The imperial era was largely based on the dispossession of most of the worlds indigenous

people. It cannot be considered over until the world accepts these peoples rights.
-------Stephen Corry, Director, Survival I nternational
INTRODUCTION:
Indigenous people forming a considerable minority are spread over entire length and breadth
of the globe and are roughly numbered to be around 370 million spanning 70 countries
1
. The
name Indigenous is derived from the notion that they are the descendants of those who
inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or
ethnic origins arrived, the new arrivals later becoming dominant through conquest,
occupation, settlement or other means
2
. These people still facing the consequences of historic
colonization are often distinguished from other sections of the national community. They are
among the most disadvantaged people in the world. Indigenous societies that remain today
are sustenance based (i.e. farming or hunting for the immediate use and non-urbanised)
sometimes nomadic
3
. Lack of political representation and participation, poverty, inaccess to
social services and the like is what features them. However, a formal definition of the term
indigenous people is neither necessary nor desirable. These people are known with different
names in different countries. For Example in India, tribal people are generally recognised as
indigenous people, in Australia, they are termed as aboriginals, Saami in Northern Europe
and so on. Now, a question may come to ones mind as to why there is any need for separate
recognition of these people as indigenous people or for a separate reservation of their rights.
History has been the witness of the sorry state of affairs in which they have managed to
sustain for decades. Dominant and powerful people either neighbours or foreign settlers
expanding their territories or settling in other territories, always posed a threat to the
indigenous people of dispossession from their lands and sometimes even endangered them of
deprivation of life. They were dispossessed of their land, deprived of their culture and
marginalized, abused and murdered. In the United Nations and the International Labour
Organization, it is recognized that the establishment and protection of the rights of indigenous
peoples are an essential part of human rights and a legitimate concern of the international
community. The two organizations are active in the setting and implementing of standards

1
Factsheet, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
2
Factsheet No.9 (Rev. 1), the rights of Indigenous people
3
Anup shah, Rights of indigenous people, available at http://www.globalissues.org/article/693/rights-of-
indigenous-people, accessed on 16
th
Feb 2013.
designed to ensure respect for existing rights of indigenous peoples and the adoption of
additional rights. The two most important laws about tribal people are Conventions 107 and
169 under the international labour organization. Its high time to raise our conscience against
the plight and sufferings of these people and work as a world community and ensure that
whatever they have been deprived of through deliberate acts of the states in terms of rights,
resources, recognition is adequately awarded to them and instances of oppression and
exploitation are avoided as far as practicable in future. At present there are various
international organizations, conventions, working groups, regional agreements, national
legislations attempting to ensure that whatever injustices have been done or have continued to
be done with such a considerable portion of the world community are brought to negligible in
the years to come. But how far these organizations and legislations have been instrumental in
changing the national as well as international scenario, how effectively have the provisions of
the multilateral treaties or international conventions been implemented and what still remains
to be done to make the world a civilized place where equality for all persists and humanity
exists, is what makes the subject matter of this paper.
PEEPING INTO THE HISTORY: A STORY OF STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
World War I and II which led to massive destruction, violence and barbarism paved way for
the movements for indigenous rights. The instances of destruction negated the claim of
European civilization being superior and peaceful. A wave of anti-colonial and nationalist
movements sprung up as people around the world saw their chance to break free. European
countries began conceding territories, and for many indigenous groups, accepted that they
should have more rights to determine their own destiny.
4
From 1836 to 1900 the Mexican
people who now are known as the indigenous people were displaced off by force from their
lands in South Texas (now known as South Western United) and by 1900s they were working
in their own lands but under Gringo ownership. The invaders and the natives became the
owners and the natives were considered nothing more than cheap wage labour. They
experienced genocide as indigenous peoples and lands, national oppression as a people,
exploitation as a working class, racism and racial segregation, mass deportations as migrant
workers and youth experienced incarceration not education,
5
similar was the story of

