Unit rationale, description and aim
Despite being only 5 percent of the world’s population, Indigenous peoples represent 15 percent of the poorest. Indigenous peoples suffer from exploitation, marginalization and oppression. In the face of discrimination, they have fought for recognition of their heritage, right to traditional lands and natural resources. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, which took more than 20 years to negotiate, is a benchmark of broad rights. UNDRIP is a framework for the network of international laws. The unit explores the development of the social, political, historical and legal concept of Indigenous Peoples, with collective and individual rights as part of new concepts of human rights.
Students will learn about the mechanisms and the limitations of Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, legitimacy and tensions in international law. Students will explore how collective rights and self-determination are advanced through the role of international law, including treaties. Students will apply their knowledge of particular international covenants, conventions and charters and how they have been employed in litigation and debate in Australia Courts. The unit aims to provide transferable skills and a broad understanding of Indigenous rights in international law in their litigation across different avenues, recourse procedures and treaties.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
1. Investigate the concept of “Peoples” as used in...
Learning Outcome 01
2. Analyse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Ind...
Learning Outcome 02
3. Compare Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspecti...
Learning Outcome 03
4. Evaluate mechanisms especially international co...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Indigenous Peoples and historical claim-making
- Generations of Human Rights
- Peoples and international law
- Minorities and Indigenous peoples
- UNDRIP: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007
- Self-determination
- Treaties and Dispossession: Canada and other British colonies
- International Rights of the Child and cultural loss
- World Intellectual Property Organisation and Indigenous Peoples
- Recovering Rights and Reparations: Australia and the International arena
Assessment strategy and rationale
Rubrics will be utilised to describe the standard of work expected.
The assessments are scaffolded to develop skills progressively. Students will be assessed across three components of learning.
First, knowledge and comprehension will be assessed in a brief presentation. Students will summarise select key concepts, then compare similarities and differences between alternate points of view. Students will evaluate relevant evidence for bias and logical flaws and present a conclusion. Questions and answers will encourage discussion.
Second, students will analyse and apply their knowledge by way of reflection, reporting on a court case. Students will identify issues and then analyse these thoroughly and critically. Students will locate and reference research with correct citations. Students will provide a reflective analysis on the case in context of different values, beliefs and relevant Indigenous peoples’ standpoint.
Third, in their synthesis and evaluation, students will consider a range of solutions or options when they write a research essay. Students will engage in an iterative process to develop an argument based on evidence, propose solutions and consider implications and strategies for future practice with Indigenous peoples.
To pass, students must demonstrate competence in all learning outcomes and achieve an overall score of at least 50%.
Overview of assessments
1. Seminar Presentation Students are expecte...
1. Seminar Presentation
Students are expected to participate in tutorials, whether in-person or online, recognising that pre-reading materials and preparation for tutorials contribute to quality group engagement and their own learning.
Assessment Method: Presentation - in-person or online (5 minutes, equivalent 800 words).
Students will present individually to demonstrate their knowledge of key social, political, historical and legal concepts in Indigenous Peoples rights available in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the context of International Law.
20%
2. Reflective Case Study Students will exami...
2. Reflective Case Study
Students will examine a court decision of relevance to Indigenous people and explore how international covenants, conventions and charters, and laws have been employed in litigation and debate.
Assessment Method: Reflective Report on a Court Case. (1000 to 1500 words)
Students will identify issues, undertake legal research, on unique Indigenous perspectives on identifying and protecting rights utilising a range of sources (texts, audio and visual), and communicate their reflections.
The purpose is to develop personal reflective skills about international law in the context of different values, beliefs and relevant Indigenous peoples’ standpoint.
30%
3. Research Essay Students will evaluate me...
3. Research Essay
Students will evaluate mechanisms especially international covenants, conventions and charters and the role of international law and how it has been employed in litigation and debate in Australian courts.
Assessment Method: Essay.
The purpose is for students to develop skills that persuade readers of an idea based on evidence, to propose solutions and consider implications and strategies for Indigenous peoples’ rights in international law.
