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Mr. Siegfried Wiessner

Mr. Siegfried Wiessner
Professor of Law
Director, Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights
St. Thomas University School of Law


Biography pdf of Biography

Human Rights
Indigenous Peoples
The Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples
Video | Audio
(2/7/2009, 56 minutes)
Human Rights
Indigenous Peoples
The Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples
A. Legal Instruments
International

The Peace of Westphalia (Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück), Münster/Osnabrück, 1648.

General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa, Berlin, 26 February 1885.

Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Paris, 10 December 1948.

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, New York, 7 March 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol.  660, p. 195.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, New York, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171.

American Convention on Human Rights, San José, 22 November 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1144, p. 144.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, New York, 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Seriesvol. 1577, p. 3.

Convention on Biological Diversity, Rio de Janeiro, 5 June 1992, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1760, p. 79.

Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Paris, 16 November 1972.

Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, Geneva, 27 June 1989, ILO No. 169, International Labour Organization Official Bulletin, vol. 79, 1989, p. 59.


National

National Assembly of France, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Paris, 17 August 1789.

Australia, Native Title Act 1993, Act No. 110 of 1993, C2013C00128.

Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Mexico City, 31 March 1995.

Philippines, The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act No. 8371), Manila, 29 October 1997.


B. Jurisprudence
International

Arbitral Tribunal, Cayuga Indians (Great Britain) v. United States, Award of 22 January 1926, Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. 6, p. 173.

International Court of Justice, Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 12.

International Court of Justice, East Timor (Portugal v. Australia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 90.

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, The Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua, Judgment of 31 August 2001, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., (Ser. C) No. 79 (2001).

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, The Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Judgment of 29 March 2006, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., (Ser. C) No. 146 (2006).

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, The Saramaka People v. Suriname, Judgment of 12 August 2008, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., (Ser. C) No. 185 (2008).

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Judgment of 24 August 2010, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., (Ser. C) No. 214 (2010)

National

High Court of Australia, Mabo v. Queensland, [1988] HCA 69.

Supreme Court of Canada, Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217.

Supreme Court of Belize, Claims No. 171 and 172 of 2007, Judgment of 18 October 2007.

Supreme Federal Court (Brazil), Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Peoples v. Brazil, Decision of 19 March 2009 published in the Official Gazette of the Union on 25 September 2009.

Supreme Court of Belize, Claim 366 of 2008, Judgment of 28 June 2010.
C. Documents

Report of the Commission on Human Rights, New York, 19 March – 14 April 1962 (E/3516/Rev. 1).

Declaration of Continuing Independence by the First International Indian Treaty Council, Standing Rock Indian Country, 16 June 1974.

Ailton Krenak, Coordinator of Indian Nations Union, Comments at the WCED Public Hearing, Sao Paulo, 28-29 October 1985, quoted in Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Transmitted to the General Assembly as an Annex to document A/42/427 - Development and International Co-operation: Environment.

Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. José Martínez Cobo, Study on the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations, 1986/1987 (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7 and Add. 1-4).

Conference on Yugoslavia, Arbitration Commission, Opinions 1-3, Paris, 29 November 1991 and 11 January 1992, European Journal of International Law, vol. 3, 1992, p. 182.

Conference on Yugoslavia, Arbitration Commission, Opinions 4-10, Paris, 11 January and 4 July 1992, European Journal of International Law, vol. 4, 1993, p. 74.

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 1993.

Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23: The rights of minorities (Art. 27) (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5, 8 April 1994).

UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, Paris, 2 November 2001.

General Assembly, Verbatim record of the 107th plenary meeting of the sixty-first regular session, held on 13 September 2007 (A/61/PV.107).

General Assembly resolution 61/295 of 13 September 2007 (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).

Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. S. James Anaya, on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, (A/HRC/9/9, 11 August 2008).


D. Doctrine

P. Aikio and M. Scheinin (eds.), Operationalizing the Right of Indigenous Peoples to Self-Determination, Åbo Akademi University Institute for Human Rights, Turku, 2000.

T. Alfred, “Sovereignty”, in J. Barker (ed.), Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2005.

J. Anaya, Indigenous Peoples in International Law, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004.

J. Anaya and S. Wiessner, “The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Towards Re-empowerment”, JURIST, vol. 3, 2007.

Aristotle, Politics, 350 BCE.

E.A. Daes, Indigenous Peoples. Keepers of our Past – Custodians of Our Future, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Copenhagen, 2008.

V. Deloria Jr., “Self-Determination and the Concept of Sovereignty”, in R. Dunbar-Ortiz, Economic Development in Native American Reservations, University of New Mexico Native American Studies, Albuquerque, 1979, pp. 22 et seq..

K. Kickingbird, Indian State Sovereignty, Institute for the Development of Indian Law, Washington, 1977.

F. Lenzerini (ed.), Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.

W.M. Reisman, “International Law and the Inner World of Others”, St. Thomas Law Review, vol. 9, 1995, p. 25.

G. Steiner, After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1975.

P. Thornberry, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2002.

N. Wenzel, Das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Gruppenschutz und Individualschutz im Völkerrecht, Springer,Heidelberg, 2008.

S. Wiessner, “Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples: A Global Comparative and International Legal Analysis”, Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 12, 1999, p. 57.

S. Wiessner,“Indigenous Sovereignty:  A Reassessment in Light of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 41, 2008, p. 1141.

A. Xanthaki, Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.