The United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Amending for Five Centuries of Wrongs

The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly 13 September 2007 has represented a landmark event in the struggle of indigenous peoples for the recognition of their rights as well as for retrieving their liberty to retain their identity and to decide autonomously what their future must be.

The text of the Declaration was adopted by a overwhelming majority of 143 States voting in favour, 11 abstentions and only 4 voting against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and United States of America). Subsequently, Australia drastically revised its position on the Declaration, through endorsing it in April 2009. Similarly, on 19 April 2010 the government of New Zealand announced its support for the Declaration, while on the following day the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations announced at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the intention of her government to review its position concerning the UNDRIP. This reality shows a clear evidence of the existence of a universal support within the international community towards the affirmation of indigenous peoples’ rights.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples solemnly recognizes a number of individual and collective rights in favour of indigenous peoples, affirmed by 46 articles the content of which has been drafted with the active participation of indigenous representatives. These rights – including those to self-determination, to autonomy or self-government, to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, to the dignity and diversity of their cultures and traditions, to the lands, territories and resources that they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions, as well as to redress for the wrongs suffered – are shaped in a culturally sensitive manner, taking into account the specific needs and ways of life of indigenous peoples.

The 2007 Declaration represents the completion of a long evolution of pertinent international law and practice, in the context of which a number of international institutions – including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights – as well as many domestic judges have progressively recognized and affirmed the rights of indigenous peoples through an evolutionary interpretation of human rights standards.