Indigenous Rights to Development, Socio-Economic Rights, and Rights for Groups with Vulnerabilities: Articles 20 – 22, 24 and 44

Abstract

This chapter is focused on the challenges and implications of Articles 20(1), 21, 22, 24, and 44 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP; the Declaration). These provisions are centered on: the economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights of indigenous peoples, (with a particular focus on the right to health); their right to development; the rights of those indigenous individuals and groups who are particularly vulnerable, including women and children, and again with a particular focus on women’s rights to be free from violence. The provisions highlight the evolving place of indigenous rights within the overall framework of international law and international human rights.

The chapter begins, in Part IA, by providing a short summary of the content of the principles. Part IB identifies the relevance and importance of the Articles, drawing attention to the legal and policy framework within which their legal and broader political meaning must be understood. This context includes the longstanding issues of poverty and marginalization that remain entrenched in many indigenous communities, and the emerging architecture of international poverty law that is recently developing through more robust understandings of the intersections between economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development, and the rights of specific vulnerable groups. This architecture includes relevant provisions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; previously known as the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs) which were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Part II then analyses the pre-existing legal standards on economic social and cultural rights, the right to development, and rights for vulnerable groups. We then turn, in Part III, to the drafting history of the UNDRIP provisions discussed here, in order to illuminate better the meaning of the final provisions. Part IV returns to the final text of the provisions, and, proceeding issue by issue, outlines their position within, or contribution to, the legal landscape on indigenous and human rights. Finally, Part V concludes the chapter’s analysis.

Keywords: UNDRIP, international poverty law, indigenous rights, economic social and cultural rights, right to health, right to development, vulnerability, violence against women, sustainable development

JEL Classification: K, K33