Making the Declaration Work

IWGIA Making the Declaration Work Work Making the Declaration The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Making the Declaration Work The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a culmination of a centuries-long struggle by indigenous The United Nations Declaration on peoples for justice. It is an important new addition to UN the Rights of Indigenous Peoples human rights instruments in that it promotes equality for the world’s indigenous peoples and recognizes their collective rights. Edited by Claire Charters and The Declaration is the fruition of the work of scores of Charters Claire Edited by and Rodolfo Stavenhagen Rodolfo Stavenhagen individuals over more than 25 years of protracted and intense negotiations. In a fi rst for multi-lateral human rights negotiations, indigenous peoples, as rights-bearers, sat alongside UN and governmental leaders and diplomats, driving the recognition of their rights under international law. The authors of this collective book, of interest to the specialist as well as the general public, were for many years intimately involved in the Declaration process. It tells the story of the Declaration from the inside, detailing its history, negotiations, content and broader signifi cance. Contributions come from the world over ranging from indigenous activists, to members of the Human Rights Council and its various working groups and mechanisms, as well as UN and governmental offi cials who engineered the process from beginning to end. International ISBN: 9788791563614 Work Group for Indigenous Affairs MAKING THE DECLARATION WORK: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen (eds) Copenhagen 2009 – Document No. 127 MAKING THE DECLARATION WORK: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Editors: Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen English translation and proof-reading: Elaine Bolton Cover: Sérgio Poato (Poato Composite) Typesetting: Jorge Monrás Print: Eks-Skolens Trykkeri, Copenhagen, Denmark ISBN: 978-87-91563-61-4 ISSN: 0105-4503 Copyright: The authors and IWGIA , 2009 – All Rights Reserved Distribution in North America: Transaction Publishers 390 Campus Drive / Somerset, New Jersey 08873 www.transactionpub.com HURIDOCS CIP DATA Title: Making the Declaration Work: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Editors: Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen Corporate Editor: IWGIA Place of Publication: Copenhagen, Denmark Publisher: IWGIA Distributors: Transaction Publisher; Central Books Date of Publication: December 2009 Pages: 390 Reference to series: IWGIA Document no. 127 ISBN: 978-87-91563-61-4 ISSN: 0105-4503 Languages: English and Spanish Index terms: Indigenous peoples, international law, human rights Geographical area: World INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS Classensgade 11 E, DK 2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: (45) 35 27 05 00 - Fax: (45) 35 27 05 07 E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.iwgia.org We acknowledge all the people who were involved in the making of the Dec- laration, including the families who provided the support and inspiration for participants in the negotiations in Geneva and New York. Among these, Claire mentions her kuia, and wahine toa, Joan Dawson and Nuki (Ihipera Rika/Charters). This book has been prepared with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CONTENTS Introduction The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: How It Came to be and What it Heralds Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen .........................................................10 Part One: Beginnings How Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Reached the UN Augusto Willemsen-Diaz ......................................................................................16 The Indigenous Peoples, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Asbjørn Eide ...........................................................................................................32 The Contribution of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations to the Genesis and Evolution of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Erica-Irene A Daes ..................................................................................................48 Part Two: Negotiating the Declaration The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Some Key Issues and Events in the Process John B Henriksen ...................................................................................................78 International Indian Treaty Council Report from the Battle Field - the Struggle for the Declaration Andrea Carmen ......................................................................................................86 The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Breaking the Impasse: the Middle Ground Luis Enrique Chávez .............................................................................................96 The Human Rights Council’s Adoption of The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Luis Alfonso De Alba ...........................................................................................108 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: the Foundation of a New Relationship between Indigenous Peoples, States and Societies Adelfo Regino Montes and Gustavo Torres Cisneros .....................................138 Responding to the Concerns of the African States Albert Barume ......................................................................................................170 Part Three: The Rights of Indigenous Peoples The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Self-Determination in the Post-Declaration Era S James Anaya ......................................................................................................184 The Provisions on Lands, Territories and Natural Resources in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: An Introduction Mattias Ahrén .......................................................................................................200 Indigenous Peoples in Asia: Rights and Development Challenges Chandra K Roy .................................................................................................... 216 Cultural Rights in Greenland Henriette Rasmussen ...........................................................................................232 Statement by Mr. Kuupik Kleist, Premier of Greenland, 2nd Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, 10-14 August, 2009 ......................................248 The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the African Context Naomi Kipuri ........................................................................................................252 Part Four: Implementing the Declaration The Significance of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its Future Implementation Dalee Sambo Dorough ........................................................................................264 The Legitimacy of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Claire Charters ......................................................................................................280 Making the Declaration Work for Human Rights in the UN System Julian Burger .........................................................................................................304 “Where Appropriate”: Monitoring/Implementing of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Under the Declaration Luis Rodriguez-Piñero ........................................................................................314 Cultural Supremacy, Domestic Constitutions, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Bartolomé Clavero ...............................................................................................344 Making the Declaration Work Rodolfo Stavenhagen ...........................................................................................352 When Indigenous Peoples Win, the Whole World Wins Wilton Littlechild .................................................................................................372 Annex United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples .....................378 INTRODUCTION 10 MAKING THE DECLARATION WORK THE UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: HOW IT CAME TO BE AND WHAT IT HERALDS Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen he UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN TGeneral Assembly (UNGA) in September 2007, is the most comprehensive and advanced of international instruments dealing with indigenous peoples’ rights, and it is the latest addition to a growing body of international human rights law. In a first for international law, the rights bearers, indigenous peoples, played a pivotal role in the negotiations on its content, and many of them are co- authors of this book. The rights of indigenous peoples were latecomers to the process of building up the international edifice for the recognition, protection and promotion of human rights. It was for a long time held that the situation of indigenous peoples was solely the concern of states and that, as long as governments adhered to the general principles of universal individual human rights, there was no role or re- sponsibility for the UN. During the decades that the UN concerned itself with decolonization, it was believed that the indigenous people living

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