Indigenous Peoples in the 1990s: From Object to Subject of International Law
![handle is hein.journals/hhrj7 and id is 39 raw text is: Indigenous Peoples in the 1990s:
From Object to Subject of International Law?
Russel Lawrence Barsh*
The society of all humankind stands opposed to the club
of states, and one of the primary rules of the latter has been
to deny membership to the former.'
Since work began on the first United Nations study of discrimina-
tion against indigenous populations in 1971,2 the attention given to
indigenous peoples by international institutions and the participation
of indigenous peoples' representatives in intergovernmental discussions
have grown dramatically. The 1980s began with the establishment
of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations
(Working Group)3 and ended with the International Labour Organiza-
tion's Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, No. 169 (ILO Con-
vention 169), which recognized indigenous peoples' right to self-gov-
* Associate Professor of Native American Studies, University of Lethbridge. J.D., Harvard Law
School, 1974. Since 1981, the author has served as United Nations Representative for the Mikmaq
Grand Council and coordinated the Four Directions Council, an indigenous peoples' organization
in consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC and International Labour Organization.
He participated in most of the negotiations described in this Article.
1. R.J. VINCENT, HumAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 129 (1986).
2. E.S.C. Res. 1589(P), U.N. ESCOR, 36th Sess., U.N. Doc E/5032 (1971); Sub-Comm'n on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Study of the Problem of Discrimination
Against Indigenous Populations, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 36th Sess., U.N. Doc.
EICN.4Sub.211983121/Add. 18 (1983). For more on this study and on related United Nations
activities through 1985, see Russel L. Barsh, Indigenous Peoples: An Emerging Object of International
Law, 80 AM. J. INTL L. 369 (1986) [hereinafter Indigenous Peoples].
3. E.S.C. Res. 34, U.N. ESCOR, 38th Sess., Supp. No. 1, at 26, U.N. Doc. E/1982/59 (1982)
(establishing the Working Group). As a subsidiary body of the Sub-Commission on Prevention
of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, itself an expert advisory body to the Commission
on Human Rights, the Working Group's recommendations must be approved by both these
parent bodies before they have legal effect. Decisions with financial implications must also be
approved by ECOSOC. The current members of the Working Group are Erica-Irene Daes (Greece)
(Chairperson), Miguel Alfonso Martinez (Cuba), Judith Attach (Nigeria), Ribot Hatano (Japan),
and Volodymir Boutkevitch (Ukraine). See generally Douglas Sanders, The UN Working Group on
Indigenous Populations, 11 Hum. RTs. Q. 406 (1989).
4. Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, I.L.O. Cony. 169,
I.L.O., 76th Sess., reprinted in 28 I.L.M. 1382 (1989) [hereinafter ILO Cony. 169]. For an analysis
of the convention, see Russel L. Barsh, An Advocate's Guide to the Convention on Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples, 15 OKLA. CITr U. L. REV. 209 (1990) [hereinafter An Advocate's Guide].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hhrj7&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Indigenous Peoples in the 1990s: From Object to Subject of International Law
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