Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T18:57:06.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Arctic indigenous peoples' internationalism: in search of a legal justification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Natalia Loukacheva
Natalia Loukacheva*
Affiliation:
Polar Law Programme, University of Akureyri, Solborg/Nordurslod 600, Akureyri, Iceland and Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3K7Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper focuses on the evolution and development of the legal scope of governance and the right to autonomy in the Arctic context by considering contemporary indigenous internationalism through a legal lens and by employing examples from the Arctic indigenous peoples of Greenland and Nunavut. It argues that depending on national policy, partnerships, and relations, there are possibilities for considering direct international representation, and the participation of autonomous sub-national units or indigenous peoples, as a part of the right to autonomy/self-government or internal self-determination. Since indigenous peoples have a limited legal personality and capacity in international law, the states of which they are a part can take special measures to accommodate their needs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 51 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abele, F., and Rodon, T.. 2007. Inuit diplomacy in the global era: the strengths of multilateral internationalism. Canadian Foreign Policy 13 (3): 45–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agence France Presse. 2008. Greenland has right to self-determination, report concludes. Agence France Presse 6 May 2008.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G.S. 1982. Greenland and the law of political decolonization. German Yearbook of International Law 25: 290–308.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G.S. 2003. The Greenlanders and their human rights choices. In: Bergsmo, M. (editor). Human rights and criminal justice for the downtrodden. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 453–459.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G.S. 2005. Minorities, indigenous and tribal peoples, and peoples: definitions of terms as a matter of international law. In: Ghanea, N., and Xanthaki, A. (editors). Minorities, peoples and self-determination. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 163–172.Google Scholar
Anaya, J. 2004. Indigenous peoples in international law. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barsh, R.L. 1988. Indigenous peoples and the right to self-determination in international law. In: Hocking, B. (editor). International law and aboriginal human rights. Melbourne: The Law Book Company Ltd: 68–82.Google Scholar
Barsh, R.L. 1994. Indigenous peoples in the 1990s: from object to subject of international law? Harvard Human Rights Journal 7: 33–86.Google Scholar
Beier, Marshall J. 2007. Inter-national Affairs: Indigeneity, Globality, and the Canadian State. Canadian Foreign Policy 13 (3):121–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belanger, Y.D. 2007. The six nations of Grand River Territory's attempts at renewing international political relations, 1921–1924. Canadian Foreign Policy 13 (3): 29–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costellino, J. 2005. Conceptual difficulties and the right to indigenous self-determination. In: Ghanea, N., and Xanthaki, A. (editors). Minorities, peoples and self-determination. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 55–74.Google Scholar
Daes, E-I. 2003. Globalization, Intellectual property and indigenous peoples. In: Jentoft, S., Minde, H., and Nilsen, R. (editors). Indigenous peoples: resource management and global rights. Delft: Eburon: 67–73.Google Scholar
Davis, M. 2005. Outwitted and outplayed: indigenous internationalism and the United Nations. Indigenous Law Bulletin 6 (11): 4–7.Google Scholar
De Costa, R. 2007. Cosmology, mobility and exchange: indigenous diplomacies before the nation-state. Canadian Foreign Policy 13 (3): 13–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenland. 2005. Act no. 577 of 24 June 2005 concerning the conclusion of agreements under international law by the Government of Greenland (Authorisation Act).Google Scholar
Henriksen, J.B. 2001. Implementation of the right of self-determination of indigenous peoples. Indigenous Affairs 3: 6–21.Google Scholar
Ilulissat Declaration. 2008. Ilulissat: Greenland (Arctic ocean conference 27–29 May 2008).Google Scholar
Johnston, D. 1986. The quest of the six nations confederacy for self-determination. University of Toronto Law Review 44 (1): 1–32.Google Scholar
Jull, P. 1998. ‘First world’ indigenous internationalism after twenty-five years. Indigenous Law Bulletin 4 (9): 8–11.Google Scholar
Jull, P. 1999. Indigenous internationalism: what should we do next? Indigenous Affairs 1: 12–17.Google Scholar
Jull, P. 2003. The politics of sustainable development. In: Jentoft, S., Minde, H. and Nilsen, R. (editors). Indigenous peoples: resource management and global rights. Delft: Eburon: 21–44.Google Scholar
