(a) The right to self‑determination and to free, prior and informed consent (i) Self‑determination Self‑determination is the central right of the Declaration. All other rights ultimately support Indigenous peoples’ exercise of self‑determination. In turn, the enjoyment of the right to self‑determination supports the ability to enjoy other rights such as the right to health and education, and the right to non‑discrimination. The right of self‑determination is found in article 3 of the Declaration, drawing on article 1 of both the ICCPR and ICESCR. By virtue of that right, Indigenous peoples have the right to freely determine our political status and to freely pursue our economic, social and cultural development. Subsequent rights in the UNDRIP clarify what the right of self‑determination entails for Indigenous peoples. Article 18 specifies that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ‘have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions’. In accordance with articles 18, 31 and 32 in the Declaration, rights to self‑determination and control, and full participation in decision-making are applied to the rights to culture, traditional knowledge, intellectual property, and land use. Text Box 5.2: Prof. James Anaya has described the key characteristics of self‑determination25 Self‑determination: ƒ cannot be viewed in isolation from other human rights but rather must be reconciled with and understood as part of the broader universe of values and prescriptions that constitute the modern human rights regime ƒ is a regulatory vehicle that broadly establishes rights for the benefit of all peoples, including Indigenous peoples ƒ is grounded in the precepts of freedom and equality, and opposes both prospectively and retroactively, patterns of empire and conquest ƒ affirms that human beings, individually and groups, are equally entitled to be in control of their own destinies and to live within governing institutional orders that are devised accordingly ƒ affirms that peoples are entitled to participate equally in the development of the governing institutional order, including the constitution, under which they live and, further, to have that governing order be one in which they may live and develop freely on a continuous basis ƒ includes the dual aspects of autonomous governance and participatory engagement ƒ is an instrument of reconciliation and conciliation, particularly for peoples who have suffered oppression at the hands of others ƒ promotes the building of a social and political order based on relations of mutual understanding and respect. 22 Women in Native Title: Native Title Report 2024