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Indigenous people should not lose their identity
By Dr. JACOB L SIMET
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13th
September 2007; has forty-six (46) Articles.
In the main, the forty-six articles are designed to improve the
life of indigenous peoples around the world; who for centuries
and even millennia, have been dispossessed, displaced,
marginalized, denied their basic rights and in some cases been
relegated to status of less than human; so in this sense it is a
human rights declaration.
On the whole they set out to address four main areas of concern
for indigenous peoples; (1) rights to self-determination and
autonomy, (2) rights and access to education, (3) indigenous
rights to culture, customs and traditions, (4) rights of
ownership to land, territories and natural resources.
The preambular statement of the Declaration makes a number of
statements which provides the background of the intention of the
document. Amongst the more important of these are; "that
indigenous people are equal to all other peoples", clarifying
that they are not less human than everyone else.
Having said this, the statement further states however that it
recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples "to be different, to
consider themselves different, and to be respected as such".
That indigenous people do not have to lose their identity to
earn anyone's respect.
The statement denounces any sense of superiority complex by any
group of people. It states that all "doctrines, policies and
practices based on or advocating superiority of people or
individuals on the basis of national origin, racial, religious,
ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false,
legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust".
An important part of these opening statements is the admission
and recognition that "indigenous peoples have suffered from
historic injustices as a result of, inter alia, their
colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and
resources, thus preventing them from exercising, in particular,
their right to development in accordance with their own needs
and interests".
A central and important part of these statements is that
relating to indigenous rights to culture, custom and tradition.
That there is recognition of the "urgent need to respect and
promote the inherent rights of indigenous people which derive
from their political, economic and social structures, and from
their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and
philosophies, especially their rights to their lands territories
and resources".
Of the forty-six (46) Articles of the Declaration; a total of
eighteen (18) articles address the matters of culture, custom
and tradition, ie; "indigenous cultural rights." This highlights
the injustices and acts of denial which have been and are still
being perpetrated against indigenous peoples' rights to live
their lives according to their cultures, traditions and customs.
Article 5 of the declaration asserts the rights of indigenous
peoples to maintain and strengthen their distinct political,
legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while
retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose,
in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the
state in which they live.
In the past, and to some extent still today, indigenous peoples
have been under pressure to be assimilated with other peoples,
which means they are forced to lose their identity. Article 8 of
the Declaration is an assertion against this kind of pressure.
Item 1 of this article states; "Indigenous peoples and
individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced
assimilation or destruction of their culture." Under this same
article, States are required to take preventive action against
"any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of
their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values
or ethnic identities."
Article 9 provides safeguards for indigenous peoples and
individuals "to have the right to belong to an indigenous
community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and
customs of the community or nation concerned." and it further
provides that; "no discrimination of any kind may arise from the
exercise of such right."
At the heart of the Declaration's concern with indigenous
peoples' cultural rights, is the concern with indigenous
peoples' maintenance and continued practice of their cultural
traditions and customs. This is affirmed in Articles 11, 12 and
13, and is most clearly articulated in Article 11, which states
that; "Indigenous peoples have the right to practice and
revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes
the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and
future manifestations of their cultures, such as archeological
and historical sites, artifacts, designs, ceremonies,
technologies and visual and performing arts and literature." In
these regards, states are required to institute mechanisms to
safeguard violations against these rights.
Given the contemporary situations which indigenous peoples find
themselves in, such as in education and public media, the
Declaration has provision for indigenous peoples to have the
choice to use their own languages in the processes of learning
and also to have some input into the information available to
them in the public media. These safeguards are stated in
articles 14, 15 and 16.
For centuries and even millennia, indigenous peoples
intellectual property, which now comes under the main rubric of
traditional knowledge have been used in the development of
saleable commodities by industrialized countries; whether this
be in the use of traditional herbs for modern medicines, plant
propagation or animal husbandry techniques. In the main this
traditional knowledge was obtained without the consent of
indigenous peoples. While economic benefits were realized from
the use of these intellectual cultural resources, no benefit
ever went to indigenous peoples. The traditional knowledge of
indigenous peoples is now safeguarded under Article 31 of the
Declaration. This article states that; "Indigenous peoples have
the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their
cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional
cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their
sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic
resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of
fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports
and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also
have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their
intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional
knowledge and traditional cultural expressions."
For those who are apprehensive about the Declaration as having
ulterior motives; the gist of the 46 articles are developed
within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In
this sense then the declaration is not about discriminating
against non-indigenous peoples; rather it is about giving
protection and rights to indigenous peoples which have been
denied to them for centuries and even millennia. Article
43clearly asserts that, the rights recognized in this
Declaration "constitute the minimum standards for the survival,
dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world."
Speaking in New York immediately after the adoption of the
Declaration by the UN General Assembly, the Chairperson of the
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Ms Victoria Corpus
Tauli said;
"The 13th of September 2007 will be remembered as an
international human rights day for the Indigenous Peoples of the
world, a day that the United Nations and its Member States,
together with Indigenous Peoples, reconciled with past painful
histories and decided to march into the future on the path of
human rights."
 
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