Introduction I Universal Declaration I Transformation I Standard Setting I Living Law - Article 42

The full enjoyment of human rights by indigenous peoples requires not only a change in legal perceptions and judicial traditions, but more often than not a thorough rethinking of the concept of the nation-state. Indeed, most modern states are based on the myth of a single culturally homogeneous nation occupying a specific territory and linked by a single legal and administrative structure. This nineteenth century fiction, propagated by some European states, is not, however, a universal phenomenon. It has become even less so in the post-colonial world in which massive migrations and a globalized economy weaken the very model of the nation state. The full access of indigenous peoples to human rights requires a reconceptualisation of the model of the monocultural, monoethnic nation state. Albeit, many people around the world are not yet ready for this transformation.

The human rights of indigenous peoples have made some progress in recent years, both at the national as at the international level. Yet much more remains to be done. The coming decade will be crucial in determining whether this progress will continue and become consolidated, or whether it will flitter away as only one more utopian aspiration that was not followed up with sufficient vigour and persistence.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THEIR ACCESS TO HUMAN RIGHTS Rodolfo Stavenhagen Former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous Peoples THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY Sixth Annual Assembly International Meeting on Access to Human Rights Guadalajara, January 17-18, 2003

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Introduction I Universal Declaration I Transformation I Standard Setting I Living Law - Article 42

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