Students will be expected to analyse a question, locate and reference research, organise their ideas, construct drafts, seek feedback, edit and, finalise citations in support of their argument.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit will be taught through lectures, tutorials, original sources, library research, use of audio and visual materials to hear Indigenous voices, presentations and scholarly debate as part of inquiry-based learning. Students will progress from inquiry (asking questions and gathering information) to analysis (breaking down information, identifying patterns, and evaluating evidence) to applied reflection in practical contexts. Their progress will be supported by scaffolding assessments, a structured path to develop their knowledge skills as they progress through the unit to develop their own conclusions. Accessibility and flexibilty in learning will be supported through different modes of delivery.
Lectures with audio and visual materials will provide support and structure for student research and investigation. Tutorials will start with proposing a research question, supported by in-class peer reflections. Students will formulate questions about the topic based on their research. Students will be encouraged to work independently and in small groups to evaluate credibility of the sources and evidence. Educators will faciltitate students as a group to reflect and apply their knowledge skills with a focus on “real world” cases. Students will be asked to critically reflect on their research findings addressing socio-economic inequality and rights of Indigenous peoples in an international context.
Representative texts and references
Resources
Note: Specialist printed materials with legal particulars and other references will be made available to students prior to the teaching period as required.
Representative texts and references
Belmessous, Saliha. Native Claims: Indigenous Laws against Empire 1500 – 1920. Oxford University Press, 2012.
Connolly, Anthony J. (ed). Indigenous Rights. Ashgate, 2009.
Drahos, Peter and Susy Frankel (eds). Indigenous people's innovation: intellectual property pathways to development. ANU Press, 2012.
Hobbs, Harry. “Treaty Making and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Lessons from Emerging Negotiations in Australia". The International Journal of Human Rights 23 (2019) (1-2).
Hohmann, Jessie and Marc Weller (eds). The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Keal, Paul. European Conquest and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Lenzerini, Federico (ed). Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives. Oxford University Press, 2008. https://academic.oup.com/book/10611
McCorquodale, Robert (ed). Self-Determination in International Law. Ashgate, 2000.
Murray, Rachel. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: A Commentary, Oxford Commentaries on International Law (2019; online edn, Oxford Law Pro), chapters 4, 5, and 6.
Ruiz-Casares, Mónica, Tara M. Collins, E. Kay M. Tisdall, and Sonja Grover. “Children’s Rights to Participation and Protection in International Development and Humanitarian Interventions: Nurturing a Dialogue.” The International Journal of Human Rights 21 (2016) (1): 1–13.
Stamatopoulou, Elsa. Cultural rights in international law: Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and beyond. Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2007.
Summers, James. Peoples and International Law: How Nationalism and Self-Determination Shape a Contemporary Law of Nations. Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2007.
Audio-Visual Resources
Australian Human Rights Commission, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 10:27. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB2uZxekt-k&t=7s>.
John Borrows, “Living Treaties in Toronto: Anishinaabe Law and the More-than-Human World”. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeyjRZe4vtA>.
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Wiyasiwewin Mikiwahp Native Law Centre of the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, How UNDRIP Changes Canada’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples, 5:12. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tq7Mnlavqs>.
Department of Justice Canada, The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples explained, 1:53. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_N5jgW0U9M>.
Indigenous Environmental Network, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Brenda White Bull, 4:46. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SG9XJcAY3s>.
IUCN, The importance of indigenous rights and knowledge in conservation, 2:45. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agQDKkueT-c>.
United Nations, Protecting the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples, 2:58. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXz96CvgEy4>.
UN Human Rights, 10th anniversary UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 9:14 [Negotiations, Recognition and RIghts]. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhw5Ko0o5xE>.
University of British Columbia, Implementing the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through Canada’s Bill C-15, 3:17. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRitpe1mp4>.
Yothu Yindi, Treaty (Original Version), 3:38. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-jHCdafZY>.