4
Anup shah, Rights of indigenous people, available at http://www.globalissues.org/article/693/rights-of-
indigenous-people, accessed on 16
th
Feb 2013.
5
Sin Fronteras, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 Feb 2, 1848-2012, 164 years of occupation, available
at http://peoplesmovementsassembly.blogspot.in/2012/01/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo-1848-feb-2.html,
accessed on 17
th
Feb 2013.
Australian Aboriginals who were being dispossessed and supressed brutally from the time of
British colonial invasion in 1788. Convicts were used as slaves and were put to hard labour
in the new British colony. They cleared the land and built the rst infrastructure for the
British aristocracy and bourgeois capitalist class. Their conditions and treatment by the
British military were harsh. Many rebelled and developed a very healthy disdain for
bourgeois class authority. Convicts and political exiles laid the foundations for the class
militancy and the independent spirit of the future working class in Australia
6
. In Chile also,
the Mapuches were victimized by the occupation of the Araucania as inherent part of chile
nation from 1861 to 1883. Similar was the condition throughout the world. The first attempt
of indigenous peoples to reach out to the international community started as early as 1923
with the attempt of Chief Deskaheh, the speaker of the Council of the Iroquois Confederacy,
to get the League of Nations to address the Iroquois dispute with Canada. This was followed
in 1925 by W.T. Ratana, a Maori leader, who wanted to bring the violations against the
Waitangi Treaty by New Zealand. They were not given an audience by the League.
7
In the
1920s, American Indians also approached the League of Nations. Their visit to Geneva
attracted considerable attention, but there were no tangible results. In the early years of the
United Nations, indigenous peoples' representatives made sporadic appeals to the world
Organization. There was no specific reaction. A Bolivian Government initiative in the United
Nations in 1948 to create a sub-commission to study the social problems of aboriginal
populations also came to nothing.
8
In 1970, on the recommendation of Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities the special Rapporteur carried out
a comprehensive study on the problem of discrimination against indigenous populations in
which a wide range of human rights issues were discussed. The report attempted to cover all
the aspects relating to indigenous people in a detailed manner for example their culture,
language, education, role of governmental and non-governmental authorities etc. On 20-23
September 1977, the NGO Subcommittee on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Apartheid, and
Decolonization held the International NGO Conference on Discrimination against
Indigenous Populations in the Americas at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Around 400
persons participated of which 100 of these were delegates of 60 indigenous nations and
peoples coming from 15 countries in the Americas. Observers from 38 member states of the

6
Australia Day, Editorial, Vanguard, February 13, 2013, available at
http://vanguard.net.au/2008/pdf%20files/feb13/Page%203.pdf, accessed on 17
th
February 2013.
7
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, How the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Got Adopted
8
Factsheet No.9 (Rev. 1), the rights of Indigenous people.

UN took part, as well as UN agencies like the UNESCO and the ILO. This was the first major
event which took place in the UN with a massive participation of indigenous peoples. This
conference came up with a Declaration which called on the UN to set up a body which will
address the violations of indigenous peoples' rights (this was recommended in the study
report). This report proved to be a turning point in history of human rights as it led to the
creation of the working group on indigenous populations in 1982. The Working Group on
Indigenous Populations is the centre of indigenous rights activity in the United Nations. The
focus shifts to the parent bodies, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities and the Commission on Human Rights, when the Working Group's
reports are being reviewed and discussed. Many of the indigenous rights initiatives
undertaken by the parent bodies have grown out of recommendations contained in reports of
the Working Group.
The International Labour Organizations (referred as ILO hereinafter) concern for
indigenous peoples started as early as 1920, primarily as a concern for their conditions as
exploited workers. This concern led, among other things, to the adoption of the ILOs Forced
Labour Convention (No. 29) in 1930. Continued research during the 1950s showed that
indigenous peoples a needed for special protection in many cases where they were victims of
severe labour exploitation, including discrimination, and forced and child labour. In
recognition of the need to address the situation of indigenous peoples in a holistic and
comprehensive way, ILO Convention No. 107 was adopted in 1957
9
. The Convention has a
special section on conditions of employment and was adopted with a view to improve the
living and working conditions of these populations by simultaneous action in respect of all
the factors which have hitherto prevented them from sharing fully in the progress of the
national community
10
. This was the first international legal instrument specifically created to
protect the rights of peoples whose ways of life and existence were - then, as now -
threatened by dominating cultures. In June 1989, after four years of preparatory work the ILO
adopted the Indigenous and Tribal people Convention which is a revised version of
convention No. 107 and has been ratified by 20 countries. The Convention has inspired
governments and indigenous peoples far beyond the ratifying countries, in their work to
promote and protect indigenous peoples rights. This new instrument eliminates the

9
International Labour standard Department, 2009 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples rights in practice, a guide to
ILO Convention No. 169, available at http://pro169.org/res/materials/en/general_resources/IPsRightsInPractice-
singlepages.pdf, accessed on 17
th
Feb. 2013.
10
(preamble, ILO Convention No. 107)
paternalistic and assimilationist approaches to indigenous peoples which were current in the
1950s. Convention No. 169 serves as a basis for ILO implementation and technical assistance
activities for indigenous peoples
11
.

