The International Labour Organization and Its Contribution to the Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

SummaryFrom its very inception, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been a pioneer in addressing indigenous peoples’ issues, albeit initially from a culturally biased, integrationist perspective. Its contributions have progressed from the preparation of studies on the working conditions of indigenous peoples in the 1920s, to the elaboration of recommendations and conventions on indigenous labour rights in the early 1940s and 1950s, and most recently to the adoption of legally binding instruments recognizing a broader range of indigenous rights, such as those pertaining to land and resources, which are at the top of indigenous peoples’ agendas. This article reviews and assesses these developments with a particular focus on ILO Convention nos. 107 (1957) and 169 (1989). The author concludes that, setting aside its initially assimilationist orientation, the ILO has made invaluable contributions in partial satisfaction of indigenous demands and has succeeded in establishing a solid floor of basic, minimum prerequisites for the safeguarding of the dignity and rights of these most disadvantaged, both historically and presently, peoples.