Wednesday, December 14, 2011

500th Anniversary Conference on Universality in Human Rights

On December 2-4, 2011 the Universal Human Rights Conference, 500 Year Anniversary of Antonio de Montesinos, was held in Washington, D. C. The conference website  contains the  plan of the conference and will contain publications of the conference.

The conference included Sunday, December 4, 2011, the conventionally identified date in 1511 when Antonio de Montesinos delivered a sermon in Santo Domingo calling for reform of Spanish policy toward the indigenous. That sermon launched a Spanish debate about the human rights of the Indians, which in turn contributed to later advocacy of the principle that human rights apply to all people, regardless of nationality. The new Spanish film Tambien La Lluvia (Even the Rain) has as its core purpose considering the legacy of Montesinos.

Monday, December 12, 2011

UN World Human Rights Day and the Genocide Convention


December 10th was World Human Rights Day. The UN has a web page on the celebration.https://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/2011/index.shtml It marks the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/


December 9th was the 60th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: https://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm. See also the discussion at the bottom of this page: https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40682&Cr=human+rights+day&Cr1=


Monday, October 24, 2011

United Nations Day

Today the United Nations celebrates the coming into force of the treaty establishing the United Nations in 1945. A number of programs are scheduled at UN Headquarters as detailed on this 2011 United Nations Day page.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

2011 International Day of the World's Indigenous People

"Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting their own future"


The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995 – 2004).

In 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade, from 2005 – 2015, with the theme of “A Decade for Action and Dignity.”

The focus of this year’s International Day will be Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future.

Monday, June 20, 2011

National Aboriginal Day/La Journée nationale des Autochtones in Canada, 21 June

National Aboriginal Day in Canada

"Canada’s National Aboriginal Day is annually held on June 21 to celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures, and outstanding achievements of the nation’s Aboriginal peoples. There are three Aboriginal groups in Canada – the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples".

"Quick Facts
National Aboriginal Day celebrates Canada’s Indigenous culture and the achievements made by the country’s Aboriginal peoples.
Local names
Name Language
National Aboriginal Day English
La Journée nationale des Autochtones French

National Aboriginal Day 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011

National Aboriginal Day 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012"

Continued: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/national-aboriginal-day

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

GALDU: Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

A Sami organization sponsored by the Norwegian government:


Their ABOUT US statement:


Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was established by an order of the Norwegian government. The centre is located in Guovdageaidnu-Kautokeino, in Finnmark county.

The resource centre shall increase information about the rights of Saami and other indigenous peoples.The Centre is independent, governed by an own board.

The Centre is funded by Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusions and by Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

160 Million Outcasts in India

An interesting article form the Weekly Blitz giving an overview of the Caste System in India commenting on possible British influence on the system and recent DNA studies.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

WIPO Members To Work Toward Treaty On Folklore, Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources

From Intellectual Property Watch

6 May 2011

WIPO Members To Work Toward Treaty On Folklore, Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources

By Catherine Saez


Building on recent momentum that has produced negotiating texts towards an international instrument to protect folklore, traditional knowledge and genetic resources, delegates to the World Intellectual Property Organization next week will try to clean the texts that still bear signs of division.

The 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) is taking place from 9-13 May.

On Monday, WIPO is organising a panel on “Indigenous Peoples’ Collective Rights and Intellectual Property” [pdf] which will host James Anaya, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as keynote speaker. The event will also feature Estebancio Castro Diaz, executive secretary, International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, Panamá; Repeta Puna, policy advisor, Office of the Prime Minister, Cook Islands; and Eliamani Isaya Laltaika, coordinator, Tanzania Intellectual Property Rights Network.

