation states over the rights of Indigenous Peoples. As Spokesperson representing the Sioux Nation Treaty Council in UN proceedings, she also gives her insights about each set of changes and their ultimate effect."--Publisher's description.




The Inherent Rights of Indigenous Peoples in International Law


Book Description

This book highlights the cogency and urgency of the protection of indigenous peoples and discusses crucial aspects of the international legal theory and practice relating to their rights. These rights are not established by states; rather, they are inherent to indigenous peoples because of their human dignity, historical continuity, cultural distinctiveness, and connection to the lands where they have lived from time immemorial. In the past decades, a new awareness of the importance of indigenous rights has emerged at the international level. UN organs have adopted specific international law instruments that protect indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, concerns persist because of continued widespread breaches of such rights. Stemming from a number of seminars organised at the Law Department of the University of Roma Tre, the volume includes contributions by distinguished scholars and practitioners. It is divided into three parts. Part I introduces the main themes and challenges to be addressed, considering the debate on self-determination of indigenous peoples and the theoretical origins of ‘indigenous sovereignty’. Parts II and III explore the protection of indigenous peoples afforded under the international law rules on human rights and investments respectively. Not only do the contributors to this book critically assess the current international legal framework, but they also suggest ways and methods to utilize such legal instruments towards the protection, promotion and fulfi lment of indigenous peoples’ rights, to contribute to the maintenance of peace and the pursuit of justice in international relations. DOI: 10.13134/978-88-32136-92-0




Indigenous Peoples, Customary Law and Human Rights – Why Living Law Matters


Book Description

This highly original work demonstrates the fundamental role of customary law for the realization of Indigenous peoples’ human rights and for sound national and international legal governance. The book reviews the legal status of customary law and its relationship with positive and natural law from the time of Plato up to the present. It examines its growing recognition in constitutional and international law and its dependence on and at times strained relationship with human rights law. The author analyzes the role of customary law in tribal, national and international governance of Indigenous peoples’ lands, resources and cultural heritage. He explores the challenges and opportunities for its recognition by courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, including issues of proof of law and conflicts between customary practices and human rights. He throws light on the richness inherent in legal diversity and key principles of customary law and their influence in legal practice and on emerging notions of intercultural equity and justice. He concludes that Indigenous peoples’ rights to their customary legal regimes and states’ obligations to respect and recognize customary law, in order to secure their human rights, are principles of international customary law, and as such binding on all states. At a time when the self-determination, land, resources and cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples are increasingly under threat, this accessible book presents the key issues for both legal and non-legal scholars, practitioners, students of human rights and environmental justice, and Indigenous peoples themselves.




Making the Declaration Work


Book Description

"The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a culmination of a centuries-long struggle by indigenous peoples for justice. It is an important new addition to UN human rights instruments in that it promotes equality for the world's indigenous peoples and recognizes their collective rights."--Back cover.