scholarly journals Evolution of Indigenous Rights Under International Law: Analysis from TWAIL Perspective

Author(s):  
Rashwet Shrinkhal

Indigenous people are the most socially, politically, and economically marginalized groups in the world. They are the most oppressed on account of the fact that the values sustaining the moral roots of their culture are considered incompatible with the values of modern culture. This article traces the evolution of rights of indigenous people in international law. It argues that discrimination against indigenous people was maintained under international law based on differences on scale of civilization. It will demonstrate how ‘universal standards’ may be applied not as an agent of liberation but dominance. In doing so, Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) perspective is adopted to deconstruct international law.

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-310
Author(s):  
Julie Debeljak

“Indigenous peoples have been deprived of vast land holdings, and access to life sustaining resources, and they have suffered … activ[e] suppress[ion of] their political and cultural institutions. As a result indigenous people have been crippled economically and socially, their cohesiveness as communities has been damaged or threatened, and the integrity of their cultures has been undermined.”


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. CHIMNI

AbstractThis essay seeks to sketch and evaluate international law scholarship in post-colonial India in the period 1947–2007. The exercise is undertaken to assess how Indian scholarship has coped with the dual life of international law: the fact that it is both an instrument of domination and possible emancipation. It is contended that while the dominant approach of formalist dualism, which critiques colonial international law but embraces the narrative of progress in the present, has made a seminal contribution to the world of international law, in particular the first articulation of Third World approaches to international law (TWAIL), it has not adequately addressed deep systemic structures that underlie contemporary international law. It is argued that this task is performed more effectively by a critical dualist approach that problematizes the structure, ideology, and practices of global capitalism. The essay concludes by reflecting on the future tasks of Indian scholarship.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaya Álvez Marín

This article explores the struggles of indigenous rights based on the adoption of the 1980 Chilean Constitution, under an authoritarian frame, that resulted in water being considered as a commodity and, therefore, subject to radical market rules that serves as a relevant local example in conflict with ratified international treaties. The argument proposes a critical approach to establish a continuum of the recurring rejection of the ancestral beliefs of Indigenous People since colonial times. In light of the actual constituent process for drafting a new constitution in Chile (2015), the article evaluates the emancipatory potential of Chile’s early sovereignty proposal on natural resources and later articulations of water as a human right. The argument assesses the possibility of including alternative views in the constituent debate over water, under the light of Third World Approaches to International Law [TWAIL] and Latin American International Law [LAIL] legal scholarship, aiming to find space in the Chilean constitutional realm for non-extractive perspectives.


Author(s):  
Charles-Emmanuel Côté

The intersection between trade and development in international law appeared in the wake of the decolonization movement, in the second half of the 20th century. Newly independent states joined the older Latin American republics in the shared awareness of their underdevelopment and identified themselves as the Third World, most notably after the landmark Bandung conference of 1955. Developing countries soon gained majority in the UN General Assembly and tried to reshape the rules of international law in order to restore fairness in the multilateral trading system. Its governing instrument, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was perceived as fundamentally flawed since it did not address development and the typical economic issues associated with it. The organization of the first UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1964 and its establishment as an organ of the General Assembly were instrumental in the proposal of rules to take developing countries into account in international trade law. The GATT incorporated special and differential treatment (S&DT) provisions for developing countries, and other legal regimes were created to deal with issues of specific interest to them, such as international trade in commodities. This process culminated with the attempt by developing countries to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the 1970s. The NIEO agenda was dominant on the international stage and in legal thinking on trade and development until the early 1990s. International recognition of a right to development connected the topic of trade and development with the field of human rights. The establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and globalization profoundly shook the foundations of the rules governing trade and development. It marked a paradigmatic shift in international law, where trade liberalization came largely to be seen as the key to development. Renewed critical theories emerged fleshing out Third World approaches to international law, dealing notably with trade-related issues. The topic of trade and development remains relevant in early-21st-century international law, as exemplified by the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations and by the fact that most WTO members still identify as developing countries in the world trading system. The need to further address the issues faced by developing countries remains pressing. The topic of trade and development focuses on North-South or South-South trade relations and must be disambiguated from the concept of sustainable development. The latter does not deal specifically with developing countries and refers to development that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-653
Author(s):  
Valerie Muguoh Chiatoh

African states and institutions believe that the principle of territorial integrity is applicable to sub-state groups and limits their right to self-determination, contrary to international law. The Anglophone Problem in Cameroon has been an ever-present issue of social, political and economic debates in the country, albeit most times in undertones. This changed as the problem metamorphosed into an otherwise preventable devastating armed conflict with external self-determination having become very popular among the Anglophone People. This situation brings to light the drawbacks of irregular decolonisation, third world colonialism and especially the relationship between self-determination and territorial integrity in Africa.


Author(s):  
Alistair Fox

This chapter examines Merata Mita’s Mauri, the first fiction feature film in the world to be solely written and directed by an indigenous woman, as an example of “Fourth Cinema” – that is, a form of filmmaking that aims to create, produce, and transmit the stories of indigenous people, and in their own image – showing how Mita presents the coming-of-age story of a Māori girl who grows into an understanding of the spiritual dimension of the relationship of her people to the natural world, and to the ancestors who have preceded them. The discussion demonstrates how the film adopts storytelling procedures that reflect a distinctively Māori view of time and are designed to signify the presence of the mauri (or life force) in the Māori world.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Devi Yusvitasari

A country needs to make contact with each other based on the national interests of each country related to each other, including among others economic, social, cultural, legal, political, and so on. With constant and continuous association between the nations of the world, it is one of the conditions for the existence of the international community. One form of cooperation between countries in the world is in the form of international relations by placing diplomatic representation in various countries. These representatives have diplomatic immunity and diplomatic immunity privileges that are in accordance with the jurisdiction of the recipient country and civil and criminal immunity for witnesses. The writing of the article entitled "The Application of the Principle of Non-Grata Persona to the Ambassador Judging from the Perspective of International Law" describes how the law on the abuse of diplomatic immunity, how a country's actions against abuse of diplomatic immunity and how to analyze a case of abuse of diplomatic immunity. To answer the problem used normative juridical methods through the use of secondary data, such as books, laws, and research results related to this research topic. Based on the results of the study explained that cases of violations of diplomatic relations related to the personal immunity of diplomatic officials such as cases such as cases of persecution by the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Indonesian Workers in Germany are of serious concern. The existence of diplomatic immunity is considered as protection so that perpetrators are not punished. Actions against the abuse of recipient countries of diplomatic immunity may expel or non-grata persona to diplomatic officials, which is stipulated in the Vienna Convention in 1961, because of the right of immunity attached to each diplomatic representative.


Author(s):  
Emilie M. Hafner-Burton

In the last six decades, one of the most striking developments in international law is the emergence of a massive body of legal norms and procedures aimed at protecting human rights. In many countries, though, there is little relationship between international law and the actual protection of human rights on the ground. This book takes a fresh look at why it's been so hard for international law to have much impact in parts of the world where human rights are most at risk. The book argues that more progress is possible if human rights promoters work strategically with the group of states that have dedicated resources to human rights protection. These human rights “stewards” can focus their resources on places where the tangible benefits to human rights are greatest. Success will require setting priorities as well as engaging local stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations and national human rights institutions. To date, promoters of international human rights law have relied too heavily on setting universal goals and procedures and not enough on assessing what actually works and setting priorities. This book illustrates how, with a different strategy, human rights stewards can make international law more effective and also safeguard human rights for more of the world population.


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