Continued at Intellectual Property Watch

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Selected Recent Articles

Steven James Anaya--International human rights and indigenous peoples
Ronald Kakungulu-Mayambala
Malawi Law Journal, Volume 4, Number 1, 2010, p.151

SYMPOSIUM: ON THE PROSPECTS FOR THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Pace Environmental Law Review, Volume 28, Number 1, Fall 2010

"Minimum Standards:" The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Nicholas A. Robinson
Pace Environmental Law Review, Volume 28, Number 1, Fall 2010, p.346

Cultural and Economic Self-Determination for Tribal Peoples in the United States, Supported by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Angelique Eagle Woman (Wambdi A. Wastewin)
Pace Environmental Law Review, Volume 28, Number 1, Fall 2010, p.357

Book Review: L. May: Genocide: A Normative Account New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. xi, 283 pp. $85.00. ISBN 978-0-521-12296-2
Ross Kleinstuber
International Criminal Justice Review, Volume 21, Number 1, March 2011, p.85-86

Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples: The Cultural Polities of Law and Knowledge.
Reviewed by Glen Medves
Canadian Law Library Review, Volume 35, Numbers 3 & 4, 2010, p.141

Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution— Frank Pommersheim
Reviewed by Angela R. Riley
Journal of Legal Education, Volume 60, Number 3, February 2011, p.569

Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights Regarding Indigenous Peoples: Retrospect and Prospects
Koivurova, Timo
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Volume 18, Number 1, 2011, p.1-37

Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia: At Risk of Disappearing as Distinct Peoples in the Rush for Biofuel?
Colbran, Nicola
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Volume 18, Number 1, 2011, p.63-92


Ko Ngā Take Tare Māori: What a Difference a 'Drip' Makes: The Implications of Officially Endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Kiri Rangi Toki
Auckland University Law Review, Volume 16, 2010, p.243

CLJC search: INDIGENE*

'AN ESSENTIAL GHOST': INDIGENEITY WITHIN THE LEGAL ARCHIVE
Kathleen Birrell
Australian Feminist Law Journal, Volume 33, December 2010, p.81


III. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: THE PRAGMATIC REVOLUTION OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS
Jérémie Gilbert
International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Volume 60, Number 1, January 2011, p.245-270


Cultural genocide and indigenous peoples: a sociological approach
Damien Short
International Journal of Human Rights, Volume 14, Number 6, November 2010, p.833-848

Indigenous Peoples as International Lawmakers
Lillian Aponte Miranda
University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Volume 32, Number 1, Fall 2010, p.203


Recognising Indigenous Peoples
Environmental Policy and Law, Volume 40, Number 5, 2010, p.217

Statutory interpretation and indigenous property rights
Sean Brennan
Public Law Review, Volume 21, Number 4, December 2010, p.239

Shadow War Scholarship, Indigenous Legal Tradition, and Modern Law in Indian Country
Christine Zuni Cruz
Tribal Law Journal, Volume 9, 2008-2009

The Right of Ethnic Minorities to Free Interpretation in Criminal Proceedings under International Law: With Special Reference to China
Lijiang Zhu
Journal of East Asia and International Law, Volume 3, Number 2, Autumn 2010

Book Review: P. Gaeta(Ed.) The UN Genocide Convention: A Commentary Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. viii, 590 pp. $150.00. ISBN 978-0-19-957021-8
Mark A. Winton
International Criminal Justice Review, Volume 20, Number 4, December 2010, p.453-454

Review Essay—The Arc of Triumph and the Agony of Defeat: Mexican Americans and the Law
Reviewed by Michael A. Olivas
Journal of Legal Education, Volume 60, Number 2, November 2010, p.354


'IN LAND WE TRUST': THE ENDOROIS' COMMUNICATION AND THE QUEST FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' RIGHTS IN AFRICA
Korir Sing' Oei A. & Jared Shepherd
Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, Volume 16, 2010, p.57

Agency in international climate negotiations: the case of indigenous peoples and avoided deforestation
Heike Schroeder
International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Volume 10, Number 4, December 2010, p.317-332

SPIRIT FOOD AND SOVEREIGNTY: PATHWAYS FOR PROTECTING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SUBSISTENCE RIGHTS
Allison M. Dussias
Cleveland State Law Review, Volume 58, Number 2, 2010, p.273

CLJC search: INDIGENE*

Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity. By J. Kēhaulani Kauanui
Nicholas Buchanan
Law & Society Review, Volume 44, Numbers 3-4, September/December 2010, p.879-881


