Self-Determination as Voice

Maps mechanisms and policies for indigenous peoples' participation in international governance, explaining how these are justified in customary international law.

Many states and international organizations have put in place institutional mechanisms to include Indigenous representatives in international policy-making, law-making and decision-making processes. This book maps these developments, and explains how they are grounded in the international law of self-determination and customary international law.Self-Determination as Voice addresses the relationship between Indigenous peoples' participation in international governance and the law of self-determination. Many states and international organizations have put in place institutional mechanisms for the express purpose of including Indigenous representatives in international policy-making and decision-making processes, as well as in the negotiation and drafting of international legal instruments. Indigenous peoples' rights have a higher profile in the UN system than ever before. This book argues that the establishment and use of mechanisms and policies to enable a certain level of Indigenous peoples' participation in international governance has become a widespread practice, and perhaps even one that is accepted as law. In theory, the law of self-determination supports this move, and it is arguably emerging as a rule of customary international law. However, ultimately the achievement of the ideal of full and effective participation, in a manner that would fulfil Indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, remains deferred.