AN ATTEMPT TO CORRECT THE WORLD COMMUNITY:
As has already been discussed, both ILO and UN since their inception have been very much
conscious of the atrocities being committed on the indigenous people and are making
continuous efforts to safeguard the interests and rights of the deprived class. At present
various issues regarding the indigenous people are governed by two major international legal
instruments viz. Indigenous and Tribal People convention (Convention No.169) and United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Instead of defining indigenous
people these instruments seek to identify indigenous people. As defined by the United
Nations Special Rapporteur to the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities, Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are:
those which having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that
developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of societies
now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant
sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to future generations
their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence
as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal
systems
12
.
The ILO convention No. 169 lays down certain characteristics. If a particular number of
people feature those characteristics, they come to be categorized as Indigenous people. As per
Article 1.1 of the convention these elements are:
If their culture, social organization, ways of living and economic conditions are
different from other segments of national population.
If they follow their own customs and traditions and have special legal recognition.
They are pre colonization societies
Their ancestors inhabited the country or region to which the country belongs

11
Factsheet No.9 (Rev. 1), the rights of Indigenous people.
12
(Martinez-Cobo, 1984)
Distinct social, economic, cultural and political institutions irrespective of their legal
status.
Self- identification as indigenous or tribal.
Impacts of the convention:
The convention is equally applicable to both indigenous and tribal people. Over the last few
decades, following the provisions of the convention, for the purposes of identification most of
the countries and regions have provided practical interpretations of the concept of indigenous
and tribal people. In Africa, indigenous peoples are referred to by terms such as ethnic
minorities, vulnerable groups, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, Pygmies, etc. The majority of
communities who self-identify as indigenous practice pastoralism or hunting and gathering
for their livelihoods, although there are also small farming/hunting communities who identify
as indigenous.
13
In Nepal National Foundation for the Development of Indigenous
Nationalities which came into being in 2002 is semi-autonomous foundation whose
governing council consists of government and Indigenous peoples representatives. The
Government issued a list of recognized indigenous groups which comprises of 59 groups.
Nepal ratified the convention in 2007. After ratification a committee has been set up to
review the list of indigenous people and the government is also likely to adopt a formal
definition for Indigenous People as per the identification criteria in the convention.
14
In
India Indigenous People are known as Scheduled Tribes. However, the Constitution of
India does not define Scheduled Tribes. According to Article 342 of the Constitution, the
Scheduled Tribes are the tribes or tribal communities or; part of or groups within these tribes
and tribal communities that have been declared as such by the President of India through a
public notification.
15
India accepts the existence of different tribes within its larger system
again not different from the main culture in terms of the core values. Indian constitution
presents the picture of the larger system of permitting the smaller political systems of tribal
populations to be part of the system to remain distinct culturally but to be part of the larger
system politically with sufficient autonomy wherever necessary and possible.
16
Schedules V
and VI of the Constitution of India contain provision of safeguarding the interests of the tribal

13
International Labour standard Department, 2009 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples rights in practice, a guide
to ILO Convention No. 169, available at
http://pro169.org/res/materials/en/general_resources/IPsRightsInPractice-singlepages.pdf, accessed on 17
th
Feb.
2013.
14
Krishna Bhattachan: Indigenous Peoples and Minorities in Nepal, 2008.
15
Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India http://tribal.nic.in/index1.html.
16
Y.K Sabhrawal, chief Justice of India, Plenary session: Rights of Indigenous People, ILA Toronto
people in India. Their cultural identity is assured to be maintained. In various other countries
not depending on whether the ratified the Convention no. 169 or not, there was change in the
attitude towards indigenous people. States started considering them as a part of their state
system. Although it would be improper to say that there was a complete turn over in the
mind-set of various states regarding the recognition of Indigenous People; however the
conditions began to improve.
In 2000, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six main organs of the
United Nations, established the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to consider a wide
range of issues affecting Indigenous Peoples. The Forum, which includes eight Indigenous
experts, is the first and only international body in the United Nations that has Indigenous
Persons as members. It meets once a year for ten working days and submit annual reports to
the Economic and Social Council.
17
Rodolfo Stavenhagen was appointed as the first Special
Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples on 24 April 2001. His mandate is as follows:
to gather information on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of
Indigenous Peoples,
to formulate recommendations to prevent and remedy such violations and to work
together with other experts of the UN Commission on Human Rights and of the Sub-
Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
The Rapporteur cooperates closely with the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the
Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Similarly, The United Nations declaration on the
rights of indigenous peoples, 2007 which is an outcome of twenty years of extensive research
and hard work represents one of the most important developments in the promotion and
protection of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The
declaration consists of 19 preambular paragraphs and 45 articles and covers rights and
freedoms including the preservation and development of ethnic and cultural characteristics
and distinct identities; protection against genocide and ethnocide; rights related to religions,
languages and educational institutions; ownership, possession or use of indigenous lands and
natural resources; protection of cultural and intellectual property; maintenance of traditional
economic structures and ways of life, including hunting, fishing, herding, gathering, timber-
sawing and cultivation; environmental protection; participation in the political, economic and

