PAPER: How the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Supports Peacemaking

The Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative recently released a detailed explanation of how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples supports peacemaking. From the paper:

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or the Declaration) was adopted by the United Nations on September 13, 2007. According to UNDRIP Article 43, the rights recognized thereby “constitute the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.” It is noteworthy that the Declaration protects collective rights, in addition to safeguarding individual rights of Indigenous people. The Declaration is the product of decades of deliberation and effort by U.N. member states and Indigenous Peoples.

UNDRIP provides plentiful, broad, and welcome support for the rights of Indigenous Peoples to continue or revitalize their own ways of dispute resolution. The Native American Rights Fund’s Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative (IPI) helps tribes develop and establish dispute resolution and other justice programs that are true to their own cultural beliefs. This paper summarizes how UNDRIP supports peacemaking.

The following discussion lists various Articles of UNDRIP, then after each relevant Article provides a brief explanation of how the Article recognizes the inherent authority of Indigenous Peoples to provide for Peacemaking in Indigenous communities.