Becoming visible: Indigenous peoples believe that to prosper they have to regain control over their lands and resources and to do that they must first win widespread recognition that they are entitled to special rights. (Indigenous People--Self-Determination).

For centuries, Indigenous peoples have suffered at the hands of dominant European cultures. Many have lost their lands, their languages, their faiths, and their identities. More than a few Indigenous peoples have vanished altogether--being swallowed up by Western culture or simply dying out.

Change has come slowly, but reached a high point in 1992. That's when Indigenous peoples from around the world gathered in the town of Kari-Oca outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the World Congress of Indigenous Peoples. Their meeting coincided with the Rio Summit on Sustainable Development, which was, at the time, the world's largest gathering of heads of government and heads of state ever to have taken place. The Rio Summit produced an agreement called Agenda 21, which was supposed to be a commitment to clean up the environment.

Sustainable development is a matter of enormous importance to Indigenous peoples (see page 26), so they were bound to make an appearance at the Rio Summit. But, with all those national leaders in town there was also a huge international press corps following them. This was a golden opportunity for Indigenous peoples to get their messages out to the world.

They drafted documents and signed petitions stating their shared views on respect for land and natural resources, world economic development, and the fights of Indigenous cultural groups to determine their own futures. They also showed themselves to be skilled at getting the media's attention.

Following Rio there have been some successes. Indigenous peoples are included as a major group in the continuing Agenda 21 process, a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has been established, and policy papers on Indigenous peoples have been adopted by bodies such as the United Nations Development Program.

At the national levels, there are a few countries, such as the Philippines, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and some countries in Latin America, which have adopted laws to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples.

In January 2002, Tom Goldtooth, of the International Indian Treaty Council and Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, in the United States, gave a presentation to a United Nations meeting. In part, he said: "One key principle reflected in the concerns ... of Indigenous peoples ... is the principle of Indigenous peoples' right of self-determination. Indigenous peoples' rights have assumed an important place in international human rights law. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising our right to development. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of our lands, territories, and other resources. These principles respect the recognition of Indigenous communities and institutions worldwide that have been redefining our understanding of western approaches of `development.'

"Western forms of development have not been sustainable and, instead, have been a disruption to our cultural practices, environmental degradation of traditional lands, biodiversity, and the bodies of our mothers and families. Development, as it has been practiced within our communities and territories has been a major factor that continues to create poverty and foster dependency on developmental and financial systems that don't recognize Indigenous traditional knowledge and values."

Getting these views voiced and listened to at a major international forum has not been easy.

For most of the past 500 years, Indigenous peoples were simply ignored. The world's dominant culture, that of Western Europe and North America, viewed Indigenous people as quaint. "Natives" were a subject that might make an interesting slide show at a community gathering or an entertaining television documentary report on their colourful dances, costumes, and ceremonies. The idea that "civilized people" might be able to learn something from forest dwellers and hunters and gatherers never entered their heads. And, it's not difficult to see why.

We had cars, jet airliners, television, and air-conditioning: they had mud and grass huts, spears, and they pranced about in little bitty loincloths that scarcely covered up their nakedness. It was clear to all which was the more sophisticated, complicated, and best society. Well, that's what many thought. Then, people such as Margaret Mead, Claude Levi-Strauss, and David Maybury-Lewis started to poke holes in these comfortable assumptions.

Beginning in the 1920s, Margaret Mead studied child rearing among Indigenous peoples of the Pacific. What she learned from these "primitive" societies was that they had some good ideas that might be helpful to the parents of troubled teenagers in the Western world.

Another anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, took on the task of explaining what had become known as the Ge anomaly. Several rather fierce tribes in Brazil together formed a complex society called the Ge. In material terms, they had little. But, Mr. Levi-Strauss studied them closely and found an incredibly complex social structure. In the 1950s, David Maybury-Lewis took these studies further and found peoples in the Amazon jungle who we would call backward and behind-the-times, but who had developed a philosophy of life and social structure that would be too complicated for most Westerners to understand. What we can grasp is that many of these peoples had developed societies that are in perfect harmony and balance with Nature. How many people living in Winnipeg, Paris, Moscow, or New York could say they were at total peace with their environment?

So, in recent years, many people in Western industrialized societies have come to respect the insights and wisdom of Indigenous cultures. To some extent, they have been led to this understanding by the more militant Indigenous peoples. In the United States, the "Red Power" movement gathered momentum. Young, educated people of Indian ancestry began to take pride in their heritage and rejected the self-image of being downtrodden victims without hope. In the 1960s and `70s, they protested about being shoved off to the margins of society. They attracted a lot of attention and raised awareness of their plight. Soon, their concerns were getting an airing in international forums.

In 1989, the International Labour Organization (a United Nations body) adopted the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. This was an update of a 30-year-old convention, and it called on governments to develop "systematic action to protect the rights of (Indigenous) peoples and to guarantee respect for their integrity.

