"Appalling situation of human rights hypocrisy?" : an inquiry and elaboration in the 1/4 century-long negotiation process concerning United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples

Abstract

The year 2007 has been significantly marked by the adoption of an historical document: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous peoples, after almost a quarter century-long controversial negotiation process, finally achieved the adoption of a document that ensures them minimum standards for survival. Moreover, for the first time in the history of the United Nations, indigenous peoples, as beneficiaries of a drafted declaration, could participate and influence its context. The central aim of this thesis is so to unveil the reasons behind such a long and complex process, elaborate on its main characteristics and discuss the future challenges the adopted document faces. Accordingly, in order to understand factors contributing to its complexity and long duration, various existing theoretical lenses have been taken up. Furthermore, comparison has been made among existing theoretical and practical interpretations. In such a way, rather than giving one single or generalized answer, this paper provides for a compound of diverse perspectives on the twenty-five year-long battle of rhetoric in the United Nations. Moreover, rather than emphasizing one single reason as crucial for the developments made, the analysis provides various reasons, all important in their contribution and interaction within given circumstances that in the end resulted in what has been plausibly called an historical document.