Indigenous People's Right to Self-Determination in International Law - A study of autonomy and self-government in the context of indigenous self-determination
(2024) LAGF03 20241Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- This thesis examines the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and whether such a right exists within international customary law and what the scope of such a right entail. Furthermore, the essay investigates what measures states have taken to implement such a right with a focus on the autonomous and self-governance aspects. This is done by examining different domestic self-government systems and conducting a comparative study. This study encompasses two different self-government systems based on ethnicity; ethnoterritorial autonomy in the First Nations reserves in Canada and autonomy of a people in the Sami Parliament of Norway.
The method used is the legal dogmatic method and the comparative method. With a special focus... (More) - This thesis examines the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and whether such a right exists within international customary law and what the scope of such a right entail. Furthermore, the essay investigates what measures states have taken to implement such a right with a focus on the autonomous and self-governance aspects. This is done by examining different domestic self-government systems and conducting a comparative study. This study encompasses two different self-government systems based on ethnicity; ethnoterritorial autonomy in the First Nations reserves in Canada and autonomy of a people in the Sami Parliament of Norway.
The method used is the legal dogmatic method and the comparative method. With a special focus on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and especially articles 3 and 4, this thesis has examined various international instruments and literature on indigenous rights. Through reviewing these instruments, codifications and legal literature on the subject, an examination to ascertain de lege lata is made. The comparative study is based on a limited sample by describing and comparing two different domestic systems within the aims of the thesis. In order to provide needed historical context, a legal development perspective will be applied as well as a comparative and international perspective due to the nature of the thesis.
The concluding analysis of the research establishes that there is support to determine that indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination exists in customary international law. The content of such a right seems to include only an internal right to self-determination of which an application often results in autonomous functions and self-government systems. When reviewing at the domestic level, different state measures can be observed, such as autonomy based on belonging to the people and autonomy limited to ethnicity in specific regional areas. The full extent of the internal aspect of customary law is something to examine further but when studying domestic state measures, it can be concluded that various forms of autonomy and self-governments are included. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Uppsatsen undersöker rätten till självbestämmande för ursprungsfolk och huruvida en sådan rättighet existerar inom internationell sedvanerätt och vad omfattningen av en sådan rättighet innebär. Vidare undersöker uppsatsen vilka åtgärder stater har vidtagit för att implementera rättigheten med fokus på aspekterna gällande autonomi och självstyrelse. Detta görs genom att undersöka olika nationella system för självstyrelse i en komparativ studie. Studien omfattar två olika system av självstyrelse som är baserade på etnicitet; etnoterritorisk självständighet i Första Nation reservaten i Kanada och gemenskapsbaserad självständighet i Sametinget i Norge.
De metoder som används är rättsdogmatisk och komparativ metod. Med ett fokus på FN:s... (More) - Uppsatsen undersöker rätten till självbestämmande för ursprungsfolk och huruvida en sådan rättighet existerar inom internationell sedvanerätt och vad omfattningen av en sådan rättighet innebär. Vidare undersöker uppsatsen vilka åtgärder stater har vidtagit för att implementera rättigheten med fokus på aspekterna gällande autonomi och självstyrelse. Detta görs genom att undersöka olika nationella system för självstyrelse i en komparativ studie. Studien omfattar två olika system av självstyrelse som är baserade på etnicitet; etnoterritorisk självständighet i Första Nation reservaten i Kanada och gemenskapsbaserad självständighet i Sametinget i Norge.
De metoder som används är rättsdogmatisk och komparativ metod. Med ett fokus på FN:s Deklaration om Ursprungsfolkens Rättigheter, särskilt artikel 3 och 4, har uppsatsen undersökt olika internationella instrument och litteratur om ursprungsfolks rättigheter. Genom att granska dessa instrument, kodifikationer och juridisk litteratur på ämnet, så görs en undersökning för att fastställa gällande rätt (de lege lata). Den komparativa studien är baserad på ett begränsat urval genom att redogöra för och jämföra två olika nationella system inom syftet av uppsatsen. För att ge historisk kontext används ett rättshistoriskt perspektiv samt ett komparativt och internationellt perspektiv på grund av uppsatsens art.
Den avslutande analysen konstaterar att det finns stöd för att fastställa att ursprungsfolks rätt till självbestämmande existerar inom internationell sedvanerätt. Innehållet av rättigheten verkar inkludera endast den interna dimensionen av självbestämmande vilket vid tillämpning ofta innebär självständiga funktioner och system av självstyrelse. När detta undersöks på en nationell nivå kan olika åtgärder observeras, såsom självständighet baserad på gemenskapen av folket samt självständighet baserad på etniciteten i ett specifikt område. Det exakta innehållet av den interna rätten till självbestämmande i internationell sedvanerätt är något som kan undersökas vidare men när de nationella åtgärderna granskas så kan det konstateras att olika former av självstyrelse och självständighet verkar vara inkluderat. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9152802
- author
- Holmqvist Åberg, Mi LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- law, public international law, indigenous peoples, indigenous rights, self-determination, autonomy, self-government
- language
- English
- id
- 9152802
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-26 11:51:45
- date last changed
- 2024-06-26 11:51:45
@misc{9152802,
abstract = {{This thesis examines the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and whether such a right exists within international customary law and what the scope of such a right entail. Furthermore, the essay investigates what measures states have taken to implement such a right with a focus on the autonomous and self-governance aspects. This is done by examining different domestic self-government systems and conducting a comparative study. This study encompasses two different self-government systems based on ethnicity; ethnoterritorial autonomy in the First Nations reserves in Canada and autonomy of a people in the Sami Parliament of Norway.
The method used is the legal dogmatic method and the comparative method. With a special focus on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and especially articles 3 and 4, this thesis has examined various international instruments and literature on indigenous rights. Through reviewing these instruments, codifications and legal literature on the subject, an examination to ascertain de lege lata is made. The comparative study is based on a limited sample by describing and comparing two different domestic systems within the aims of the thesis. In order to provide needed historical context, a legal development perspective will be applied as well as a comparative and international perspective due to the nature of the thesis.
The concluding analysis of the research establishes that there is support to determine that indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination exists in customary international law. The content of such a right seems to include only an internal right to self-determination of which an application often results in autonomous functions and self-government systems. When reviewing at the domestic level, different state measures can be observed, such as autonomy based on belonging to the people and autonomy limited to ethnicity in specific regional areas. The full extent of the internal aspect of customary law is something to examine further but when studying domestic state measures, it can be concluded that various forms of autonomy and self-governments are included.}},
author = {{Holmqvist Åberg, Mi}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Indigenous People's Right to Self-Determination in International Law - A study of autonomy and self-government in the context of indigenous self-determination}},
year = {{2024}},
}