Hey Everyone!
I'm not sure if this is the thread to do this but I can't find another one for Indigenous peoples.
So, the textbook my school has given us is unbelievably useless for this option. Can someone explain to me why self determination is important and the difficulty of Indigenous Peoples in acquiring self determination?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You!
Hi!
It's totally fine posting the question here, but any Legal Studies-related questions should go in this
thread here!Ahaha I can definitely relate with the useless textbooks for Indigenous - it was a real struggle last year. Anyway, self-determination is important for IPs because many of them don't have the same rights as the "majority" population - governments may limit their human rights and stuff like that. UNDRIP states that IPs have the right to self-determination; i.e. they have the right to determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
As for why it's hard for IPs to acquire self-determination, think of it this way - imagine you don't have basic human rights and you can't fully participate in society. To guarantee these rights, you'd probably have to be a citizen of that country right? In terms of IPs, it's easier to be independent and call it a day because these rights can be guaranteed and enforced. Governments don't exactly want a country within a country so self-determination is kinda hard here. However, you can also argue the effective solution with the Inuits in Canada who have their own state and can participate in politics as well and pose that as a possible solution for issues of self-determination elsewhere.
The example my teacher gave for self-determination was the Uighurs in China, who are a Muslim minority. They live in an area which is rich in agricultural and mineral resources, so the government fears losing wealth in the province if the Uighurs were to separate from China and become autonomous. There have also been a few articles recently on The Economist about the Uighurs which might be worth a read - make sure your browser is on incognito to dodge the 3 articles a month limit! (works for SMH too)
Hope this helps!!