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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH

a Dialogue hosted by

• Commonwealth Association of Indigenous Peoples (CAIP)
• Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU)
• European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR)

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COMMONWEALTH POLICY STUDIES UNIT
28 RUSSELL SQUARE, LONDON, WC1B 5DS
7 JUNE 2002
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A background note on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project
by Dr Helena Whall, Project Officer, CPSU

1. In July 1999, the CPSU jointly organised a workshop on Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. The Dialogue was initiated with the intention of discussing ways and means in which the Commonwealth of Nations, which has become a major player for human rights in the world through its commitment to the Harare Declaration (1991), and is seen as having a special potential for assisting Indigenous peoples to realise their rights, could do more for Indigenous peoples.
   
   
   
2. While many of the problems facing Indigenous peoples are the direct result of colonialism, the Commonwealth has not yet taken full responsibility for the rights of Indigenous peoples. While other major international organisations, such as the United Nations, have been working hard to define and protect Indigenous peoples’ rights and cultures, the Commonwealth has remained apparently oblivious to the situation of its most vulnerable citizens - that is about one-third of the world’s Indigenous population. There are approximately 250 million Indigenous peoples around the world and at least 150 million live in Commonwealth countries.
   
   
   
3. Indigenous peoples in the Commonwealth are frequently disempowered and subjected to discrimination with regard to jobs, education, welfare, culture, language and especially in relation to their land rights. Wherever they may live, in an industrialised country or a developing one, from the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia, to the Amerindians in Belize, from the Jummas in Bangladesh to the Innu in Canada, from the Adivasis in India to the Orang Asli in Malaysia, and from the San (Bushmen) in Southern Africa to the Ik in Uganda, Indigenous peoples are routinely marginalized and discriminated against in social, economic, cultural and political terms.
   
   
   
4. In 1979, the Commonwealth made a rare commitment to pay ‘special attention’ to ‘Indigenous minorities’ and to make ‘special provisions’ for ‘Indigenous populations’ in the Lusaka Declaration of the Commonwealth on Racism and Racial Prejudice, issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Lusaka, Zambia, 1979.
   
   
   
5. However, since 1979, Commonwealth Heads have avoided the issue of Indigenous rights in their biennial Declarations. Today, there is a great reluctance on the part of the official Commonwealth to accept its historical and moral responsibility towards Indigenous peoples.
   
   
   
6. While the Commonwealth believes firmly in fundamental human rights, as expressed in the 1971 Singapore Declaration and the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration, there is no Commonwealth consensus or policy as such on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It is left up to each Commonwealth Government to deal with Indigenous rights in the context of their national policies.
   
   
   
7. It is expected that member state policies on Indigenous rights would be consistent with the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values. However, the reality is that many of the fifty-four states in the Commonwealth do not promote and protect the rights of their Indigenous communities.
   
   
   
8. To date, the Commonwealth has no philosophical statement, which could encourage and support member states in formulating appropriate Indigenous policy at the local level. The Commonwealth remains aloof from the efforts of other international organisations like the United Nations and International Labour Organisation, when it could utilise its goodwill and educational network to co-ordinate greater understanding of Indigenous issues and responsibilities among member states. While a number of Commonwealth countries have developed individually specific policies to recognise and protect Indigenous peoples, there remains no Commonwealth-wide commitment to Indigenous groups. There is no official Commonwealth publication descriptive of the current economic, social and cultural status of Indigenous peoples in member states. There is no administrative mechanism within the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK, to channel specific enquiry, advocacy or support.
   
   
   
9. There was a consensus at the Dialogue in July 1999 that the time had come for the issue of Indigenous peoples' rights to be put firmly on the Commonwealth agenda. The Dialogue marked the beginning of an important process ensuring that the Commonwealth accepts its responsibility to Indigenous peoples.
   
   
   
10. Following the Dialogue, the Commonwealth Association of Indigenous Peoples (CAIP) was established. CAIP was given accreditation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Durban, 1999, and at the postponed CHOGM in Coolum in March 2002.
    
    
    
11. Partly on the strength of the Dialogue, in February 2001, the CPSU was awarded funding from the European Commission (EC) and the Department for International Development (DfID) for the Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project, a three year research and advocacy programme, designed to encourage the Commonwealth association to include in its human rights programme a commitment to Indigenous rights (the DfID grant was earmarked for research on the socio-economic status of Indigenous peoples specifically and is being overseen by Richard Bourne) .The Project is now in its second year.
    
    
    
12. During its initial phase, and as part of its commitment to conducting research on Indigenous rights issues in twenty of the fifty-four Commonwealth countries, the Project held two regional expert meetings in the Fiji Islands and in India. These meetings brought together Indigenous peoples and specialists from the South Pacific and from South and South East Asia respectively, to share their experiences and to network.
    
    
    
13. In October 2001, CAIP, in association with the project, organised a second Dialogue in Brisbane, Australia, as part of the Commonwealth People’s Festival.
    
    
    
14. As part of its bid to urge the Commonwealth of 54 nations to accept its responsibility to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples, the Project submitted a Memorandum to the Commonwealth Heads of Government attending the United Nations World Conference against Racism (UNWCAR), 2001, and to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Coolum, Australia, March 2002.
    
    
    
15. A set of Recommendations, drafted in consultation with Indigenous peoples and organisations represented at the meetings in the Fiji Islands and in India, and at the Dialogue in Brisbane, Australia, were submitted to the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Coolum, March 2002.
    
