Indigenous Peoples in International Law

Indigenous Peoples around the world increasingly look to international law, and especially human rights instruments and institutions, in their efforts to survive as communities with distinct cultures, political structures, and relationships to traditional lands. Conversely, a focus on Indigenous Peoples provides a context for reflection on the extent to which international human rights law, with its classic focus on individual rights against the state, successfully addresses minority, group, and intercultural sovereignty claims. This course will examine aspects of the substance and procedure of international human rights law as it pertains to Indigenous Peoples. The course will examine the relationship of human rights to Indigenous Peoples’ own laws and traditions, the self-determination of states and peoples, and the political traditions of nation states.