Indigenous sovereignties in international governance: envisioning a plurinational Amazon

Abstract

Although the increasing engagement of indigenous movements with international law-making challenges the state-centric approach to international relations, few studies explore how Indigenous peoples of the Global South struggle for the international recognition of their political agency. This article analyzes Indigenous peoples’ role and aspirations in the international governance of the Amazon. Based on the study of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and one of the biggest international indigenous organizations, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), the article discusses how the international governance of the Amazon has incorporated Indigenous peoples by recognizing only a limited version of self-determination with no political rights. Although ACTO has formalized indigenous issues within its units, agendas, and programes, it fundamentally rejects the possibility of having Indigenous peoples in the deliberative processes of the organization. Indigenous peoples continue to struggle to decolonize the international governance of the Amazon.