The Struggles Indigenous Peoples Face to Obtain Justice

1571 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: challenges face by indigenous people

There are over 5000 Indigenous communities in over 70 different countries. They are defined collectively under the term Indigenous Peoples (IPs) by the Cobo Report but this term also allows for their diversity. They face numerous legal issues in attempting to achieve their rights, so they have collectively united to access the remedies available to them to achieve justice.

Broad characteristics to define them are highlighted in the Mick Dodson report and include: connection with territory that pre dates invasion, social and cultural traditions such as affinity with the land and colonisation, resistance and resurgence.

The issues facing IPs is the struggle to collectively achieve four rights which are recognised under in international law. Self identification is the ability for a group to choose if that person is a member of that group and for an individual to identify themselves as belonging to that group. The problems with achieving this right is demonstrated in the 2002 Good Weekend Article "A white shade of Black" which highlighted a court case in Tasmania to judge who could vote in ATSIC elections.

Cultural integrity is the right of IPs to practice and preserve cultural traditions such as affinity with the land while also allowing them to access modem innovations. This is seen through the Inuit people of where who maintain a traditional life but use snow mobiles for hunting. Self determination is described by the United Nations Charter as the ability to "freely pursue their economic, social and political development". However the term "peoples" refers to post WWII decolonisation and there are questions as to whether it can apply to IPs.

Sovereignty is the ability of a people to form a nation-state, which has c...

... middle of paper ...

...002 shows how ineffective intergovernmental organisations are for IPs issues.

East Timor gained sovereignty after decades of colonisations in March 2002.

It can be seen to be fairly ineffective due to resource efficiency as it took 25 years. Also, it needed human rights abuses to occur before UN decided to send an INTERFET force under Australia. The documentary "A birth of a nation" also highlights that political will from Australia to act only came after economic interest in the North West oil shelf.

Therefore it can be seen that the remedies available to IPs to gain their rights and save their legal issues in only effective when political will of nation states allows international law to be effective in their own states. Accessibility to UN is also a problem. So sovereignty is seen as the ability to remedy IPs issues and also as the obstacle to saving them.

Show More
Related

  • Argument Against Native Sovereignty in Canda

    2281 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first interpretation of sovereignty that is examined by Flanagan views sovereignty in an international sense. Sovereignty for these leaders means gaining more international power and acceptance. Flanagan argues that major international bodies such as the United Nations will be accepting such an attempt at sovereignty (71). As the second largest country in the world the geographical constraints on uniting Aboriginal people living across the country plays a significant factor. Flanagan also points to the diversity within this group; there are over six hundred bands across the ten provinces in Canada in more than 2,200 reserves. Compounding the geographical constraints facing their unity, Aboriginal bands in Canada often differ from each other significantly in their culture including language religion/customs (Flanagan 71). Many Aboriginal people now choose to live off reserve which further complicates their unity (Flanagan 73). Flanagan highlights that as many small bodies they would not be able to survive in the competition of the international community. Current international governance is extremely complex and Flanagan argues it is unlikely for poor isolated people to succeed (73). One united aboriginal voice is also highly unlikely according to Flanagan; having been freed of one power most bands would not choose to become conne...

    Read More

  • The Effectiveness of the Law in Achieving Justice for Indigenous People

    3098 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Effectiveness of the Law in Achieving Justice for Indigenous People In relation to Australia, the term ‘Indigenous peoples’ refers to two distinct cultures of people who inhabited the land prior to European settlement – The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. This population declined dramatically over the 19th and early 20th century due to the introduction of new diseases from European settlement, Government policies of dispersal and dispossession, the era of protection, assimilation and integration causing a cultural disruption and disintegration of the Indigenous peoples. In the 20th century the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples land rights and human rights have been at the forefront of Global Issues where the International community has sought to address the issues and ratify Human Rights and Land Rights for Indigenous People as a legitimate subject to be implemented into international law and the domestic law of member states such as Australia. To evaluate the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice for Indigenous Australians we must look at the Australian Legal System, and the extent to which it addresses it’s obligations to International Law in relation to Australia’s

    Read More

  • Injustices Inflicted on the First Nation People of Canada

    2727 Words  | 6 Pages

    Although the Canadian government has done a great deal to repair the injustices inflicted on the First Nations people of Canada, legislation is no where near where it needs to be to ensure future protection of aboriginal rights in the nation. An examination of the documents that comprise the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms reveal that there is very little in the supreme legal documents of the nation that protect aboriginal rights. When compared with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples it is clear that the Canadian Constitution does not acknowledge numerous provisions regarding indigenous people that the UN resolution has included. The most important of these provisions is the explicit recognition of First Nations rights to their traditional lands, which have a deep societal meaning for aboriginal groups. Several issues must be discussed to understand the complex and intimate relationship all aboriginal societies have with the earth. Exploration into the effects that the absence of these rights has had the Cree of the Eastern James Bay area, will provide a more thorough understanding of the depth of the issue. Overall, the unique cultural relationship First Nations people of Canada have with Mother Earth needs to be incorporated into the documents of the Canadian Constitution to ensure the preservation and protection of Canadian First Nations cultural and heritage rights.s

    Read More

  • Aboriginal Self Government and the Canadian Justice System

    2238 Words  | 5 Pages

    Systems: The canadian Future in light of the American Past.” Ontario native Council on Justice. Toronto, Ontario.

    Read More

  • Indigenous Identity Essay

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is Identity? Is it what you think of yourself? Is it how others see you? Or maybe it is the way you present yourself. Stories like “Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth , “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and “Indigenous Identity: What is it, and Who Really has it?” by Hilary N. Weaver give us a few examples of identity based on each one of the authors viewpoints. Both “Ain’t I a Woman?” and “The Story of an Hour”, focus on how women were viewed and placed in society before and during the suffrage movement. “The Lottery” opens our eyes to the identity issue of blindly following tradition. The author of the story “Indigenous Identity: What is it, and Who Really has it?” tells us that identity is based on; race, gender, social status, and the knowledge of one’s heritage.

