Traditional Laws Meet Emerging Biotechnologies: The Impact of Genetic Genealogy on Indigenous Land Title in Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-149
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Watt ◽  
Emma Kowal ◽  
Carmen Cummings

The increasing popularity and availability of genetic testing has the potential to play into debates surrounding forms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land ownership known as “native title.” This paper draws on research with applied anthropologists working in native title, and a review of descriptions of native title holders in existing determinations, to address three key questions: Are native title holders and claimants interested in using genetic genealogy for claiming native title or resolving membership disputes? If so, can this biotechnology offer them the kind of information they seek? And finally, does the legal framework allow or support its use for these purposes? Our findings highlight the importance of disseminating current information about genetic genealogy among Indigenous Australians and having frank conversations about the opportunities and limits of genetic technologies in this context.

Author(s):  
Waugh John

This chapter explores the law of Australian colonization and its relationship with the laws of Australia's Indigenous peoples. A line of legal continuity links the Australian Constitution to the imposition of British law made during the colonization of Australia and to the decisions of colonial courts that treated the Australian colonies as colonies of settlement. Those decisions, after some initial doubts, displaced the diverse and intricate laws of Australia’s Indigenous peoples, who have occupied the continent for tens of thousands of years. Only in relation to native title to land have later courts made a major reassessment of the status of Indigenous laws. There, the High Court has challenged the factual assumptions of earlier decisions and found accommodation for Indigenous land ownership within the common law, but left the legal framework of colonization otherwise intact.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cassell

Based on extensive fieldwork and oral history, The Terms of Our Surrender is a powerful critical appraisal of unceded indigenous land ownership in eastern Canada. Set against an ethnographic, historical and legal framework, the book traces the myriad ways the Canadian state has successfully evaded the 1763 Royal Proclamation that guaranteed First Nations people a right to their land and way of life. Focusing on the Innu of Quebec and Labrador, whose land has been taken for resource extraction and development, the book strips back the fiduciary duty to its origins, challenging the inroads which have been made on the nature and extent of indigenous land tenure—arguing for preservation of land ownership and positioning First Nations people as natural land defenders amidst a devastating climate crisis. It offers a voice to the Innu people, detailing the spirituality practices, culture and values that make it impossible for them to willingly cede their land. The text is intended to bridge the gap in knowledge between legal practitioners and those working at the intersections of human rights, social work and public policy. The book offers a potent template for how we can use the law to fight back against the indignities suffered by all indigenous peoples.


The phenomenon of fire in the Australian landscape traverses many interests and disciplines. At a national level, there is an urgent need for the integration of both the natural and social sciences in the formulation of public policy. With contributions from 30 leading experts, Australia Burning draws together these issues, under the themes: Ecology and the environment Fire behaviour and fire regime science People and property Policy, institutional arrangements and the legal framework Indigenous land and fire management The book examines some of the key questions that relate to the ecology, prediction and management of fire, urban planning, law, insurance, and community issues, including indigenous and non-indigenous concerns. It looks at what we need to know to inform public policy, given the present risks and uncertainty, and explores the avenues for closer integration between science, policy and the community.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Clemence Due ◽  
Damien W Riggs

This article examines how Indigenous Australians' claims to their land are represented in the mainstream, non-Indigenous Australian media. In so doing, the article explores the common tropes available to non-Indigenous Australians in relation to Indigenous ownership of land, and in particular the native title system. It is argued that whilst initial land claims are discussed in detail within the media from a variety of perspectives, subsequent Indigenous land use agreements are most commonly reported upon in terms of business and economic concerns, with 'failed' agreements represented as impediments to 'development'. Thus, whilst the claims of Indigenous Australians to their land are sometimes reported positively by the media, this is only insofar as native title does not impede business development, which is frequently represented as the way in which land ultimately ought to be used. Thus non-Indigenous readers are left with an image of native title whereby initial land claims are considered not to be threatening, but only to the extent that subsequent use of the land still fits a white Australian image of 'development'.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-168
Author(s):  
Bayram Unal

This study aims at understanding how the perceptions about migrants have been created and transferred into daily life as a stigmatization by means of public perception, media and state law implementations.  The focus would be briefly what kind of consequences these perceptions and stigmatization might lead. First section will examine the background of migration to Turkey briefly and make a summary of migration towards Turkey by 90s. Second section will briefly evaluate the preferential legal framework, which constitutes the base for official discourse differentiating the migrants and implementations of security forces that can be described as discriminatory. The third section deals with the impact of perceptions influential in both formation and reproduction of inclusive and exclusive practices towards migrant women. Additionally, impact of public perception in classifying the migrants and migratory processes would be dealt in this section.


