This exciting book is the only one of its kind. International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (Aspen Elective Series) will be the first published compilation of materials and commentary intended for use in courses focusing on the subject of indigenous peoples within the international human rights system. S. James Anaya, co-author of the well-known casebook, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy and Practice, uses carefully edited material from varied sources to illustrate the major issues facing indigenous peoples today. This unique addition to the Elective Series features: complete or edited versions of all the major contemporary international documents concerning indigenous peoples--declarations, treaties, decisions, and interpretive statements by international human rights and other institutions on the topic--placed in the context of relevant historical antecedents. materials highlighting the major issues concerning indigenous peoples, including issues of self-determination, culture, lands and resources, collective rights, state responsibility for historical wrongs, and the meaning of the "indigenous" rubric. The issues are then linked to actual cases concerning or situations faced by indigenous groups. edited materials from a range of authors along with insightful commentary providing in-depth discussion of the issues and developments discussion of the international and domestic mechanisms by which human rights norms concerning indigenous peoples are implemented. This provides students with an understanding of the practical implications of the norms and their potential strategic value. background material on the authority and workings of the various international institutions that are addressing indigenous issues, enabling students to understand the legal or political significance of the relevant developments and place those developments within the broader context of the international human rights system An invaluable resource for any course dealing with international human rights, International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (Aspen Elective Series) has just the right mix of institutional and case material, historical background and recent developments, and perceptive commentary.

This book highlights the cogency and urgency of the protection of indigenous peoples and discusses crucial aspects of the international legal theory and practice relating to their rights. These rights are not established by states; rather, they are inherent to indigenous peoples because of their human dignity, historical continuity, cultural distinctiveness, and connection to the lands where they have lived from time immemorial. In the past decades, a new awareness of the importance of indigenous rights has emerged at the international level. UN organs have adopted specific international law instruments that protect indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, concerns persist because of continued widespread breaches of such rights. Stemming from a number of seminars organised at the Law Department of the University of Roma Tre, the volume includes contributions by distinguished scholars and practitioners. It is divided into three parts. Part I introduces the main themes and challenges to be addressed, considering the debate on self-determination of indigenous peoples and the theoretical origins of ‘indigenous sovereignty’. Parts II and III explore the protection of indigenous peoples afforded under the international law rules on human rights and investments respectively. Not only do the contributors to this book critically assess the current international legal framework, but they also suggest ways and methods to utilize such legal instruments towards the protection, promotion and fulfi lment of indigenous peoples’ rights, to contribute to the maintenance of peace and the pursuit of justice in international relations.

This volume of the Indigenous Justice series explores the global effects of marginalizing Indigenous law. The essays in this book argue that European-based law has been used to force Indigenous peoples to assimilate, has politically disenfranchised Indigenous communities, and has destroyed traditional Indigenous social institutions. European-based law not only has been used as a tool to infringe upon Indigenous human rights, it also has been used throughout global history to justify environmental injustices, treaty breaking, and massacres. The research in this volume focuses on the resurgence of traditional law, tribal–state relations in the United States, laws that have impacted Native American women, laws that have failed to protect Indigenous sacred sites, the effect of international conventions on domestic laws, and the role of community justice organizations in operationalizing international law. While all of these issues are rooted in colonization, Indigenous peoples are using their own solutions to demonstrate the resilience, persistence, and innovation of their communities. With chapters focusing on the use and misuse of law as it pertains to Indigenous peoples in North America, Latin America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, this book offers a wide scope of global injustice. Despite proof of oppressive legal practices concerning Indigenous peoples worldwide, this book also provides hope for amelioration of colonial consequences.

This study of the rights of indigenous peoples looks at the historical, cultural, and legal background to the position of indigenous peoples in different cultures, including America, Africa and Australia. It defines "indigenous peoples" and looks at their position in international law.

In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of the first book-length treatment of the subject, S. James Anaya incorporates references to all the latest treaties and recent developments in the international law of indigenous peoples. Anaya demonstrates that, while historical trends in international law largely facilitated colonization of indigenous peoples and their lands, modern international law's human rights program has been modestly responsive to indigenous peoples' aspirations to survive as distinct communities in control of their own destinies. This book provides a theoretically grounded and practically oriented synthesis of the historical, contemporary and emerging international law related to indigenous peoples. It will be of great interest to scholars and lawyers in international law and human rights, as well as to those interested in the dynamics of indigenous and ethnic identity.

This book addresses the right of indigenous peoples to live, own and use their traditional territories. A profound relationship with land and territories characterizes indigenous groups, but indigenous peoples have been and are repeatedly deprived of their lands. This book analyzes whether the international legal regime provides indigenous peoples with the collective right to live on their traditional territories. Through its meticulous and wide-ranging examination of the interaction between international law and indigenous peoples’ land rights, the work explores several burning issues such as collective rights, self-determination, autonomy, property rights, and restitution of land. In assessing the human rights approach to land rights the book delves into the notion of past violations and the role of human rights law in providing for remedies, reparation and restitution. It also argues that there is a new phase in the relationship between States and indigenous peoples in the making of territorial agreements. Based on its analysis of indigenous peoples’ land rights under international law, this book proposes an original theory as regards the legal status of indigenous peoples. It explores how indigenous peoples have been the victims of the rules governing title to territory since the inception of international law, and how under the current human rights regime, indigenous peoples have now gained the status of actors of international law. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.