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Indigenous Peoples in Comparative Perspective (2004)

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The Emergence of Indigenous Peoples

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice ((BRIEFSTEXTS,volume 3))

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples in Comparative Perspective—Published as Occasional Paper 2004/14 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), this was a background paper for the United Nations Human Development Report 2004 devoted to Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World. (This document is in the public domain).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with preinvasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in 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 systems.” (EC/N.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.4, p. 379).

  2. 2.

    Convention 169 of the ILO applies to: “peoples in independent countries who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonization or the establishment of present state boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.”.

  3. 3.

    “Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and customs of the community or nation concerned.” (Art. 9) and “Indigenous peoples have the collective right to determine their own citizenship in accordance with their customs and traditions.” (Art. 32).

  4. 4.

    UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1996/2. A similar approach is followed by the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC). See IPACC, Annual Report (November 1998 to October 1999) Appendix, 22.

  5. 5.

    CERD/C/304/Add. 54.

  6. 6.

    See A/RES/55/95 of 28 February 2001.

  7. 7.

    Jocelyn Carino, 2001: Overview paper presented to the Workshop on Indigenous Peoples, Private Sector Natural Resource, Energy and Mining Companies and Human Rights (New York: United Nations, OHCHR): 4.

  8. 8.

    CSD Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus, “Dialogue Paper by Indigenous Peoples,” in Indigenous Affairs 4/01, IWGIA, p.14.

  9. 9.

    World Commission on Dams, 2000: Dams and Development. A New Framework for Decision-Making. The Report of the World Commission on Dams. See Chap. 4, “People and Large Dams-Social Performance”, particularly the section on Indigenous Peoples. Available at: <www.dams.org>.

  10. 10.

    Report of the 20th session of the WGIP, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/24, Para. 26.

  11. 11.

    See Article 20 of the draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

  12. 12.

    Paul Kaufmann, Wik, Mining and Aborigines, pp. 15–16, Allen and Unwin.

  13. 13.

    Jocelyn Carino, pp. 11 –12.

  14. 14.

    Decision T-652-98 brought by the Embera Katio people with regard to the Urra dam projects.

  15. 15.

    “No Native Title Over Minerals Or Petroleum,” <www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/08/0028057983022.html>.

  16. 16.

    The author visited the site in July 2003.

  17. 17.

    Cf. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Second Annual Report to the Human Rights Commission of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, E/CN.4/2003/90, para. 44–52.

  18. 18.

    Report presented to the author by Äpit Tako, Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera Homeland and Tebtebba, the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education, October 2002.

  19. 19.

    Statement of Loodoariak Community Land and Development Programme in Kenya to the 19th session of the WGIP.

  20. 20.

    Report of the Workshop on “Indigenous Peoples, Private Sector Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Companies and Human Rights,” E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2002/3, Para. 104, p. 23.

  21. 21.

    Report presented to the author during his visit to the site in November 2002.

  22. 22.

    CSD Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus, “Dialogue Paper by Indigenous Peoples,” in Indigenous Affairs 4/01, IWGIA: 15–16.

  23. 23.

    Statement of the representative of the Santhal Advasi People to the 19th session of the WGIP.

  24. 24.

    Chumpol Maniratanavongsiri, “The Karen Response to Thai Conservation Policies,” in CSD Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus, “Dialogue Paper by Indigenous Peoples,” in Indigenous Affairs 4/01, IWGIA, p.60.

  25. 25.

    Report of the 19th session of the WGIP, Para. 60–61.

  26. 26.

    Report of the 18th session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/24), Para.

  27. 27.

    Statement of the Keiyo Indigenous Peoples of Kenya to the 19th session of the WGIP.

  28. 28.

    Press Release III of the negotiating team, the mandated representatives of the residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), April 2002. See also Note No. 01/02/Gen/E/15 II (38) G2 of the Permanent Mission of Botswana in Geneva. The author visited one such village on a personal inspection tour.

  29. 29.

    Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 7, The right to adequate housing (art. 11(1) of the Covenant): forced evictions.

  30. 30.

