Geneva Declaration
The horror of the Holocaust spurred the United Nations to issue its Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. These initiatives, along with the UN’s 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, served as the backdrop for the reassertion of Native rights in the context of international law. Just as civil rights presented opportunities and challenges, so too did a human rights framework that did not take into account the particular status and concerns of indigenous peoples. Indeed, like the League of Nations before it, the United Nations did not recognize indigenous peoples as nation states.19 In 1977 indigenous representatives attending the International Non-Governmental Organizations Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas held in Geneva, Switzerland, inaugurated the movement for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by adopting the following statement. Consider to what extent this document echoes the sentiments of Lili‘uokalani, Deskaheh, and the other activists featured in chapter 1.
Having considered the problems relating to the activities of the United Nations for the promotion and encouragement of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international covenants have individuals as their primary concern, and
Recognizing that individuals are the foundation of cultures, societies, and nations, and
Whereas, it is a fundamental right of any individual to practice and perpetuate the cultures, societies and nations into which they are born, and
Recognizing that conditions are imposed upon peoples that suppress, deny or destroy the culture, societies or nations in which they believe or of which they are members,
Be it affirmed that,
Indigenous peoples shall be accorded recognition as nations, and proper subjects of international law, provided the people concerned desire to be recognized as a nation and meet the fundamental requirements of nationhood, namely:
a. Having a permanent population
b. Having a defined territory
c. Having a government
d. Having the ability to enter into relations with other states
Indigenous groups not meeting the requirements of nationhood are hereby declared to be subjects of international law and are entitled to the protection of this Declaration, provided they are identifiable groups having bonds of language, heritage, tradition, or other common identity.
No indigenous nation or group shall be deemed to have fewer rights, or lesser status for the sole reason that the nation or group has not entered into recorded treaties or agreements with any state.
Indigenous nations or groups shall be accorded such degree of independence as they may desire in accordance with international law.
Treaties and other agreements entered into by indigenous nations or groups with other states, whether denominated as treaties or otherwise, shall be recognized and applied in the same manner and according to the same international laws and principles as the treaties and agreements entered into by other states.
Treaties and agreements made with indigenous nations or groups shall not be subject to unilateral abrogation. In no event may the municipal laws of any state serve as a defense to the failure to adhere to and perform the terms of treaties and agreements made with indigenous nations or groups. Nor shall any state refuse to recognize and adhere to treaties or other agreements due to changed circumstances where the change in circumstances has been substantially caused by the state asserting that such change has occurred.
No state shall assert or claim to exercise any right of jurisdiction over any indigenous nation or group or the territory of such indigenous nation or group unless pursuant to a valid treaty or other agreement freely made with the lawful representatives of the indigenous nation or group concerned. All actions on the part of any state which derogate from the indigenous nations’ or groups’ right to exercise self-determination shall be the proper concern of existing international bodies.
No state shall claim or retain, by right of discovery or otherwise, the territories of any indigenous nation or group, except such lands as may have been lawfully acquired by valid treaty or other cessation freely made.
All states in the Western Hemisphere shall establish through negotiations or other appropriate means a procedure for the binding settlement of disputes, claims, or other matters relating to indigenous nations or groups. Such procedures shall be mutually acceptable to the parties, fundamentally fair, and consistent with international law. All procedures presently in existence which do not have the endorsement of the indigenous nations or groups concerned, shall be ended, and new procedures shall be instituted consistent with this Declaration.
It shall be unlawful for any state to take or permit any action or course of conduct with respect to an indigenous nation or group which will directly or indirectly result in the destruction or disintegration of such indigenous nation or group or otherwise threaten the national or cultural integrity of such nation or group, including, but not limited to, the imposition and support of illegitimate governments and the introduction of non-indigenous religions to indigenous peoples by non-indigenous missionaries.
It shall be unlawful for any state to make or permit any action or course of conduct with respect to the territories of an indigenous nation or group which will directly or indirectly result in the destruction or deterioration of an indigenous nation or group through the effects of pollution of earth, air, water, or which in any way depletes, displaces or destroys any natural resource or other resources under the domination of, or vital to the livelihood of an indigenous nation or group.
No state, through legislation, regulation, or other means, shall take actions that interfere with the sovereign power of an indigenous nation or group to determine its own membership.
All of the rights and obligations declared herein shall be in addition to all rights and obligations existing under international law.