Aboriginal Law & Indigenous Laws

The book examines Indigenous and state critiques of the Declaration but argues that, ultimately, it is an instrument of significant transformative potential showing how state sovereignty need not be a power that is exercised over and above Indigenous peoples.

Implementation in Canada of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a pivotal opportunity to explore the relationship between international law, Indigenous peoples' own laws, and Canada's constitutional narratives.

This book examines the three articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples aimed at countering these injustices: Article 14 on the right to education, Article 15 on the right to non-discrimination and accuracy in public information, and Article 16 on the right to media.

Based on personal experience, James (Sa’ke’j) Youngblood Henderson documents the generation-long struggle that led to the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly. Henderson puts the Declaration and the struggles of Indigenous peoples in a wider context, outlining the rise of international law and how it was shaped by European ideas, the rise of the UN, and post-WWII agreements focusing on human rights.

Comparing three different versions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP), Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance analyses the implications of the changes made to DRIP for Indigenous Peoples and Nations.

Over 25 years in the making, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is described by the UN as setting an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples that will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the planet's 370 million indigenous people and assisting them in combating discrimination and marginalization. These papers discuss and examine relevant intellectual property law, human rights, family law, international treaty law and international economic law.

This examination of the role played by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in advancing indigenous peoples' self-determination comes at a time when the quintessential Eurocentric nature of international law has been significantly challenged by the increasing participation of indigenous peoples on the international legal scene. By demanding that the human rights and freedoms contained in various UN human rights instruments be now extended to indigenous peoples and communities, indigenous peoples are playing a key role in making international law more 'humanising' and less subject to State priorities.

This is the first in-depth academic analysis of this far-reaching instrument. Indigenous representatives have argued that the rights contained in the Declaration, and the processes by which it was formulated, obligate affected States to accept the validity of its provisions and its interpretation of contested concepts (such as 'culture', 'land', 'ownership' and 'self-determination'). This edited collection contains essays written by the main protagonists in the development of the Declaration; indigenous representatives; and field-leading academics. It offers a comprehensive institutional, thematic and regional analysis of the Declaration. In particular, it explores the Declaration's normative resonance for international law and considers the ways in which this international instrument could catalyse institutional action and influence the development of national laws and policies on indigenous issues.

As the first commentary on this material the text provides a comprehensive thematic analysis of the Declaration's provisions, including the background to their inclusion, and their practical enforcement.