Negotiation and State Action

Abstract

Abstract In general, an integral part of international human rights law is the duty of states to secure enjoyment of human rights and to provide remedies where the rights are violated. This duty relates to the substantial corpus of international law on the responsibility of states in regard to unlawful acts and omissions. It is implicit, if not express, in human rights treaties and is similarly implicit in discernible customary human rights law. Thus, the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to have access to and prompt decision through mutually acceptable and fair procedures for the resolution of conflicts and disputes with States, as well as to effective remedies for all infringements of their individual and collective rights.”The duty to secure enjoyment of human rights is heightened in the context of indigenous peoples and extends beyond states to the international community at large. With increased intensity over the last several years, the international community has maintained indigenous peoples as special subjects of concern and sought cooperatively to secure their rights and well-being. The United Nations, the Organization of American States, the International Labour Organisation, and other international insituations have acknowledged the need for special programs for indigenous peoples at both the state and global levels. In his statement to the United Nations General Assembly at the inauguration of the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali emphasized that “[t]he commitment of the United Nations’ system to the cause of indigenous people is long-standing. It goes back to a time before the creation of the United Nations itself.” Indigenous peoples are thus subjects of a special duty of care on the part of the international community, akin to the “sacred trust” articulated in the United Nations Charter with regard to the peoples of non-self-governing territories.