Securing the Rights: A Human Security Perspective in the Context of Arctic Indigenous Peoples

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 493-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamrul Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Human Rights Regime ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
The Right

Abstract In today’s world the state-centric approach of security has been extended to includea human-centric approach. Since individuals are the ultimate victims of any securitythreats, a state is not secure if insecure inhabitants reside within it. The insecurityof individuals arises from various sources of threats, such as from “fear” aswell as from “want”. While often the concept is confused with that of human rights,the concept of human security embraces policy choices in order for the better implementationof human rights. In a sense therefore, it complements both the conceptsof traditional security and human rights. This article addresses the concept in thecontext of the Arctic and its people, particularly in the context of its indigenouspeoples. Obviously, because of differing meanings of the concept, the human securitythreats of the Arctic cannot be seen as similar to those of the other regions ofthe global south. This article nevertheless explores various human security concernsfaced by the Arctic indigenous communities. In addressing the concept of humansecurity in the context of the Arctic, the article affirms the normative developmentoccurred relatively recently in the human rights regime – which today includes a setof group rights called third generation human rights. These broadly include amongothers; the right to environment and the right to development. The presence of thesecategories of rights are therefore argued to ensure human security for which in theArctic perspective a right to self-determination plays a pivotal role, particularly forits indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Evolving Legal Protections for Indigenous Peoples in Africa: Some Post-UNDRIP Reflections

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-365
Author(s):  
Derek Inman ◽  
Dorothée Cambou ◽  
Stefaan Smis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Context ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Right

Prior to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) many African states held a unified and seemingly hostile position towards the UNDRIP exemplified by the concerns outlined in the African Group's Draft Aide Memoire. In order to gain a better understanding of the protections offered to indigenous peoples on the African continent, it is necessary to examine the concerns raised in the aforementioned Draft Aide Memoire and highlight how these concerns have been addressed at the regional level, effectively changing how the human rights norms contained within the UNDRIP are seen, understood and interpreted in the African context. The purpose of this article is to do just that: to examine in particular how the issue of defining indigenous peoples has been tackled on the African continent, how the right to self-determination has unfolded for indigenous peoples in Africa and how indigenous peoples' right to free, prior and informed consent has been interpreted at the regional level.

scholarly journals ARKTISKE FOLK SOM STATISTER OG AKTØRER PÅ DEN GLOBALE SCENE

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Sejersen
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Extreme Pressure ◽  
Political Work ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
Arctic Communities ◽  
The Right

Frank Sejersen: Arctic people as by-standers and actors at the global stage For centuries, the indigenous peoples of the Arctic have been perceived as isolated from the rest of the world. The article argues that secluded Arctic communities do not exist and that Arctic peoples are integrated into numerous political, cultural and economic relations of a global extent. The pre-colonial inter-continental trade between Siberia and Alaska and the increased militarization the whole circumpolar region are but two examples. Throughout history, indigenous peoples of the Arctic have been players on the global stage. Today, this position has been strengthened because political work on this stage is imperative in order to secure the welfare and possibilities of local Arctic communities. To mention an example, Arctic peoples’ hunting activities have been under extreme pressure from the anti-harvesting movement. The anti-harvesting organizations run campaigns to ban hunting and stop the trade with products from whales, seals and furbearing animals. Thus, political and cultural processes far from the homeland of Arctic peoples, have consequences for the daily life of many Arctic families. The global stage has become an important comerstone in indigenous peoples’ strive to gain more control over their own future. The right to trade, development and self-determination are some of the rights they claim.

Solidarity

2021 ◽  
pp. 327-340
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
The Right ◽  
Collective Dimension

Some fundamental rights, variously described as ‘solidarity rights’, ‘people’s rights’ or ‘third generation rights’ are not fully reflected in the human rights instruments. Indeed their place within human rights law remains somewhat controversial although that does not imply that they are not customary in nature. Among them are the right to peace, the right to a healthy environment, the right of peoples to self determination, and the right to development. The main distinction between these rights and other human rights relates to the jurisdiction of human rights bodies. They have a collective dimension that is not present in the same way with the other categories of human rights.

19. Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Havemann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines issues surrounding the human rights of Indigenous peoples. The conceptual framework for this chapter is informed by three broad, interrelated, and interdependent types of human rights: the right to existence, the right to self-determination, and individual human rights. After describing who Indigenous peoples are according to international law, the chapter considers the centuries of ambivalence about the recognition of Indigenous peoples. It then discusses the United Nations's establishment of a regime for Indigenous group rights and presents a case study of the impact of climate change on Indigenous peoples. It concludes with a reflection on the possibility of accommodating Indigenous peoples' self-determination with state sovereignty.

