Self-Determination as Voice

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.