The challenges of indigenous peoples: The unfinished business of decolonization

Abstract

Over the past two decades issues regarding indigenous peoples have gained increasing international prominence. Despite the fact that indigenous issues have at last found their rightful place on the international agenda, the Commonwealth of 54 countries has yet to acknowledge and address the manifold problems facing its indigenous peoples. While there are roughly 150 million indigenous peoples living in the Commonwealth, the association has no consensus or policy as such on indigenous rights. It is left to each government to respond to indigenous people's concerns in the context of their own national policies. While a handful of member countries have policies that recognize and protect their indigenous peoples, a cursory examination of the situation of indigenous peoples across the Commonwealth reveals that indigenous peoples often suffer from policies of discrimination, exclusion and assimilation. The Commonwealth needs to come into line with contemporary international thinking on this issue and determine an explicit, comprehensive position on indigenous peoples. The author calls on Commonwealth Heads of Government to rise to this challenge by making a commitment to promote and protect the rights of its indigenous peoples at the forthcoming CHOGM in Abuja, Nigeria, in December 2003.