17
Study Guide: the rights of Indigenous People, Human Rights Library, University of Minnesota, Available at:
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/studyguides/indigenous.html, accessed on 18
th
Feb, 2013.
social life of the States concerned, in particular in matters which may affect indigenous
people's lives and destinies; self-determination; self-government or autonomy in matters
relating to indigenous peoples' internal and local affairs; traditional contacts and cooperation
across State boundaries; and the honouring of treaties and agreements concluded with
indigenous peoples
18
. The declaration also foresees mutually acceptable and fair procedures
for resolving conflicts or disputes between indigenous peoples and States, involving means
such as negotiations, mediation, arbitration, national courts, and international and regional
human rights review and complaints mechanisms. It further provides that the rights
mentioned in it constitute the minimum standards for the survival and well-being of the
indigenous peoples of the world. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples has been approved after 143 Member States voted in favour, 11 abstained and four
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States voted against the text
19
. States who
voted against the draft declaration claimed that they already had sufficient provisions
incorporated in their municipal legislations to safeguard the interests of the indigenous
people. Although, these are among those states of which maximum instances of human rights
violations of the indigenous people are reported. However, On 3 April 2009, the Australian
government officially endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, reversing the position of the previous government and fulfilling a key election
promise United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People has proved to be an
instrument which has guided constitutional and legislative reform in a number of countries,
and is increasingly being used by treaty bodies. Indigenous peoples holistic concepts of
development with culture and identity have been incorporated into national development
policies. At the United Nations, projects addressing indigenous people have been launched
and, in a few cases, agencies have included respect for indigenous peoples cultural diversity
through consultative processes
20
.
There are various other international instruments which directly or indirectly tend to protect
Indigenous Peoples human rights. Few of them have been briefly listed below:

18
Factsheet No.9 (Rev. 1), the rights of Indigenous people
19
UN adopts declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, available at
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23794, accessed on 18
th
Feb. 2013.
20
Shamshad Akhtar, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Coordinator of the
Second International Decade of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples, much progress since general assembly
adoption of indigenous rights declaration, but long way to go to fully realize those rights, third committee
told, available at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/gashc4045.doc.htm, accessed on 17
th
Feb, 2103.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): All human beings are equal in
dignity and rights
21
. Everybody is entitled to the rights in the Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
22

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1951):
killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to
prevent birth within the group; forcibly transferring children of the group to another
group. (Article 2)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966): In those States in
which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such
minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their
group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use
their own language. (Article 27)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966): This
Covenant describes the basic economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals. It
also has provisions for collective rights.
Rio Declaration of Environment and Development and Agenda 21 (1992):
Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in environmental management and development
because of their traditional knowledge and practices
23
. In order to fully make use of
that knowledge, some Indigenous Peoples might need greater control over their land,
self-management of their resources and participation in development decisions
affecting them.
24

Various development programmes are also being conducted by the UN for the benefit and
development of world community.
BITTER REALITIES:
There is an enormous gap between the standards of the Declaration and the reality on the
ground. What is preached is often not practiced. International human rights do not provide in