The Protection of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in International Law: A Comparative Temporal Analysis
Castellino, Joshua
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Volume 17, Number 3, 2010, p.393-422

Ralph Wilde, International Territorial Administration: How Trusteeship and the Civilizing Mission Never Went Away, Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-199-27432-1, 640 pp.
reviewed by Bernhard Knoll
Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law, Volume 4, Issue 1, March 2010, p.147


A GLOBALLY SUSTAINABLE RIGHT TO LAND: UTILIZING REAL PROPERTY TO PROTECT THE TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Jennifer Lynn Zweig
Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, Volume 38, Number 3, Spring 2010, p.769

Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage, by James Cuno
Reviewed by Phaedra Livingstone
Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, Volume 40, Number 3, July-September 2010, p.238


Sovereign States and Self-Determining Peoples: Carving Out a Place for Transnational Indigenous Peoples in a World of Sovereign States
Koivurova, Timo
International Community Law Review, Volume 12, Number 2, May 2010, p.191-212

CLJC search: INDIGENE*

No search results found

CLJC search: "ETHNIC MINORIT*"

Economic Conditions and Minority Violence: An introduction to “Violent Victimization among Males and Economic Conditions: The Vulnerability of Race and Ethnic Minorities”
Alfred Blumstein
Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 9, Issue 4, September 2010, p.659-663

Violent victimization among males and economic conditions: The vulnerability of race and ethnic minorities
Janet L. Lauritsen and Karen Heimer
Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 9, Issue 4, September 2010, p.665-692

Book Review: The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's Law and Constitution
Carwyn Jones
New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law, Volume 7, Number 2, 2009, p.367


Bridging the Divide between Genomic Science and Indigenous Peoples
Bette Jacobs, Jason Roffenbender, Jeff Collmann, Kate Cherry, LeManuel Lee Bitsói, Kim Bassett and Charles H. Evans Jr.
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Volume 38, Number 3, Fall 2010, p.684-696

CLJC search: INDIGENE*

No search results found

CLJC search: "ETHNIC MINORIT*"

John Wrench, Diversity Management and Discrimination. Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in the EU (Ashgate Publishing, 2007), ISBN 978-0754648901 (hardback)
Tim Dertwinkel
European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Volume 7, 2007/2008, p.769

INDIGENOUS CHILDREN'S RIGHTS - INTERNATIONAL LAW, SELF-DETERMINATION AND INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION IN GUATEMALA
Sarah Sargent
Contemporary Issues in Law, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2008/2009, p.1

Getting over the Hump: Establishing a Right to Environmental Protection for Indigenous Peoples in the Inter-American Human Rights System
Travis Thompson
Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, Volume 19, Number 1, Fall 2009, p.179


Third Party Petitions as a Means of Protecting Voluntarily Isolated Indigenous Peoples
Nickolas M. Boecher
Sustainable Development Law & Policy, Volume 10, Number 1, Fall 2009, p.58

International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance (Balakrishnan Rajagopal)
Reviewed by John Reynolds
Palestine Yearbook of International Law, Volume 15, 2009, p.435


Human Genetic Biobanks in Asia: Politics of Trust and Scientific Advancement By Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner (Editor)
Reviewed by Don Chalmers
SCRIPTed: a Journal of Law, Technology & Society, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2010, p.216-220

Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards: Self-Determination, Culture and Land By Alexandra Xanthaki
Reviewed by Marcus Goffe
SCRIPTed: a Journal of Law, Technology & Society, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2010, p.221-225

LAW AT ITS MARGINS: QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY, RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, ANCESTRAL DOMAINS AND THE DIFFUSION OF LAW
Marvic M.V.F. Leonen
Philippine Law Journal, Volume 83, Number 4, June 2009, p.787

Human Rights Litigation and Restrictive State Implementation of Strasbourg Court Judgments: The Case of Ethnic Minorities from Southeast Europe
Dia Anagnostou and Yonko Grozev
European Public Law, Volume 16, Number 3, September 2010, p.401

The Abbot's New House: Thinking about How Religion Works among Buddhists and Ethnic Minorities in Southwest China
Thomas Borchert
Journal of Church and State, Volume 52, Number 1, Winter 2010, p.112

