The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clarifies how the Universal Declaration on Human Rights applies for our survival, dignity and well-being. As an Elder wanted me to tell you, “Now I am not an object, I am not a subject, I am a human being!”22 The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that, with the adoption of the Declaration, it is now time to take action to address the rights of indigenous peoples: The Declaration is a visionary step towards addressing the human rights of indigenous peoples. It sets out a framework on which States can build or rebuild their relationships with indigenous peoples. The result of more than two decades of negotiations, it provides a momentous opportunity for States and indigenous peoples to strengthen their relationships, promote reconciliation and ensure that the past is not repeated. I encourage Member States and indigenous peoples to come together in a spirit of mutual respect and make use of the Declaration as the living document it is, so that it has a real and positive effect throughout the world.23 This Manual will articulate how NHRIs can play a constructive role in this ongoing process. 2. WHO ARE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES? Considerable thinking has been dedicated to defining “indigenous peoples” in the international arena.24 Indigenous peoples have argued against the adoption of a formal definition at the international level, stressing the need for flexibility and for respecting the desire and the right of each indigenous people to define themselves. Reflecting this position, the former Chairperson of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Erica Daes, noted that “indigenous peoples have suffered from definitions imposed on them by others”.25 As a consequence, no formal definition has been adopted in international law. A strict definition is seen as unnecessary and undesirable. The Martinez Cobo Study provided the most widely cited “working definition” of indigenous peoples: Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.26 It also notes that an indigenous person is: … one who belongs to these indigenous populations through self-identification as indigenous (group consciousness) and is recognized and accepted by these populations as one of its members (acceptance by the group). This preserves for these communities the sovereign right and power to decide who belongs to them, without external interference.27 22 “When Indigenous Peoples Win, The Whole World Wins: Address to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights” in Making the Declaration Work: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, C. Charters and R. Stavenhagen, eds. (2009), p. 374. 23 United Nations Secretary-General, “Protect, promote endangered languages, Secretary-General urges in message for International Day of World’s Indigenous People”, 23 July 2008; available at www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/sgsm11715.doc.htm. 24 Working paper by the Chairperson-Rapporteur, Erica-Irene A. Daes, on the concept of “indigenous people” (E/CN.4/Sub.2/ AC.4/1996/2), para. 68. See also the background paper prepared by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII/2004/WS.1/3). 25 Note by the Chairperson-Rapporteur on criteria which might be applied when considering the concept of indigenous peoples (E/ CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1995/3/), p. 4. 26 E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.4, para. 379. 27 Ibid., paras. 381-382. 6 | Chapter 1: Background to the Declaration