Part II Group Identity, Self-Determination, and Relations with States, Ch.7 Equality and Non-Discrimination in the UNDRIP: Articles 2, 6, and 7(1)

Abstract

This chapter analyses the rights to equality and non-discrimination in Articles 2, 6, and 7(1). The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) covers the full spectrum of rights contained in international and regional instruments, adapted to the circumstances of indigenous peoples. Because the UNDRIP has an exceptionally wide substantive scope, debates about equality and non-discrimination were a central part of the negotiations leading to its adoption. Where provisions of the UNDRIP were thought to deviate from rights already expressed in international law, they were perceived in some states to compromise the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination that underpin existing human rights' instruments. In this way, the extensive discussions about equality and indigeneity that characterized the development of UNDRIP are also debates about the continuity and coherency of international human rights' law.