21
Article 1, UDHR
22
Article 2, UDHR
23
Principle 22, Rio Declaration
24
Chapter 26.4, Agenda 21
a binding form all the specific norms that should guide resettlement and rehabilitation. 143
Member states ratified the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous people but the situation
of Indigenous people in these states is no good than the states that didnt ratify it. To prove
the pointe we will being with India.
INDIA:
India whose constitution claims to be providing for a comprehensive frame-work for the
socio-economic development of scheduled tribes and for preventing their exploitation by
other groups of society by specially safeguarding their rights in Article(s) 15, 16, 17 and 23
of the constitution, actually fails to ensure practical implementation of these provisions. The
Indian government has made pledges at the international level to recognise, protect and
enforce a number of fundamental human rights which should be respected at all times,
including in the case of big development projects. The significance of these pledges is that
the Indian government puts its international credibility at stake if it does not respect these
rights. But the Government did not hesitate in doing so. A live example of the same is the
displacement of the indigenous people caused during Narmada Dam project despite their
continuous protest. Narmada Valley Development project is one of the largest hydroelectric
projects in the world but at the same time contains the potential of displacement of approx.
1.5 million people from homes and lands in three states viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra and
Madhya Pradesh. The project is likely to devastate human lives and bio diversity by
destroying thousand acres of forests and agricultural land. Although the government goes to
make big promises like rehabilitating and restoring these people, but practically is it possible
to rehabilitate all of them. Once they vacate their homes, there would hardly be any authority
by their side to redress their grievances. Arundhati Roy in Cost of Living (London: Flamingo)
goes on to write
25
:
"In the fifty years since Independence, after Nehru's famous 'Dams are the Temples of
Modern India' speech (one that he grew to regret in his own lifetime), his footsoldiers
threw themselves into the business of building dams with unnatural fervour. Dam-
building grew to be equated with Nation-building. Their enthusiasm alone should have
been reason enough to make one suspicious. Not only did they build new dams and new
irrigation systems, they took control of small, traditional systems that had been
managed by village communities for thousands of years, and allowed them to atrophy.

25
Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living (London: Flamingo, 1999), 15-16.
To compensate the loss, the Government built more and more dams. Big ones, little
ones, tall ones, short ones . . .

"Big Dams are a brazen means of taking water, land and irrigation away from the poor
and gifting it to the rich. Their reservoirs displace huge populations of people, leaving
them homeless and destitute . . .
"A huge percentage of the displaced [in India] are tribal people (57.6 per cent in the
case of the Sardar Sarovar Dam). Include Dalits and the figure becomes obscene.
According to the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, it's about 60 per cent.
If you consider that tribal people account for only eight per cent, and Dalits fifteen per
cent, of India's population, it opens up a whole other dimension to the story. The ethnic
'otherness' of their victims takes some of the pressure off the Nation Builders. It's like
having an expense account. Someone else pays the bills. People from another country.
Another world. India's poorest people are subsidising the lifestyles of her richest
This is not the only example. Incidents of human rights violations during the Dabhol Power
project in Maharashtra were so frequent and intense that Amnesty International had to come
to the rescue of the indigenous people. Displacement caused during Tehri Dam project in
Uttrakhand is another burning issue. According to an estimate made by the Rehabilitation
Directorate, around 5291 urban and 9238 rural families would be affected due to construction
of Tehri Dam. 3810 rural families have been partially affected by the Dam. In reality,
however the number of affected families is much higher. As of now, the number of urban
families displaced by the dam has reached 5,500 and the number of rural displaced families is
more than 12,000.The State Government has deliberately submitted lower figures of the
displaced families in the affidavits filed in the Supreme Court of India in the year 2002,
While ignoring the actual situation on ground. The Govt. has still not compiled aggregate
statistics of the affected people. However, if it is assumed that each urban family has roughly
5 and each rural family consists of 7 members, the total number of affected persons, may in
fact, be more than 1 lakh. Even 1605 families of government employees have been
categorised as displaced families
26
. It may be noted that families to be partially affected are

26
MATU- peoples Organization, Tehri Dam Project Environment Rehabilitation Towards Failure and
Devastation
not to be rehabilitated. They are to be compensated in cash for the land acquired from them.
Those qualifying for compensation are 4278. Out of these 214 have been compensated.
27

MEXICO:
Despite a growing outpour of international support and solidarity, there is no end in sight to
the paramilitary violence being waged against the Indigenous Triqui people of San Juan
Copala in Oaxaca, Mexico. The women in Oaxaca City made all too clear in the following
statement
28
:
Our indigenous Triqui people continue to be attacked, there is no disastrous day which
our people are not familiar with, the pain and rage are in our hearts, women, children,
old people, men, all of us and them, suffer injustice from institutions, from
paramilitaries, from the death of comrades who are merely counted as unending
statistics. While the bank accounts of the pseudo-leaders of the left continue to grow,
those of us from the Autonomous Municipality who use our words to denounce them
only receive rhetoric and demagogic speeches, and we note the growing politics of
paramilitarism which is nothing but a never-ending spiral of violence that condemns us
to death. How much more do we need to say that our struggle is for dignity, justice,
freedom, work, respect? How much more do we need to call on the people who are
silent and bowed? How much more so that they join the struggle for freedom, for
respect for their rights, for autonomy and self-determination, to decide our destiny as
indigenous peoples, to protest against the Mexican state which violates our rights!?
What use are international treaties if an old and obsolete constitution does not
guarantee the rights of the peoples of Oaxaca?
AUSTRALIA
29
:
In Australia, the indigenous unemployment rate was 15.6 per cent in 2006, or just over
three times higher than the non-indigenous rate, while the median indigenous income
was just over half of the non-indigenous income. Although some progress has been

