Dr Albert K. Barume, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, explains the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007, and critical issues shared by Indigenous Peoples around the world.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations in 2007. It took more than 20 years of negotiations.
It’s a specific and the first of its kind within the United Nations that recognizes the historical injustices that Indigenous people suffered from, that sets norms and principles for redressing those injustices. This also contains very strong rights for Indigenous people, notably the right to self-determination, which is, I would say, the core or the pillar of Indigenous rights, recognized internationally to Indigenous peoples as nations and as peoples, to determine their destiny, to decide on what their education system will be, their health system will be, and how they want to project themselves in the future.
There has been some progress. Implementing an instrument is, first of all, for states to domesticate the instruments. It means you bring that international law into your domestic legal system.
Many countries across the globe have done that, but the number is not really enough. Criminalization of Indigenous people is really becoming serious. Your Indigenous people are seen as extremists, as terrorists, as enemy of state, Indigenous people defending their land, sometimes seen as troublemakers.
Then you also have Indigenous people affected by extractive industry that are done without due regard to international standards and to right of Indigenous peoples. You have contamination of rivers, contamination of soil, contamination of air. It’s a serious issue because it affects Indigenous people’s livelihoods.
You have sexual violence and gender-based violence increasing in many regions. Some linked to conflict areas are linked towards attention for natural resources and extractive industries. And you still have some old issues like forced sterilization of Indigenous women for which a number of states have not accepted responsibility.
Human rights are under civil attack. I am calling to states to reinvest in human rights, put resources in human rights both internationally, regionally, and locally.
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