"Such action shall include measures for:

(a) ensuring that members of these peoples benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which national laws and regulations grant to other members of the population; (b) promoting the full realization of the social, economic, and cultural rights of these peoples with respect for their social and cultural identity, their customs and traditions, and their institutions;

(c) assisting the members of the peoples concerned to eliminate socio-economic gaps that may exist between Indigenous and other members of the national community, in a manner compatible with their aspirations and ways of life."

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has no power to compel governments to follow its recommendations. However, the ILO called on the world's governments to respect the spiritual, cultural, property, and other rights of Indigenous peoples. It also stated that no development should take place on the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples without their being consulted and without their consent.

In 1988, work had begun on writing a draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. If passed by the UN's General Assembly and ratified by enough countries this would be binding on member states. But, that might take a while. The first draft was completed in 1993 and the haggling began. Writing a convention on the rights of Indigenous peoples that leaves everybody happy is probably impossible. The trick is to adopt a document that offends the smallest number of people. By early 2002, such a compromise was still illusive.

Professor Eric-Irene A. Daes has been involved in the struggle for international recognition for the rights of Indigenous peoples for more than two decades. In the summer of 2001 she expressed her disappointment that the United Nations had not been able to adopt a convention on rights, and posed a question.

"Is this a sign of greater fear on the part of some member states, or simply a return to indifference?"

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. In 1960, a resolution of the United Nations laid down the principle that all peoples had the right to self-determination and should therefore, be free to determine their own social and cultural development. Since then, a great deal of debate has centred on what constitutes "a people." Through debate, try to define "a people."

2. During the 1970s, the American Indian Movement (AIM) organized many protests over the treatment of Indigenous peoples--The Trail of Broken Treaties (1972), The Oscar Awards (1972), and a violent confrontation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1973) were notable. Have a team of students prepare a short report on the militant activists of AIM as a prelude to a discussion on the value of organized protests as a means of advancing a political agenda.

3. In September 2002, the 10-year review of the Rio Summit Agenda 21 process takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Indigenous peoples will certainly play a major role in this conference. Have students monitor events with a special emphasis on the issue of the rights of Indigenous people.

FACT FILE

In December 1998, the European Union adopted a Declaration that spells out Indigenous Peoples' Rights to self-determination.

1995 to 2004 is the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

In 1984, a major study of discrimination against Indigenous peoples was completed for the United Nations by Jose Martinez Cobo.

Websites

American Indian Movement
http://www.aimovement.
org/

Assembly of First Nations
http://www.afn.ca/

Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (Draft)
http://www.itpcentre.org/
legislation/english/undeclar.
htm

Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention
http://www.ciesin.org/
docs/010-282/010-282.html

RELATED ARTICLE: George Manuel.

A Shuswap Indian from British Columbia, George Manuel helped organize the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB) in 1970. From this platform he pushed hard for the rights of Indigenous peoples, first in Canada and then on the international stage. Mr. Manuel travelled widely and made contacts with Indigenous peoples all over the world. In 1975, the NIB staged a conference at Port Alberni, B.C. that attracted delegates from 24 countries. This conference set up the World Council of Indigenous Peoples and George Manuel was named its first President. His many awards and recognitions include three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Order of Canada 1986, an Honourary Doctorate Degree in Law from the University of British Columbia 1983, and being honoured by his people as their Chief for life.

RELATED ARTICLE: Chief Deskaheh.

Born on the Six Nation Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, in 1873, Deskaheh became chief of the Cayuga and Speaker of the Six Nations Hereditary Council. He was a staunch defender of Indian autonomy, language, and culture. In 1890, Ottawa declared that the Six Nations must abandon its traditional tribal government and adopt an elected one. This produced a split in the Six Nations. Eventually, the traditionalists won under the leadership of Chief Deskaheh, who demanded full self-government. The federal government refused and the chief headed off to Geneva, Switzerland in 1923 to argue his case before the League of Nations, a forerunner of the United Nations.

Interestingly, Chief Deskaheh travelled on a passport issued by the Hereditary Council and was not refused entry to Switzerland. Several countries (Estonia, Ireland, Panama, and Persia) supported the Six Nations' call for sovereignty. Britain backed the Canadian government and was powerful enough to have Chief Deskaheh's petition removed from the League of Nations agenda. The chief returned to Canada, broken and exhausted by the struggle, and died shortly thereafter. However, this does mark the first attempt to raise the issue of Indigenous rights in an international forum.

RELATED ARTICLE: Definition.

Matthew Coon Come is National Chief of Canada's Assembly of First Nations. He has stated that "all peoples have the right of self-determination" as stated in the International Bill of Rights of the United Nations. Self-determination refers to the right of a people to freely: (1) determine their political status, and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development; and, (2) dispose of and benefit from their wealth and natural resources. Under international treaty law, says Mr. Coon Come, Canada is obligated to respect the First Nations' right of self-determination.