Article
Does UNDRIP Matter?: Indian Law in the United States and the International Right to Self-Determination
Hibernian L. Rev.
(2014)
Abstract
The United States has recognised the sovereignty of Indigenous tribal nations within the United States since the early 1800s and has explicitly recognised a right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples of the United States since the 1970s.The exact nature of this right, however, has been the focus of much scholarly debate both in the United States and around the world. Erosions in the nature of U.S. tribal sovereignty since the early 1980s coupled with an accelerating development of the international principle of self-determination call the extent and nature of Indian self-determination into question. Accordingly, this paper seeks to explore three key issues. First, what is the nature and scope of the right to self-determination for the Indigenous peoples of the United States? Second, does the United States' version of tribal self-determination meet its obligations under international law (in particular, under the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ("UNDRIP"))? Finally, how do recent developments in international law affect the Indigenous right to self-determination in the United States? In other words, does UNDRIP matter? The paper concludes that, although the U.S. has yet to fully turn its objector status from the 2007 GA decision to adopt UNDRIP, the UNDRIP serves a majority of American Indigenous tribes who do not wish to gain full independence from the U.S. federal government but undermines the minority who seek independence because the UNDRIP defines the self-determination as exclusively internal. The paper further observes that the slow erosion of tribal sovereignty in recent decades has not slowed since 2007, implicating that UNDRIP has had little effect on indigenous rights in the United States.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Kevin Crow. "Does UNDRIP Matter?: Indian Law in the United States and the International Right to Self-Determination" Hibernian L. Rev. (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kevin_crow/2/