treaty_study

“But if justice on this earth can be imagined, so can a practical way to achieve it. Provided, that is, we are willing to reconcile ourselves to each other , and to historical truth.” ^{^[1]}

The international community seeks to right injustices against groups of peoples, to intervene in situations where human rights violations should not be tolerated, to take a stand against political and moral unfairness. Indeed, this is the very purpose stated in the United Nations Charter. As decolonization of the world occurred in the middle of the 20^th century, the rights of significant groups of aboriginal inhabitants were, however, overlooked. This was no less true in North and South America, where the myth of lands open for European settlement and empty of Indigenous nations persisted into the modern age, essentially exempting Indigenous peoples from this process. Misled, manipulated, their treaties unilaterally abrogated, legislated out of existence and outlawed, by the period of decolonization Indigenous peoples had been nearly driven to the point of extinction. Indigenous nations who had made international treaties with explorer nations during the “age of discovery” and colonization, were the victims of political myopia and myth discounting our relationships within the world family. The United Nations, at its founding, without Indigenous representation, was not moved to right these injustices.

However, in 1987, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights began its own journey into unexplored territory: the treaty rights of Indigenous peoples. The process of a Treaty Study between Indigenous Peoples and members nations which began in 1987 was a first tentative step in the direction of recognizing Indigenous peoples for what they are: nations of people with specific rights to self-determination, like all peoples, and treaties that have, despite the manipulation of the colonial powers, endured as internationally binding agreements. The backbone of the international work on this issue has been the Study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between states and Indigenous populations (“Treaty Study”) ^{^[2]}, completed by the Special Rapporteur for the Commission on Human Rights, Professor Miguel Alfonso Martinez. In this extensively researched document, Professor Martinez poses a challenge to the international community:

[1] Anthony Pierson Xavier Bothwell, We Live on Their Land: Implications of Long-Ago Takings of Native American Indian Property, Golden Gate University School of Law, Annual Survey of International and Comparative Law, Volume VI, Spring 2000, p. 175.

[2] E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/20 22 June 1999