Description

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognises international norms and evolving human rights standards pertaining to Indigenous peoples. While some of the rights elaborated in the text do not constitute accepted legal standards, the genesis of the Declaration was the need to arrest the protection gap that exists in international human rights law in relation to Indigenous peoples. Australia was one of four states that voted against the Declaration in the General Assembly on 13 September 2007. This article provides an overview of the Declaration’s passage through the United Nations and summarises aspects of the polemical debates that rendered the draft text controversial. The primary focus is on the main arguments employed by states and Indigenous people regarding procedure, the right to self-determination and the concept of collective rights. In concluding, the paper considers the future of the Declaration internationally and domestically.