Human Rights and the Arctic

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-243
Author(s):  
Gudmundur Alfredsson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Independent State ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Right

Abstract This article surveys some of the many international human rights law issues that come up in connection with the Arctic, such as the rights of indigenous peoples and the formulation of these rights in a draft Nordic Sami Convention. The focus, however, is on recent developments concerning the status of Greenland as a result of an agreement concluded in 2008 between the Danish and Greenlandic authorities. This agreement foresees not only a significant increase in self-government but also opens the door for the Greenlandic people to create an independent State through the exercise of the right to external self-determination as a matter of political decolonisation of an overseas colonial territory.

scholarly journals Protecting expressions of Folklore within the Right to Culture in Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Enyinna Sodienye Nwauche
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Substantive Content ◽  
Human Rights Regime ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Right

This paper explores the protection of expressions of folklore within the right to culture in Africa by considering three issues, which are the increased understanding of the right to culture in national constitutions and the recognition that customary law is a manifestation of the right to culture; an expanded understanding of the substantive content of the article 15(1) of the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as part of the right to culture; and the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples marked significantly by the 2007 United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. The paper demonstrates how a human rights regime may assist in overcoming some of the deficiencies in the national protection of expressions of folklore in Africa.

The Right to Self-Determination under the Ethiopian Constitution: A Legal Tool for Indigenous Peoples’ Protection against Land Alienation?

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-383
Author(s):  
Tilahun Weldie Hindeya
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

AbstractSince 2008 the Ethiopian government has allocated vast tracts of land, particularly in the Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, to agricultural commercial actors with little or no participation from indigenous communities. The marginalization of indigenous peoples in this process primarily emerges from the government's very wide legislative discretionary power regarding decision-making in the exploitation of land. The government has invoked constitutional clauses relating to land ownership and its power to deploy land resources for the “common benefit” of the people, to assert the consistency of this discretionary power with the Ethiopian Constitution. This article posits that the legislative and practical measures taken by the government that marginalize these indigenous peoples in decisions affecting the utilization of land resources are incompatible with their constitutional right to self-determination. Further, it posits that the government's use of the constitution to justify its wide discretionary power in the decision-making process relating to land exploitation is based on a misreading of the constitution.

Realisation of the right to self-determined development and the protection of indigenous women against discrimination in Tanzania

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Zacharia Matinda
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Women's Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Cultural Survival ◽  
Central Pillar ◽  
The Right

The UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007, marking the culmination of thorough negotiations, lobbying and advocacy involving indigenous peoples’ representatives as key actors. Among other rights, the UNDRIP affirms the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples. Also referred to as the right to self-determined development, the right to self-determination, as stated in the UNDRIP, encompasses indigenous communities’ rights to determine their development trajectories. To indigenous peoples, the significance of the right to self-determination includes the promotion of cultural distinctiveness, which is central to their survival as communities. However, women’s rights scholars and activists are sceptical about the emancipatory potential of realising the right to self-determination for indigenous women. In contrast, exercising this right might also entail the perpetuation of gender-based violence and other forms of discrimination, thus heightening women’s fragility and subordination among indigenous communities and beyond. Using UNDRIP and other relevant international and regional human-rights instruments as vantage points, this paper seeks to juxtapose the implementation of the right to self-determination and the realisation of indigenous women’s rights in Tanzania. The article posits that the protection of indigenous women’s rights should form the central pillar of the enjoyment of the right to self-determination. This is because the cultural survival, vitality and continuity of indigenous peoples’ distinctiveness largely hinges on respect for the rights of indigenous women.

Arctic indigenous peoples' internationalism: in search of a legal justification

Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Loukacheva
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
Legal Justification ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Representation

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the evolution and development of the legal scope of governance and the right to autonomy in the Arctic context by considering contemporary indigenous internationalism through a legal lens and by employing examples from the Arctic indigenous peoples of Greenland and Nunavut. It argues that depending on national policy, partnerships, and relations, there are possibilities for considering direct international representation, and the participation of autonomous sub-national units or indigenous peoples, as a part of the right to autonomy/self-government or internal self-determination. Since indigenous peoples have a limited legal personality and capacity in international law, the states of which they are a part can take special measures to accommodate their needs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document