Cultural Identity and Self-Determination as Key Concepts in Concurring Legal Frameworks for the International Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in light of both the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This analysis demonstrates that there are two key concepts in international human rights law that build the protection of indigenous peoples: cultural identity and self-determination. These concepts evoke respectively the cultural-identity-based framework and the self-determination-based framework. This chapter concludes that the relationship between both frameworks is inexplicit and very fragile. Additionally, the cultural-identity-based framework holds more comprehensive protection for indigenous peoples and their lands than the self-determination-based framework.