    Read More

  • The Canadian Justice System V.s. Aboriginal People

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    trial of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba.

    Read More

  • Aboriginal Self Government

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    For Status Indians various activities have expanded nearby control under the Indian Act and permitted the arrangement of new administrative structures to supplant that act. On the other hand, numerous First Nations keep up that any type of assigned power is conflicting with an intrinsic right of self-government. Inuit have sought after self-government through open government courses of action in the north in conjunction with area claims, while the Métis have progressed different cases for area and self-government. Native people groups have additionally drawn on the privilege of self-determination and worldwide law to bolster their cases. The creating assemblage of global law on human rights has concentrated much consideration, as of late, on the privilege to self-determination as it applies to Aboriginal people groups. Native associations have contended that the characteristic right of self-government is a part of the privilege of self-determination perceived in the United Nations Charter and in the Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous

    Read More

  • The Continued Oppression of Native American Communities

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States Government was founded on the basis that it would protect the rights and liberties of every American citizen. The Equal Protection Clause, a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provides that “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Yet for hundreds of years, the US government and society have distressed the Native American people through broken treaties, removal policies, and attempts of assimilation. From the Trail of Tears in the 1830s to the Termination Policy in 1953, the continued oppression of American Indian communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension and gave the native peoples a reason to fight back. In 1968, Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, and Russell Means founded the American Indian Movement to address issues concerning the Native American community and tackle the situation and position of Native Americans in society. Over the next few decades, the movement led to a series of radical protests, which were designed to raise awareness to the American Indians’ issues and to pressure the federal government to act on their behalf. After all of the unfair and unjust policies enacted by the U.S. government and society, all of the American Indian Movement’s actions can be justified as legitimate reactions to the United States’ democratic society that had promised to respect and protect their people and had failed to do so.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Colonization on the Native Americans

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many Native groups, because they were nomadic, didn't see land as belonging to one person. The idea that someone could come in, claim a piece of land and ban them f...

    Read More

  • Native American Spirituality And Spirituality

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Indigenous people around the world have been affected by colonization, Christianization, and the advancement of technologies and development more than any other group. This has caused untold harm as Native peoples have suffered staggering rates of poverty, violence, and suicide. The Native people have not given up. Many indigenous people from tribes around the world are standing up and saying “no more”. They are reclaiming their heritage, their language, traditions, and spirituality and sharing it with the world to encourage a healthier, more balanced way of being.

    Read More

  • Social Determinants Of Justice For Aboriginal People

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the video “Aboriginal Peoples -- It's time”, the main topic of the video is advocating for equity and justice for the aboriginal people. Aboriginal people is a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. The Canadian constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal peoples: Indians (commonly referred to as First Nations), Métis and Inuit. These are three distinct peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. More than 1.4 million people in Canada identify themselves as an Aboriginal person, according to the 2011

    Read More

  • Native American Sovereignty Research Paper

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    The term sovereignty is a broad topic that has many different definitions. The most common definition is a nation or groups ability or right to govern themselves. Sovereignty is a term and idea that goes hand in hand with Native Americans throughout history. Native American tribes were once considered sovereign nation until shortly after the arrival of European settlers. Native Americans lost their sovereignty due to the forceful assimilation into white culture by European settlers. The problem with this is that Native Americans have been in North American, acting as self-governing groups, since the beginning days. What sets Native Americans apart from other “minority groups” is that they have existed as self-governing peoples and are more than a group

    Read More

  • Iks by Lewis Thomas

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the “Iks” by Lewis Thomas, the author describes how a small tribe of hunters from northern Uganda called the Iks tries to survive after being forced by the government to give up their homes and living area and move to a poor hills and become farmers. Society is extremely harsh towards the Iks and this causes them to rebel and become abnormal. The Iks were a bunch of selfish people who only cared about themselves, left elders to starve and die, and did not cared about the children. They didn’t share things with each other and they find joy in the other’s misfortunes. Anthropologist were sent to observe the Iks, an anthropologist described the Iks to be ill- mannered fashion. Over the two years he had studied there, he was constantly being harassed and disgraced. After he had published his book, he wrote how he despised the Iks. Thomas then went on to say that he now sees similar behaviors implying on nations and cities compared to the Iks making points saying that the Iks share common characteristics of greed, cruezl, and selfish just like different nations fighting against each other.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Country And Story

    1417 Words  | 3 Pages

    Indigenous people have identified themselves with country; they believe that they and the land are “one”, and that it is lived in and lived with. Indigenous people personify country as if it were a person, as something that connects itself to the land, people and earth, being able to give and receive life (Bird Rose, D. 1996). Country is sacred and interconnected within the indigenous community,

    Read More

  • Essay On Indigenous Knowledge

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be broadly defined as the knowledge and skills that an indigenous (local) community accumulates over generations of living in a particular environment. IK is unique to given cultures, localities and societies and is acquired through daily experience. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. Because IK is based on, and is deeply embedded in local experience and historic reality, it is therefore unique to that specific culture; it also plays an important role in defining the identity of the community. Similarly, since IK has developed over the centuries of experimentation on how to adapt to local conditions. That is Indigenous ways of knowing informs their ways of being. Accordingly IK is integrated and driven from multiple sources; traditional teachings, empirical observations and revelations handed down generations. Under IK, language, gestures and cultural codes are in harmony. Similarly, language, symbols and family structure are interrelated. For example, First Nation had a

    Read More

More about The Struggles Indigenous Peoples Face to Obtain Justice

Open Document