Kingsbury, B. 2001. Reconciling five competing conceptual structures of indigenous peoples' claims in international and comparative law. New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 34: 189–252.Google Scholar
Kleivan, I. 1992. The Arctic Peoples' Conference in Copenhagen, November 22–25, 1973. Études/Inuit/Studies 16 (1–2): 227–236.Google Scholar
Koivurova, T., and Heinämäki, L.. 2006. The participation of indigenous peoples in international norm-making in the Arctic. Polar Record 42 (221): 101–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindholm, G. 1985. The right of autonomous regions to participate in Nordic co-operation. Nordisk Tidsskrift for International Ret 54 (1–2): 79–84.Google Scholar
Loukacheva, N. 2004. Comparative Arctic governance: the jurisdiction of Greenland and Nunavut re-examined. In: Koivurova, T., Joona, T., and Shnore, R. (editors). Arctic Governance. Rovaniemi: University of Lapland Press (Juridica Lapponica 29): 114–137.Google Scholar
Loukacheva, N. 2005. On autonomy and law. Hamilton, Canada: McMaster University: Institute of Globalization and the Human Condition (Working Paper GHC 05/3): 1–31.Google Scholar
Loukacheva, N. 2007. The Arctic promise: legal and political autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loukacheva, N. 2008. Institutions of Arctic ordering: the cases of Greenland and Nunavut. In: Pauly, L.W., and Coleman, W.D. (editors). Global ordering: institutions and autonomy in a changing world. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press: 255–272.Google Scholar
Lynge, A. 2007. Adaptation and survival. Ilulissat, Greenland (Address to symposium Religion, Science and the Environment: VII The Arctic: mirror of life 7 September 2007): 1–5.Google Scholar
Magnarella, P.J. 2001. The evolving right of self-determination of indigenous peoples. St. Thomas Law Review 14: 425–447.Google Scholar
Morris, G.T. 1986. In support of the right of self-determination for indigenous peoples under international law. German Yearbook of International Law 29: 277–316.Google Scholar
Muehlebach, A. 2003. What self in self-determination? Notes from the frontiers of transnational indigenous activism. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 10 (2): 241–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niezen, R. 2000. Recognizing indigenism: Canadian unity and the international movement of indigenous peoples. Comparative Studies in Society and History 42 (1): 119–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palermo, F., and Woelk, J.. 2005. Cross-border cooperation as an indicator for institutional evolution of autonomy: the case of Trentino-South Tyrol. In: Skurbaty, Z.A. (editor). Beyond a one-dimensional State: an emerging right to autonomy? Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 277–304.Google Scholar
Radcliffe, S., Laurie, N., and Andolina, R.. 2002. Indigenous people and political transnationalism: globalization from below meets globalization from above? Oxford: University of Oxford: School of Geography (WPTC-02-05. Transnational Communities Programme seminar 28 February 2002).Google Scholar
Sanders, D. 1998. The legacy of Deskaheh: indigenous peoples as international actors. In: Cohen, C.P. (editor). The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers: 73–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, K. 2002. Indigeneity and the international. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 31 (1): 55–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, M. 1994. Inuit Circumpolar Conference (Arctic). In: Alexander, E. (editor). Voice of indigenous peoples. Native people address the United Nations. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Clear Light Publishers: 98–102.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. 1994. Indigenous peoples, international institutions, and the international legal literature from 1945–1993. Human Rights Quarterly 16 (1): 1–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennberg, M. 2006. Indigenous peoples as international political actors: presenting the INDIPO project. Polar Record 42 (221): 100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saami Convention. 2005. The draft Nordic Saami Convention 16 November 2005 (Unofficial translation). In: Gáldu Čála Journal of Indigenous Peoples Rights 2006. 4: 41–47.Google Scholar
Siku. 2006. Greenland: we want our own delegation to the Nordic Council. Siku Circumpolar News Service: 1 November 2006.Google Scholar
Thornberry, P. 1998. Images of autonomy and individual and collective rights in international instruments on the rights of minorities. In: Markku, S. (editor). Autonomy: applications and implications. The Hague, London, Boston: Kluwer Law International: 97–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations. 2007. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 13 September 2007. United Nations Document A/RES/61/295. Annex.Google Scholar
Wilmer, F. 1993. The indigenous voice in world politics: since time immemorial. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, G.N. 2007. Inuit diplomacy in the circumpolar north. Canadian Foreign Policy 13 (3): 65–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar