MODULE 10

CONCLUSION

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Key Concepts:
self-determination
sovereignty
indigenous peoples
World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP)
The International Decade of the World's Indigenous People
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Intellectual Property Rights
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Reading Assignment, Text: Chapter 12, "Conclusion," pp. 417-426

Indigenous people define self-determination as a return to full local political, economic, and cultural autonomy. This does not necessarily mean isolation from the larger, more technologically developed world, but rather that indigenous peoples are allowed to control affairs on their own terms within their own territories.

The relationship between the United States government and Indian tribes is unlike that between the government and any other group in the United States. Indian tribes are sovereigns which makes the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States a government-to-government relationship. However, Indian tribes are limited sovereigns because they do not retain those powers of sovereignty that have been removed by treaty, federal law, or by natural implication as a result of their dependent status.

Often overlooked in discussions of human rights is the distinction between ethnic minorities (who no longer lived in their homeland), and indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of a region who, by virtue of their aboriginal ties to the land on which they live, have an inherent right to ownership and control over the land and resources of their heritage. Many governments, especially those of newly independent countries, fear that tribal loyalties may take precedence over national loyalties, and, in an effort to undermine their legitimate claims to local autonomy, designate tribal peoples as "national" or "ethnic" minorities when they are really indigenous peoples.

Although indigenous peoples were never passive victims of imperialist expansion, today they are mobilizing politically on a much larger scale, with regional, national, and international organizations. The rapid dissemination of information through the electronic mass media has also made it increasingly difficult for countries to hide human rights violations. Representatives of indigenous organizations from 19 countries attended the first general assembly of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in 1975. The WCIP has the official status as a nongovernmental organization of the United Nations and has since expanded the scope of its organization to include more indigenous groups in various parts of the world. When the United Nations declared 1995-2004 to be the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, it approved a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a complex document with 45 articles endorsing the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and control over territory and resources, and condemning all forms of ethnocide (the destruction of a culture) and genocide (the destruction of a people) against them.