    Indigenous communications to the WGIP and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People; personal accounts provided to the author in Chile, Mexico, Philippines, Canada and elsewhere.

  31. 31.

    Statement by Tana Uma Amee to the 19th session of the WGIP.

  32. 32.

    Report of the Workshop on “Indigenous Peoples, Private Sector Natural Resource, Energy and Mining Companies and Human Rights,” E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2002/3, Para. 60, p.15. Similar incidents were reported directly to the author during a visit to the Philippines in December 2002. (E/CN.4/2003/XX/Add.3).

  33. 33.

    Cf. Robert K. Hitchcock, « Decentralization, Natural Resource Management and Community-Based Conservation Institutions in Southern Africa » p. 39, Indigenous Affairs 4/01, IWGIA; also, personal accounts provided to the author in inter alia Botswana, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Philippines.

  34. 34.

    Cultural Survival Indigenous News, Headlines and Spotlights, 9 August 2002.

  35. 35.

    Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Recomendacion num. 08/2002, 30 April 2002.

  36. 36.

    For reports on Australian aborigines see The second annual report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner of Australia, 1994, p.106. On the relation between uranium mining and the health of local Adivasi children in Jharkhand, India, see “The Miner’s canary: Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable development in the Commonwealth,” Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, p.32.

  37. 37.

    Report of the 18th session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/24), para. 29–30.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., para 31.

  39. 39.

    Personal communications during in loco fact finding missions.

  40. 40.

    The Proposed Construction of a Hydropower Scheme on the Lower Cuene River, Indigenous Affairs 2/98, IWGIA, p. 6. It is estimated that “the inundation of the Cuene basin at Epupa would destroy the riverine forests. It would result in loss of an annual crop of hundreds of tons of the palm nuts and would in addition bring an end to gardening in the fertile soils along the riverbank.”.

  41. 41.

    Report of the 18th session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/24), para. 31, and Report of the 19th. Session of the WGIP (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/17), para. 87 and 106.

  42. 42.

    Report of the 19th. Session of the WGIP (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/17), para. 39.

  43. 43.

    See the website of Conselho Indigenista Missionario: www.cimi.org.br.

  44. 44.

    Information presented to the author directly during fact-finding mission in Canada, March 2003.

  45. 45.

    Statement by Survival International to the World Conference Against Racism, August 2001.

  46. 46.

    Orang Asli are called all the indigenous groups of peninsular Malaysia. For more information, see Minority Rights Group, Forests and Indigenous Peoples of Asia, London: MRG, 1999.

  47. 47.

    Dario Novellino, ‘The Ominous Switch: From Indigenous Forest Management to Conservation- The case of the Batak on Palawan island, the Philippines’, Marcus Colchester and Christian Erni (eds), Indigenous peoples and Protected Areas in South and Southeast Asia, IWGIA Document No. 97, Copenhagen 1999, 250–297.

  48. 48.

    Human Rights Watch, Asia, The Philippines, Human Rights and Forest Management in the 1990 s, April 1996; also, Survival of Tribal Peoples, Mountains of gold, the mining threat to tribal peoples in the Philippines, Survival 1996; also see Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, ‘The resistance of the indigenous peoples in Asia against racism and Racial Discrimination’, (2001) 1 Indigenous Affairs, 43–53.

  49. 49.

    Forest Peoples Programme, Failure of the Republic of Suriname to Recognize, Guarantee and Respect the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples to Lands, Territories and Resources, to Cultural Integrity and to be Free from Racial Discrimination. Formal Communication made Pursuant to Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2001/57.

  50. 50.

    Report adopted by the Governing Body at its 271st Session (March 1999), regarding the representation made by the General Confederation of Workers of Peru, alleging non-observance of Convention No. 169 by Peru. See also Report adopted by the Governing Body at its 271st Session (March 1999), regarding the representation made by the Bolivian Central of Workers, alleging non-observance of Convention No.169 by Bolivia.

  51. 51.

    Inter-American Court of Human Rights, August 2001 (Judgment Summary and Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Issued 31 August 2001. In the case of The Mayagna (Sumo) Indigenous Community of Awas Tingni vs. the Republic of Nicaragua).