Author(s):  
Valentyna Bohatyrets ◽  
Liubov Melnychuk ◽  
Yaroslav Zoriy

This paper seeks to investigate sustainable cross-border cooperation (CBC) as a distinctive model of interstate collaboration, embedded in the neighboring borderland regions of two or more countries. The focus of the research revolves around the establishment and further development of geostrategic, economic, cultural and scientific capacity of the Ukrainian-Romanian partnership as a fundamental construct in ensuring and strengthening the stability, security and cooperation in Europe. This research highlights Ukraine’s aspirations to establish, develop and diversify bilateral good-neighborly relations with Romania both regionally and internationally. The main objective is to elucidate Ukraine-Romania cross-border cooperation initiatives, inasmuch Ukraine-Romania CBC has been stirring up considerable interest in terms of its inexhaustible historical, cultural and spiritual ties. Furthermore, the similarity of the neighboring states’ strategic orientations grounds the basis for development and enhancement of Ukraine-Romania cooperation. The authors used desk research and quantitative research to conclude that Ukraine-Romania CBC has the impact not only on the EU and on Ukraine multi-vector foreign policy, but it also has the longer-term global consequences. In the light of the current reality, the idea of introducing and reinforcing the importance of Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) sounds quite topical and relevant. This research considers a number of explanations for Ukraine-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation as a key element of the EU policy towards its neighbors. Besides, the subject of the research is considered from different perspectives in order to show the diversity and complexity of the Ukraine-Romania relations in view of the fact that sharing common borders we are presumed to find common solutions. As the research has demonstrated, the Ukraine-Romania cross border cooperation is a pivotal factor of boosting geostrategic, economic, political and cultural development for each participant country, largely depending on the neighboring countries’ cohesion and convergence. Significantly, there is an even stronger emphasis on the fact that while sharing the same borders, the countries share common interests and aspirations for economic thriving, cultural exchange, diplomatic ties and security, guaranteed by a legal framework. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for further development and enhancement of Ukraine-Romania cooperation. Accordingly, the research shows how imperative are the benefits of Romania as a strategic partner for outlining top priorities of Ukraine’s foreign policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Chantal Mak

While private corporations have become increasingly influential in the global economy, a comprehensive legal framework for their activities is missing. Although international and regional legal instruments may govern some aspects of, for instance, international investments and the supply of goods and services, there is no overarching structure for assessing the impact of large-scale private projects. In the absence of such a comprehensive framework, specific rules of private law allow profit-seeking companies to expand their activities on an economic basis, mostly without having to heed social concerns (Pistor, 2019). This is particularly problematic insofar as multinational companies have obtained power to set the rules for their engagement with states, organisations and individuals, for instance in the form of transnational investment contracts. Given the fragmented nature of the legal sphere in which such contracts are elaborated and performed, those who face the harmful consequences of such investments may not be able to participate in decision-making processes. The contracts remain in ‘wild zones’ of globalisation (Fraser, 2014, p. 150), where powerful private companies rule.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Olga Rymkevich

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing immense pressure to bear on labour law and social security institutions in all countries of the world, while having a major impact on work-life balance. The total lockdown, also of schools and higher education, the unprecedented fall in the level of production, the reduced possibility of relying on other family members, friends and domestic workers, traditionally constituting the essential pillars of formal and informal caring, in addition to working from home with children doing their schooling online (in large part on the parents’ shoulders) have compelled families to face new and abrupt organizational changes. The aim of this article is to investigate the legislative measures such as parental leave (ordinary and emergency) adopted in Italy aimed at supporting families during the pandemic, with a view to assessing their effectiveness and the impact on the Italian labour market during and after the pandemic. For this purpose, the socio-economic and legal framework dealing with parental leave before the COVID-19 emergency will be outlined, followed an the analysis of the emergency measures to provide support for parents, concluding with some reflections on possible future developments.


Author(s):  
Peter H. Herlihy ◽  
Matthew L. Fahrenbruch ◽  
Taylor A. Tappan

This chapter describes the geographies of indigenous populations and their territories in Central America, past and present. A brief discussion of previous archaeological research provides a context for the region’s pre-Columbian populations and settlement distributions prior to an examination of the territorial and demographic collapse precipitated by European conquest. The chapter chronicles a twenty-first-century resurgence of indigenous populations and their territorial rights in Central America, including the emergence of geopolitical units that we call indigenous territorial jurisdictions (ITJs), the likes of which represent new strategies for accommodating indigenous land ownership and governance within the context of modern states. Archival and census research, in situ field experience, and geographic information system (GIS)-based land use and cadastral mapping inform the understanding of indigenous peoples’ past and contemporary demographic trends, settlement patterns, and territorial challenges.


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