This chapter outlines how a "relationships" perspective of indigenous peoples and states, as offered in papers commissioned by the Ministry of Justice from Paul McHugh and Ken Coates, might be applied to the rights of indigenous peoples in the international sphere. The Coates and McHugh papers were published in the book, Living Relationships Kokiri Ngatahi: The Treaty of Waitangi in the New Millenium (Welliington: Victoria University Press, 1998).