Seminar Right to Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples

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Collected Papers and Proceedings

Preface

Jean-Louis Roy, President, Rights & Democracy

For five years, Rights & Democracy, through its Rights of Indigenous Peoples Programme, has been closely monitoring the efforts of the open-ended working group of the Commission on Human Rights. This group is responsible for preparing the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1 before the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2 in 2004. 3

Although the discussions were initiated in 1995, only two of the 45 articles of the Draft Declaration have been approved by the member States of the working group. 4 There is still no consensus among the member States on Article 3 of the Draft Declaration, which explicitly recognizes the right to self-determination. This is a key article, because it is designed to confirm the international community’s recognition that indigenous populations are indeed “Peoples,” an obvious fact that has been denied by numerous States in recent centuries. This status is the very basis of the indigenous right to self-determination.

Furthermore, Luis Enrique Chavez, Chairperson of the Draft Declaration working group, concluded in 1999 that the governments and the indigenous peoples agreed that the right to self-determination is the cornerstone of the Declaration. And although the various indigenous peoples of the world face different challenges, they all agree that their future depends on the recognition of their right to self-determination. This is their principal aspiration, the tool that they regard as indispensable to their collective survival.

Yet Article 3 has become the stumbling block of the Draft Declaration. That’s why we are actively seeking ways to help depolarize the debate and to identify avenues that will lead to solutions. To this end, on May 18, 2002, during the first session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, Rights & Democracy organized a parallel expert seminar on the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination.

About forty participants – including experts and representatives of governments, indigenous peoples and non-governmental organizations – accepted our invitation to debate their interpretations of Article 3 and the issues raised by the recognition of the right to self-determination.

We hope that holding this seminar outside the formal framework of the deliberations of the working group of the Commission on Human Rights will have, at the very least, fostered constructive dialogue on the issue of self-determination between State representatives and those of indigenous peoples.

We have chosen to publish the presentations of the experts who took part in the seminar because we are convinced that these texts can also promote dialogue among those directly involved in the deliberations, decisions and activities associated with the adoption of the Draft Declaration.

This dialogue is essential. It must be conducted with mutual respect and with a view to resolving the problems facing indigenous peoples with regard to human rights, development, the environment, education, health, etc.

It would be tragic, with respect to both history and the future, if the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples were to end without a favourable response to their principal aspiration. The adoption of the present version of Article 3 by the working group has thus become a priority; it would help break the current deadlock and facilitate the adoption of the Declaration by 2004.

Rights & Democracy thus joins indigenous peoples' organizations in encouraging governments to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. This right does not represent a threat to peace. It is a condition for peace. It amounts to a sine qua non of justice for indigenous peoples and of the recognition of their rights.