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Rights of Indigenous Peoples

by Kris Molle

last update: Feb 11, 2009 03:43 PM

The rights, claims and even identity of indigenous peoples are understood, acknowledged, and observed quite differently from government to government. Various organizations exist to, in one way or another, promote (or at least acknowledge) indigenous aspirations, and indigenous societies have often banded together to form bodies which jointly seek to further their communal interests. Specific countries have also recognized the rights of the indigenous peoples living there through acts, amendments, and/or laws. In cooperation, representatives of Indigenous peoples have met in The World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP), which held its first conference in British Columbia in 1975. Cooperation has continued in the research and education organization The Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS), founded in 1984, in Olympia, Washington, USA. Indigenous peoples and their interests are also represented in the United Nations primarily through the mechanisms of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP). In April 2000 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution to establish the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) as an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a mandate to review indigenous issues. In September 2007, after a process of preparations, discussions and negotiations stretching back to 1982, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The non-binding declaration outlines the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to identity, culture, language, employment, health, education and other issues. Four nations with significant indigenous populations voted against the declaration: the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Eleven nations abstained, thirty-four nations did not vote, while the remaining 143 nations voted for it. Countries voting against the Declaration said they could not support it because of concerns over provisions on self-determination, land and resources rights and, among others, language giving indigenous peoples a right of veto over national legislation and State management of resources. They mostly disagreed with the way the declaration is worded, and therefore applied, not its motivating principles. Other U.N. bodies address indigenous rights through Conventions such as the International Labour Organization’s Convention No.169 and the Convention on Biological Diversity (Article 8j)

Link Wikipedia Article on Indigenous Rights — by Kris Molle — last modified Feb 11, 2009 03:50 PM
 
Link UN Press Release on the Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People — by Kris Molle — last modified Feb 11, 2009 03:54 PM
 
Folder Countries' Constitutions/Policies Concerning Indigenous People — by Kris Molle — last modified Feb 11, 2009 04:01 PM
 
Folder Related Links — by Kris Molle — last modified Jan 14, 2009 02:55 PM
Links to various sites with information relating to Rights of Arctic Indigenous Peoples
 
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