27
Rehabilitation of people uprooted from the Tehri dam area: What is the reality? A PUCL report, PUCL
Bulletin 2002. Available at http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Industries-envirn-resettlement/2002/tehri.htm,
accessed on 17
th
feb. 2013.
28
JOHN AHNI SCHERTOW, Unending Violence for the Indigenous People of San Juan Copala, intercontinental
cry, Sep 9. 2010, available at http://intercontinentalcry.org/unending-violence-for-the-indigenous-people-of-
san-juan-copala/, accessed on 17
th
Feb 2013.
29
Department of Social and Economic Affairs, State of Worlds Indigenous People, United Nations, Newyork,
2009
made in Australia in recent years, particularly in education, the gap between indigenous
and non-indigenous peoples quality of life by virtually all standards is still very
significant. Indigenous households are half as likely to own their own homes, (34 per
cent of indigenous households owned their homes, compared to 69 per cent of the non-
indigenous population), and they are more likely to live in overcrowded conditions (in
2006, a quarter of the indigenous population of Australia was reported to be living in
overcrowded conditions). The situation is particularly serious in rural and remote
communities where people frequently do not have access to affordable adequate food,
water and housing and have poor access to basic services and infrastructure. In 2001,
for example, nearly half of all aboriginal communities (46 per cent) with a population
of 50 or more had no connection to a town water supply. Indigenous adults in Australia
are twice as likely as non-indigenous adults to report their health as fair or poor, are
twice as likely to report high levels of psychological stress, and are twice as likely to be
hospitalized. Ultimately, indigenous Australians life expectancy is around 20 years
lower than non-indigenous life expectancy.
NEW ZEALAND:
New Zealand is another country ranking high in global comparisons of human
development, but where there exist persistent disparities between Maori and non-Maori
in areas such as paid work, economic standard of living, housing, health and justice. A
recent survey by the Ministry of Social Development showed that in all but four basic
socio-economic indicators, Maori were worse off than European New Zealanders.
Comprising just fewer than 15 per cent of the New Zealand population, Maori account
for 40 per cent of all convictions in the courts and 50 per cent of the prison population.
The unemployment rate for the Maori is over twice as high as the national average (7.7
per cent vs. 3.8 per cent).
30
Household income is 70 per cent of the national average.
Maori life expectancy is nearly 10 years lower than non- Maori; they are four times
more likely to live in an overcrowded house (since 1991, the proportion of Maori who
own their own home has fallen from 61.4 per cent to 45.2 per cent)
31
.



30
New Zealand Department of Labour (2008).
31
Housing New Zealand Corporation (2008).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
32
:
In the United States of America, an evaluation of the 2000 census and a study in
January 2005 by Harvard University showed that socio-economic conditions for Native
Americans had improved between 1990 and 2000. The authors of the study stressed
that the most important reason for the improvements was self-determination, allowing
tribes to break away from the overall pattern of intractable poverty. It allows Native
American tribes to have decision-making power in their own lands and to be able to
exercise this decision making power efficiently.
Despite these trends, the average income of Native Americans is still less than half the
average for the United States overall. Almost a quarter of Native Americans and Alaska
Natives live under the poverty line in the United States, compared to about 12.5% of
the total population. Native American life expectancy is on average 2.4 years lower
than that of the general population. Moreover, Native Americans and Alaska Natives
have higher death rates than other Americans from tuberculosis (600 per cent higher),
alcoholism (510 per cent higher), motor vehicle crashes (229 per cent higher), diabetes
(189 per cent higher), unintentional injuries (152 per cent higher), homicide (61 per
cent higher) and suicide (62 per cent higher). Dropout rates from primary schools are
significantly higher among Native American Students compared to their non-
indigenous counterparts and the performance of those who stay in school, lags behind
others. This pattern is also visible in higher education.


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Department of Social and Economic Affairs, State of Worlds Indigenous People, United Nations, Newyork,
2009