Reviewing Pressing Human Rights Issues of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples

Abstract

Throughout history, indigenous peoples have been excluded, marginalized, mistreated and disregarded. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169 tried to emphasize the need to grant them protection that is both broader and more appropriate while taking their particular characteristics into consideration. However, these protections are insufficient and ineffective in the face of current problems related to expansion of the extractive frontier in its varied forms, which mostly end in controversies among the indigenous communities present in the territories at stake, the States, and the companies who perform such activities. Three interconnected and interrelated cardinal issues that are the most affected are: the principle of non–discrimination, the right to land and natural resources, and the right to participation and consultation.