United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Next week I am attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. This year’s topic is climate change. The Indigenous Law Centre has a research project that is examining the human rights implications of climate change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
UN meetings on Indigenous issues are always exciting. It is amazing to see so many Indigenous human rights defenders from around the world dressed in beautiful and intricate traditional costumes and gathered together to share stories of success and failure in Indigenous law and policy.
I was once an Indigenous Fellow with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. My fellowship group consisted of a Sami Parliamentarian from Sweden, an Indigenous man from the Yakutz republic and a Biak man from West Papua. The two blokes couldn’t speak English very well so we all communicated in French!
The Permanent Forum was created in 2000. Its existence is a triumph of Indigenous advocacy at the UN. Its establishment was one of two main goals of the first UN International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the other goal being the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The primary role of the forum is to raise awareness of indigenous peoples human rights issues within the United Nations system and to integrate indigenous issues into the many agencies and programmes of the UN system. It is unique in its structure with its membership being divided equally between eight state members and eight indigenous peoples representatives.
Professor Mick Dodson is the extremely hardworking and dedicated Indigenous representative for the Pacific. Another hard working and brilliant Aboriginal woman working for the UN Secretariat for the forum is Sonia Smallacombe. Sonia is a member of the Maramanindji people in the Daly River region of NT. Sonia has also held the roles of Head of the School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems at Charles Darwin University and was the manager of the Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Taskforce at ATSIC. Sonia is such an inspiration to me and many young Aboriginal women and it’s really thrilling to see so many Indigenous people working in important postings at the United Nations.
One major development Indigenous peoples are expecting in the next two weeks is the Rudd government’s long awaited endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Declaration is a non-binding legal instrument of the General Assembly. It doesn’t have to be signed or ratified. And because it is a declaration of the General Assembly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities can use the declaration in their work and daily lives immediately.
And while it doesn’t have to be endorsed to be used, endorsement is important for Australia in signalling its renewed commitment and emphasis on human rights and multilateralism. That should be done contemporaneously with taking office along with other commitments to human rights such as the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.
It is important for the Rudd government to endorse the declaration as it is necessary to make concrete the Federal government’s commitment to Indigenous peoples. Of course their ongoing commitment to the suspension of the RDA and the willingness to support the inadequate legal justification for violating peoples rights on the basis of race (until their annual review of the NT Intervention) sits uncomfortably with an endorsement of a declaration that is based on the right to self-determination and rule of law.
While the federal government is at pains not to break economic promises that will bolster the wallets of many Australians, it will be interesting to see whether this promise to endorse the declaration was real or just hollow words spoken in election time to juxtapose rights “cred” against the Howard agenda.
But before New York, I am off to 2020 … I will be participating in the 2020 Summit in the Indigenous stream.
Murri cricket
Finally, I have to congratulate the victorious Queensland team for their victory in the Imparja cup!! My brother Will was one of the champion Murris who won in Alice - Imparja Cup is being rotated on NITV for those who want to check it out.
Megan Davis is a Murri lawyer who specialises in Indigenous constitutional issues and international human rights law. Megan is Director, Indigenous Law Centre and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. Megan supports the North Queensland Cowboys.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Good luck at the UN, wish I could go. I do hope that Australia under Rudd signs the Declaration - of course, one could hope the same thing in the US with the incoming president (whomever that will be), but I don’t see it happening.