Book Review: Decolonization and the Evolution of International Human Rights By Roland Burke, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 264 pp. $55 (Cloth), ISBN 081224219X
Frederick Cowell
Law, Culture and the Humanities, Volume 6, Number 3, October 2010, p.455-457

Book Review: Sovereignty, Knowledge, Law By Panu Minkkinen, Abingdon: Routledge, 2009. 186 + x pp. $120.00 (Cloth). ISBN: 978-0-415-47241-8
Ben Golder
Law, Culture and the Humanities, Volume 6, Number 3, October 2010, p.457-458


Burying Indigeneity: The Spatial Construction of Reality and Aboriginal Australia
Rowland Atkinson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Maggie Walter
Social & Legal Studies, Volume 19, Number 3, September 2010, p.311-330

Policing Indigenous Peoples on Two Colonial Frontiers: Australia's Mounted Police and Canada's North-West Mounted Police
Amanda Nettelbeck and Russell Smandych
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Volume 43, Number 2, August 2010, p.356

Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives (Federico Lenzerini ed.)
Raymond Steenkamp Fonseca
Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 32, Number 3, August 2010, p.768

The International Labour Organization and the Quest for Social Justice, 1 919-2009, Gerry Rodgers, Eddy Lee, Lee Sweptson and Jasmien Van Daele
reviewed by James Gross
Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, Volume 31, Number 4, Summer 2010, p.851

Federico Lenzerini (ed.), Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives
Jérémie Gilbert
Human Rights Law Review, Volume 10, Number 3, 2010, p.586-589

There are no such things as universal human rights-on the predicament of indigenous peoples, for example
Ulf Johansson Dahre
International Journal of Human Rights, Volume 14, Number 5, September 2010, p.641-657


Inconvenient marriages, or what happens when ethnic minorities marry trans-jurisdictionally
Prakash Shah
Utrecht Law Review, Volume 6, Issue 2, June 2010, p.17-32

Book Review - Patents and Technological Progress in a Globalized World — Liber Amicorum Joseph Straus
Firth, Alison
European Intellectual Property Review, Volume 32, Issue 4, 2010, p.184-368

After Genocide: Bringing the Devil to Justice, by Adam M. Smith and Building the International Criminal Court, by Benjamin N. Schiff
reviewed by Rosa Aloisi
Judicature, Volume 93, Number 5, March-April 2010

Keynote Address: Indigenous Peoples and Global Climate Change: Intercultural Models of Climate Equity
Rebecca Tsosie
Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, Volume 25, Number 1, 2010, p.7

CLJC search: INDIGENE*

Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity by J. Kehaulani Kauanui
Katharine Bjork
PoLar: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, Volume 33, Number 1, May 2010, p.170-172

Indigeneity in the Courtroom: Law, Culture, and the Production of Difference in North American Courts by Jennifer A. Hamilton
Larry Nesper
PoLar: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, Volume 32, Number 2, November 2009, p.349-352

Book Review: YLVA HERNLUND AND BETTINA SHELL-DUNCAN (eds), Transcultural Bodies: Female Genital Cutting in Global Context. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007, lix + 373 pp., ISBN 0813540259, £67.50 (hbk)
J. Steven Svoboda
Social & Legal Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, June 2010, p.258-260

Friday, January 28, 2011

Speech by Zoni Weisz to the German Budestag

Remembrance of the Victims of National Socialism


On 27 January, the German Bundestag held a Ceremony of Remembrance for the victims of National Socialism. Parliament has held a ceremony each year since 1996 on this date, on which the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1945. The guest speaker this year was Mr Zoni Weisz, a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands and representative of the Sinti. A video of the speech is on the Budestag home page.


In 2005, January 27 was been declared International Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations. This year the Remembrance speech to the German Bundestag was give by Zoni Weisz, a member of the Sinti, a part of the Roma minority. Along with six million Jews and millions of others, 500,000 Roma were murdered in the Holocaust. The Roma continue to be a persecuted minority within Europe, see the webpage of the European Roma Rights Centre.