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Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project...

Updated and Endorsed Recommendations to CHOGM 2003:*

These Recommendations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, 2003, emerge from Indigenous consultations in the Commonwealth, coordinated by the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU), during 2001-2002, as part of the Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project.

The Unit seeks to encourage Commonwealth member states to:

  • Recognise that Indigenous peoples have rights that need to be protected and that Indigenous rights must be an integral part of any serious programme for the realisation of human rights;
  • Recognise Indigenous peoples as ‘peoples’ with the right to determine their own future themselves, a future free from discrimination on the basis of race and one where all peoples are equal. In this context, they should support the right of all peoples, including Indigenous peoples to self-determination;
  • Acknowledge responsibility for the colonisation process and its impact on Indigenous peoples;
  • Accept responsibility to take specific action to recognise and respect Indigenous peoples’ rights and to have this reflected in the forthcoming Commonwealth Declaration; such as:
    • Establishing an Indigenous Advocacy Unit within the Commonwealth Secretariat, to channel specific enquiry, advocacy or support;
    • Establishing an Expert Working Group on Indigenous Peoples to report to future CHOGMs on current needs and possible future action;
    • Inaugurating a High Commissioner for Human Rights, who would include in their mandate the issue of Indigenous peoples’ rights in the Commonwealth;
  • To make a commitment to review national and international policies that adversely affect the rights of Indigenous peoples, such as:
    • Recognising the need to protect Indigenous peoples’ land ownership rights;
    • Noting the requirements of existing international standards, particularly the ICERD General Recommendation XX111 and ILO Convention No. 169, that free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples be obtained in all matters of development that affect them;
    • Supporting the principle that states and intergovernmental organisations, such as the Commonwealth, the World Bank, the IMF, regional banks, the WTO, and transnational organisatons, should together with Indigenous peoples review the impacts of their laws, policies and programmes with the goal of revising those that are incompatible with protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples, including the right to development;
    • Supporting the principle that states, with the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples, provide effective remedies, recourses, redress and other measures for the loss and destruction of Indigenous lands, natural resources, and environment, resulting from exploration and exploitation and extractive activities and programmes;
  • Support policies that assist Indigenous advancement, such as:
    • Supporting a reference in the forthcoming Commonwealth Declaration calling on Commonwealth Governments to conclude their negotiations on the draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by 2004 and adopt the Declaration as it is currently drafted;
    • Effectively implementing, with the necessary funding and personnel, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;
    • Incorporating the Declaration and Plan of Action from the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Durban, South Africa, September 2001, into the forthcoming Commonwealth Declaration, as they apply to Indigenous peoples, and in so far as they are consistent with the draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The CPSU calls on Commonwealth member states to:

  • incorporate the agreements in the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of Action into the forthcoming Commonwealth Declaration, as they apply to Indigenous peoples, and in so far as they are consistent with the draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
  • acknowledge Paragraph 25 of the United Nations WSSD Declaration and to follow-up on the Plan of Action, as it relates to Indigenous peoples;
  • negotiate effectively, and implement, Chapter 26 of Agenda 21 and Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity;
  • support Indigenous peoples' demand for a World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development as a culmination to the UN Decade for Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004), and as a concrete follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development;
  • support regional efforts to promote and protect Indigenous rights such as the Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the African Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous People/Communities.

It is important that this CHOGM breaks new ground with regard to Indigenous rights and that the Abuja Commonwealth Declaration 2003, acknowledges the need to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples, and that Commonwealth leaders follow up with further commitments.


*These recommendations were endorsed at the Dialogue on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth, held at Emmanuel College, University of Queensland, on October 3rd, 2001, organised by the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU), in association with the University of Queensland; at the Forum of Indigenous Peoples in the Commonwealth, held at Brisbane City Hall, on October 4th, 2001, sponsored by the Commonwealth Association of Indigenous Peoples (CAIP); at the South Pacific Regional Expert Meeting on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth, held in Nadi, Fiji Islands, on October 15th-16th, 2001, organised by the CPSU; at the South and Southeast Asia Regional Expert Meeting on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth, held in New Delhi, India, on March 11th-13th, 2002, organised by the CPSU in association with the Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (ICITP); and at the Africa Regional Expert Meeting on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth, held in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 16th-18th, 2002, organised by the CPSU in association with the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC).

October 2002.