'Indigenous Rights at the United Nations: Their impact on international human rights standards'

Abstract

This paper goes beyond the obvious impact that the Declaration has had on the rights of indigenous peoples and argues in favour of its wider impact on the standards of international human rights law. It sets out to prove that potentially, the recognition of indigenous rights in UNDRIP can make a substantial difference to other groups, as it pushes forward the standards of current international law. In order to highlight the ‘added value’ of the Declaration, the paper juxtaposes such contribution with respect to the previous contours of international law in five areas of human rights: the right to self-determination, collective rights, cultural rights, land rights and participation and consultation rights.