NationStates Jolt Archive

Worth a recycle methinks? It settled in quite nicely, nobody really hated it outright (as far as I know anyway!)

I'll paste the original into the bottom of this post, but I'd take the time to invite some feedback from anyone and everyone to see if there is room for improvement, probably try and track the original discussion topic back in the day.

Interestingly(?) the RL UN adopted a non-binding resolution (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/drip.html) on this very subject in September 2007, which is a lot more complete and rambling. I would prefer to avoid drawing too much on this resolution ad verbatim, and obviously RL does not equal NS.

Also worth being noting is that the original was very close to the character limit of proposals, so if anything is going to be added, something is going to need to be taken away!

Thanks for your time.Rights of indigenous peoples
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.
Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Hirota

Description: Determined that the UN has a role to play in promoting the rights of indigenous peoples

Affirming that indigenous peoples are equal in rights to all peoples, recognizing the rights of all peoples to be different, to be free from discrimination

Concerned indigenous peoples have been deprived of human rights & fundamental freedoms

Recognizing the need to respect & promote the rights of indigenous peoples, notably the rights to territories & resources, which stem from political, economic & social structures

Recognizing that indigenous peoples have the right to determine relationships with States in a spirit of coexistence & respect

Proclaims the following:

§1 Defines Indigenous peoples as the descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a state wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived from other parts of the world, overcame & reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial situation; who now live more in conformity with their social, economic and cultural customs & traditions than with the institutions of the country of which they now form a part, under State structure which incorporates the national, social & cultural characteristics of other segments of the majority population

§2 Indigenous peoples are free & equal to other peoples in dignity & rights, have the right to be free from discrimination

§3 Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain & strengthen their economic, social & cultural characteristics, while retaining the right to take part in the political, fiscal, social & cultural life of the State

§4 Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace & security as distinct peoples and to guarantees against genocide & acts of violence, including the removal of minors from families & communities under any pretext

§5 Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain & develop their distinct identities & characteristics, including the right to be identified as indigenous and to be known as such

§6 Indigenous peoples shall not be forced from their lands or territories, no relocation shall occur without free & informed consent of the indigenous peoples and agreement on just & fair recompense

§7 Indigenous peoples have the right to protection & safety in times of conflict

§8 Indigenous peoples have the right to practice cultural traditions & customs, the right to maintain, protect & develop the past, present & future expression of their cultures, such as archaeological & historical sites, designs, ceremonies & technologies

§9 Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use & develop histories, languages, traditions, philosophies, writing systems & literatures, to designate and retain their own names for places & persons

§10 Indigenous children have the right to all levels & forums of education, and if desired, educational institutions should develop curriculum suitable to the needs & consistent with their culture

§11 Indigenous peoples have the right to have the dignity & diversity of cultures, traditions & aspirations shown in education & public information

§12 Indigenous peoples divided by national borders, have the right to maintain & develop cross border relations & cooperation, for spiritual, cultural, economic and social purposes

§13 States shall take effective steps, in discussion with indigenous peoples concerned, to give effect to this Resolution

Votes For: 12,699
Votes Against: 5,088
Implemented: Sat Jan 22 2005

If this were to be resubmitted, it would need to move categories.

Education and Creativity / Cultural Heritage didn't exist at the time, and I suspect would be a much better fit. Would probably require some rewriting ... which I see as a good thing.

Let's start fresh. Let's make all new mistakes.
I think I'm going to be using this phrase a lot for a while.

If this were to be resubmitted, it would need to move categories.

Education and Creativity / Cultural Heritage didn't exist at the time, and I suspect would be a much better fit. Would probably require some rewriting ... which I see as a good thing.


I think I'm going to be using this phrase a lot for a while.I did want to avoid just copy/paste into a new proposal - I imagine there will be a few proposals which are exactly that.

Rest assured I'll try and make this different to it's previous incarnation somehow. Probably look at the original complaints and see if they can be worked on.

By the way, I'm now going to claim the RL UN copied my resolution. :p

Seigfried nodded as he finished reading the proposal. "We agreed with it when it was an UN resolution, and Catawaba supports it again into the WA."

The Catawaban glanced over towards another delegate. "I would question why the delegate from Frisbeeteria sees this as a Educational/Creative issue? The entire proposal seeks to affirm the rights of indigenous populations. It affirms rights to their cultural creativity and education as according to their cultural norms so as to propogate their cultural identity...however, it does quite a bit more that does not fall under the fields of education or creativity."

I would honestly be inclined to strip out a lot of the rights elements and concentrate on the cultural ones. While I fully acknowledge that indigenous peoples have historically been subjected to oppression and discrimination, if the UN passes human rights proposals it should do so, as your own proposal indeed says, on the basis that all people are equal. Thus, for example, Article 7 is surely something that should apply to everyone, not just indigenous peoples. Hence it might be better to allow the UN to pass key human rights laws, while working on this as a principally cultural issue.

For us, the key elements would be:
- language
- cultural sites
- education
- lands.

In the latter case, is anything to be done about repossessing or compensating those previously dispossessed?

You would also do well, I imagine, to at least work up a response to the inevitable question about, for example, FGM. And perhaps there could be a clause about 'the rights recognised by this proposal extend only so far as is commensurate with an equal recognition of rights for other peoples'.

-- Samantha Benson
Congressional Liaison, Department of Confusion & Uncertainty
Quintessence of Dust, Delegate of Wysteria

I would honestly be inclined to strip out a lot of the rights elements and concentrate on the cultural ones.A lot of the rights-based legislation were there to avoid the inevitable illegality of a category violation - I absolutely agree with your observations - indeed a rights-based approach on this proposal in the modern day might cause issues if it was submitted under cultural heritage.

That's therefore going to require a rewrite of every article which starts off "Indigenous peoples have the right to..." which I am working on at the moment as time permits.