Foundations of Collective Cultural Rights in International Human Rights Law

Although collective cultural rights are included in international human rights law, their precise place and their nature and significance are not well-explored or understood. This paper aims to show where collective cultural rights can be found in international human rights law and explore how these rights fit in the general body and framework of international human rights law. The starting point in this chapter is international human rights law, which implies that the analysis of collective cultural rights is framed by positive law and international legal instruments, such as treaties and conventions, as well as by soft law instruments, such as declarations, recommendations and resolutions. In this paper, the two categories of collective rights and cultural rights are defined, drawing a distinction between a) different types of collective rights, including rights for collectivities as such, rights for individuals as members of collectivities, and rights with a collective interest or object; and b) between different types of cultural rights, including rights that explicitly refer to ‘culture’ and rights that relate to culture or have a cultural dimension. This paper furthermore analyses various contentious issues surrounding collective rights and cultural rights in international human rights law, including the lack of clarity on the object and subject of these rights. The paper then outlines the different forms of collective cultural rights in international human rights law, by providing examples of legal provisions in international human rights law that can be classified as collective cultural rights. Finally, the paper elaborates on how collective subjects and collective cultural interests are integrated in international human rights law and analyses how and to what extent collective cultural rights provisions provide answers to the above-noted issues

The participation of Indigenous peoples in the United Nations system's political institutions

Text of the Castan Centre lecture by Professor Erica-Irene A. Daes, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

An overview of the history of indigenous peoples: self-determination and the United Nations

This paper reflects on the entire consultation and drafting process that resulted in the recent proclamation of the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) UN General Assembly (GA) resolution 61/295. It discusses the problems the drafters of the declaration faced, including those concerning the definition of the terms ‘indigenous’ and ‘peoples’. It also reviews the formal positions of all the parties concerned in an attempt to explain the new meaning of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, which was one of the main stumbling blocks of the declaration. It is the conviction of this author (hereinafter UN Chairperson-Rapporteur) that the right to self-determination, as contained in Article 3 of the above-mentioned resolution 61/295, should be duly implemented by all concerned for the benefit of the states, indigenous peoples and the global community as a whole