UN Council adopts indigenous rights
A momentous act of the nascent UN Human Rights Council cannot go unheralded. Who would have thought this brand new institution — created earlier this year to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, but ranking alongside the Security Council — would take the plunge and adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
The Declaration has been in negotiation for nearly 20 years. That’s a long time, but the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) both took 18 years to finalise, and then another ten years to attract enough ratifications to enter into force in 1976.
Some two-thirds of the Declaration’s text had been agreed by February 2006, but a handful of governments still objected to the remaining third, principally on matters of indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. Australia was one state that tried to water down these provisions, even though self-determination is already a legal right of all peoples, recognised in the ICCPR and ICESCR.
Before the Council’s vote on 29 June, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen, reassured members that, "no country has ever been diminished by supporting an international human rights instrument; rather the contrary is the case." Whatever compromises may have been made along the way, the Declaration as it now stands should still have a stunning impact.
So what’s in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? "Minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world" (Article 42). The preamble reminds us that indigenous peoples possess all human rights iterated elsewhere, including equality and non-discrimination and the right to self-determination. It also acknowledges indigenous peoples’ distinctive spiritual relationship to the land and sea, and the fact and impact of past injustices and colonisation on indigenous peoples.
The 45 articles that follow include protection against genocide and from forced assimilation, forced removal of indigenous children and forced relocation from traditional lands. Further provisions include land rights, cultural rights and freedom of religion; the right of indigenous people to participate in decision making that affects them and their rights; the right to have state-owned media reflect indigenous cultural diversity; and, among others, the right to traditional medicines and the conservation of medicinal plants. States must take effective measures to improve the economic and social conditions of indigenous peoples.
Following the vote to adopt the Declaration, the Global Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus had a justified sense of triumph and expectation:
"The roots of the present Declaration go back to 1974 . . . We persisted in our efforts and remained vigilant against some of the most formidable state forces in the world. We relied upon our ability to engage in substantive debate, with positions that remain consistent with international law.
. . . we have succeeded in educating the international community about the status, rights and lives of Indigenous peoples in every corner of world . . .
The real test will be how this will affect the lives of our people on a daily basis."
There is one further hurdle for the Declaration, however, before we look at its implementation. Now that the Human Rights Council has approved the text, the General Assembly of the United Nations must vote to adopt the Declaration at its next session.
(Unlike fully-fledged treaties — variously called covenants, conventions and protocols — Declarations are adopted by the General Assembly but are not then ratified by individual countries. Thus the Declaration will not be legally-binding so much as highly authoritative guidelines to inform policy and practice. A treaty is often the next step.)
All being well, the Declaration could be in force by the end of this year.
[…] The General Assembly of the UN, meeting in New York, has decided to defer consideration of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for up to a year. After decades of negotiations, the text of the Declaration was approved by the UN Human Rights Council in June. This deferral of the final vote by the GA is a blow to indigenous rights activists. […]