  52. 52.

    See at: <www.nunavut.com>.

  53. 53.

    Congresos y organizaciones indigenas de Panama, Informe de la Situacion de los Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos Indigenas de Panama, Panama, June 6, 2001 (Report presented to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights).

  54. 54.

    In Guatemala the peace accords of 1996 established a truth commission which documented massive atrocities committed by the military against the indigenous Maya during 30 years of civil war, while the government of Chile set up a “Commission on Historical Truth” in 2001, chaired by a former president of the republic, to study the situation of the country’s indigenous people. (It is to present its report in October 2003).

  55. 55.

    Communication “Taruka Report”, presented to the author by a delegation of Ecuadorean Indians.

  56. 56.

    United Nations Verification Mision in Guatemala. Verification Report. The Indigenous Peoples of Guatemala: Overcoming Discrimination in the Framework of the Peace Agreements, September 2001.

  57. 57.

    Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, First Annual Report to the Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2002/97.

  58. 58.

    See http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/05/cambodia-0520.htm; Statement by Dr. Vuag Pobzeb of the Lao Human Rights Council, presented in the 2001 UN working group on indigenous populations. Cf. Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia, Report of the Secretary-General, A/56/209, (26 July 2001), para. 73.

  59. 59.

    CERD, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Viet Nam. 15/08/2001.CERD/C/59/Misc.21/Rev.3, para. 14.

  60. 60.

    CERD/C/SR. 1481, para. 4. See reports of the Montagnard Foundation presented to the UN; also see International Commission of Jurists, Report by the Western Australian Branch of the International Commission of Jurists concerning sterilisations of Ethnic Montagnards in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: October 2000.

  61. 61.

    E/CN.4/2002/97.

  62. 62.

    Ibid.

  63. 63.

    Report of the 18th session of the WGIP, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/24, Para. 165.

  64. 64.

    Concluding Observations by the CERD: Australia. 19 April 2000. CERD/C/304/Add.000. (Concluding Observations Comments).

  65. 65.

    CERD/C/SR.1246 of 5 March 1998; CRC/C/15/Add.110, of 10 November 1999, para. 65; A/56/38,paras.319–360 of 31 July 2001, para. 356. Also Russian NGO intervention at the meeting of the WGIP in July 2001.

  66. 66.

    The brief profiles of Philippines, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Japan and Canada are based on the authors observations during fact-finding missions to these countries in 2002–2003.

  67. 67.

    Ethnocide is a process of cultural change and destruction as a result of specific policies that undermine a cultural community’s ability for self-preservation.

  68. 68.

    African Commission, General Guidelines Regarding the Form and Contents of Reports to be Submitted by State Members regarding the Meaning, Scope and Weight of the ‘Rights of Peoples’ Recognised by Articles 17(2), 19 to 20 of the Charter. 1990: 417–8.

  69. 69.

    Erica-Irene Daes, “Study on the protection of the cultural and intellectual property of indigenous peoples”, E/CN.4/Sub.2/0993/28.

  70. 70.

    E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/26.

  71. 71.

    Ibid. See also E/CN.4/Sub.2/0995/26.

  72. 72.

    Statement of the Committee on Indigenous Health (COIH) to the WGIP, July 2001.

  73. 73.

    George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos (Eds.). 1994: Indigenous People and Poverty in Latin America. An Empirical Analysis (Washington, D.C., The World Bank):. 206–207.

  74. 74.

    Cf. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/17 and E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/22.

  75. 75.

    David A. Daoas, ‘The rights of the cultural communities in the Philippines’, “…Vines that won’t Bind…”, Proceedings of a Conference held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1995, IWGIA Document 80, 97–107, 102–103.

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  1. Center for Sociological Studies, El Colegio de Mexico, Camino al Ajusco 20, 01740, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

    Rodolfo Stavenhagen

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Stavenhagen, R. (2013). Indigenous Peoples in Comparative Perspective (2004). In: The Emergence of Indigenous Peoples. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice(), vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34144-1_5

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