Castan, Melissa --- "DRIP Feed: The Slow Reconstruction of Self-determination for Indigenous Peoples" [2010] ELECD 208; in Joseph, Sarah; McBeth, Adam (eds), "Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law

Editor(s): Joseph, Sarah; McBeth, Adam

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203687

Section: Chapter 19

Section Title: DRIP Feed: The Slow Reconstruction of Self-determination for Indigenous Peoples

Author(s): Castan, Melissa

Number of pages: 20

Extract:

19. DRIP feed: the slow reconstruction of self-
determination for Indigenous peoples
Melissa Castan*



1 Introduction
After centuries of wavering between benign neglect and outright hostility, the
international arena, and in particular the institution of the United Nations, has
now turned its attention to the needs and desires of Indigenous peoples. Three
decades of increasing interest in Indigenous peoples, their issues, needs and
human rights, have culminated in the adoption of the Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (`the Declaration' or `DRIP') by the United
Nations General Assembly in late 2007.1 The adoption of the Declaration is
seen by many as a fundamental affirmation of the identity and protection of
Indigenous people, and indeed necessary to their very survival.2 However, the
adoption of the Declaration is not the conclusion of an era of focus and devel-
opment of international law but, rather, the culmination of a period of dynamic
change; the transition from `object' to `subject' of international law is
complete.3 Many outstanding areas of debate about Indigenous peoples' rights
are not concluded, and some debates are still evolving, particularly on those
issues revolving around the meaning of self-determination, the emerging stan-
dard requiring full prior and informed consent and the relationship between
collective and individual rights.
In many respects, the ongoing tension over the obligations of states to
accord full recognition of these human rights for their Indigenous people
centres on the challenges presented by the different meanings attributed to the


* The author would ...