Abstract:
The Right to self-determination is a notion that grew out of the human rights regime post World War II. It was one of the core ideas that drove the decolonization of most of the world then colonized by European and Western imperialism. This very idea helped liberate millions of people around the globe; however, it failed to liberate indigenous peoples and communities who are still under foreign domination and who are still marginally oppressed and heavily discriminated against. Indigenous peoples are unique peoples with unique rights, and my paper will argue that the notion of self-determination does apply to them as peoples under international law. In mounting this argument I will assess various perspectives on the legitimacy of this application. I will explain why it is indeed legitimacy. In doing so I will discuss its recognition by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the ECOSOC council, the Inter-American Court and Commission on Human Rights, and the Nordic Countries of Europe. By tracing the these peoples' achievement of recognition under international law, I will illustrate how what was once seen as a wholly domestic issue became an international human rights law issue deeply rooted in the human rights regime that was built to protect all peoples from abuses. This paper will argue that it is under the Modern Custom Theory of International Customary Law (ICL) that UN Declarations can be â crystallized' into ICL, requiring they espouse a strong opinio juris and have a strong moral content. I will argue that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular Article 3, of Self-Determination has been crystallized into international customary law.
