Indigenous "Sovereignty" and International Law

The indigenous community greeted the United Nations' decision to officially proclaim 1993 as the "International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples" rather warily. Fourteen years later the United Nations created the Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

The purpose of this group was to formally address global indigenous issues. The gain has been more than an international symbolic response to a quest for cultural, social, economic, and political autonomy. The focus should be more on the human rights using international law to gain this perspective of a normative world development concept.

To gain a better understanding of this concept read:

• Indigenous "Sovereignty" and International Law: Revised Strategies for Pursuing "Self-Determination". Human Rights Quarterly - Volume 17, Number 2, May 1995, pp. 343-365
• Researching Indigenous People's Rights Under International Law