ABSTRACT
Indigenous rights are legal and extra-legal rights attributed to Indigenous peoples who, as a consequence of colonization or other circumstances, live under the authority of sovereign states not instituted by them. Many countries established by colonization have laws recognizing distinctive rights available only to Indigenous peoples. These include rights to land, to the protection of Indigenous cultural heritage, law, spiritual customs and practices. In some countries, such as Canada, they extend to varying degrees of self-determination and self-government. For many years, the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights took no account of the specific nature and circumstances of Indigenous peoples. However, since 2007 Indigenous rights have become part of international customary law with the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution declaring the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2008). These include but also add to the rights of all peoples set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include a right to self-determination, a right ‘not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture’ (UNDRIP 2008, article 8.1), rights to practise and to maintain cultural and spiritual traditions, and rights to traditional land and resources. Although they are presented as ‘a standard of achievement to be pursued’ (UNDRIP 2008, preamble), these rights only acquire the force of law when taken up by legislation in individual countries.