    
    
16. In November 2001, Richard Bourne presented the initial findings of his desk research on the socio-economic rights of Indigenous peoples in the Commonwealth in a preliminary position paper.
    
    
    
17. At the end of 2001, the Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project launched its webpage on the CPSU website: www.cpsu.org.uk
    
    
    
18. The Project has recorded a gradual increase in Commonwealth-related interest in Indigenous rights over the past year, in particular, amongst Commonwealth non-governmental bodies.
    
    
    
19. Despite the continued absence of a consensus or policy on Indigenous rights, there have recently been some welcome developments by the official Commonwealth in the field of Indigenous rights.
    
    
    
20. In a recent publication by the Commonwealth Secretariat, ‘National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI): Best Practice’, 2001, the Secretariat recognised that it needed to ‘work to prevent their [Indigenous peoples’] social, political and economic marginalisation’.
    
    
    
21. In the 13th Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting Final Communiqué, issued in New Zealand, 25th-29th November, 2001, Commonwealth Health Ministers made a significant commitment to protecting the ‘intellectual property rights of Indigenous traditional healers’.
    
    
    
22. While the official Commonwealth remains reluctant to adopt a Commonwealth wide commitment to Indigenous rights, Commonwealth Non-Governmental bodies, by contrast, have seen the Commonwealth as having a special potential for assisting Indigenous peoples to realise their rights.
    
    
    
23. In CHRI’s Millennium Report, ‘Human Rights and Poverty Eradication - A Talisman for the Commonwealth’, 2001, the CHRI urged the Commonwealth to recognise and protect Indigenous rights. It reads:
    
    
    Wherever they live…indigenous peoples encounter discrimination, intolerance and prejudice. They must struggle for both their survival and their identity.
    
    
    
24. Paragraph 12 of the Commonwealth People’s Communiqué, issued at the Commonwealth People’s Festival, in Brisbane, Australia, October 2001, refers directly to the need for the Commonwealth nations to recognise and address the rights of Indigenous peoples:
    
    
    The Commonwealth must recognise and address the rights of its indigenous peoples. It is no longer acceptable to dismiss indigenous issues as the domain of nation states. The Commonwealth is lagging behind other international fora and needs to bring itself up to date on this issue.
    
    
    
25. Commonwealth Non-Governmental Organisations made a further commitment to the protection of Indigenous rights in ‘A New Vision for the Commonwealth - A report for the Coolum Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting’. Under the section on ‘Human Rights’, paragraphs 31 and 32 read:
    
    
    Another priority for the [Human Rights] Commissioner should be indigenous rights. Until now these have received less attention from the Commonwealth than from other major international organisations such as the ILO. About one-third of the world’s indigenous peoples are in the Commonwealth, which must have an explicit position. Indigenous and tribal peoples are the earliest inhabitants of many of our 54 states.
    
    
    No support for indigenous rights was included in the Harare Declaration, yet there exist in the Commonwealth certain commonalities. A welcome step in 1999 was the formation of a Commonwealth Association of Indigenous Peoples, which was accredited to the Durban CHOGM.
    
    
    
26. Number 31 of the 43 Recommendations urges the Commonwealth to:
    
    
    pay greater attention to the rights of indigenous peoples.
    
    
    
27. Despite these modest developments, the project is still a long way from achieving its goal of encouraging the Commonwealth association to put Indigenous rights on its human rights agenda.
    
    
    
28. During its second phase (2002-2003), the project will continue to carry out research on Indigenous rights issues in the Commonwealth and to lobby the Commonwealth association to address the needs of its Indigenous peoples.
    
    
    
29. The project will hold two more regional expert meetings, one in South Africa in October 2002, and one in Guyana in June 2003. These meetings will bring together Indigenous peoples and specialists from Africa and the Caribbean and the Americas respectively.
    
    
    
30. The project will also submit a Memorandum to the Commonwealth Heads of Government attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg, 2002, and to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2003.
    
    
    
31. In March 2003, Richard Bourne will organise an international meeting at the CPSU, focusing on the socio-economic status of Indigenous peoples in the Commonwealth.
    
    
    
32. The end of the project will be marked by the publication of an edited volume of the papers presented at the four regional expert meetings, entitled ‘Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth’. This publication, describing the contemporary socio-economic, legal and cultural status of Indigenous peoples in twenty Commonwealth countries, will provide a much needed resource for the Commonwealth association and a crucial advocacy tool to be used by defenders of Indigenous rights in the Commonwealth in the future.

June 2002

Helena Whall, CPSU
tel: 020 7862 8846
email: hwhall@sas.ac.uk

related links

• CERD and Indigenous peoples: A case study in Australia
  A presentation by Geoff Clark, Chairman, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
• Statement on Behalf of the High Commission for Human Rights
  Johno Scott, Indigenous Human Rights Officer, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU)
  • CPSU Memorandum to the Commonwealth Heads of Government attending CHOGM, Brisbane, Australia, 6-9 October 2001
    Addendum, Coolum, Australia, 2-5th March, 2002
• Indigenous groups accuse Govt of conspiracy at CHOGM
  Indigenous groups from Commonwealth countries claim the Australian Government has conspired to keep their issues from being discussed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
• More Commonwealth information and links
• United Nations Draft Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People (An Analysis of the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can be found at ATSIC)
• International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples 1994-2003
• The Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples
• The Special Rapporteur on Indigenous issues
• The Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

Further information: human rights issues page - includes news index and external links

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