INDIGENOUS rights are human rights and as such, indigenous people cannot or should not be left behind in any decision-making and development, says Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader Viliame Gavoka.
Speaking on Sunday, the eve of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Mr Gavoka said the party aimed to protect and promote the interests and rights of Indigenous Fijians and their group rights, as stipulated under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the ILO Convention No. 169.
Mr Gavoka said the UNDRIP was an international instrument adopted by the United Nations on September 13, 2007, to enshrine (according to Article 43) the rights that “constitute the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and wellbeing of the indigenous peoples of the world”.
“The UNDRIP protects collective rights that may not be addressed in other human rights charters that emphasise individual rights and it also safeguards the individual rights of indigenous people,” he said.
“The first of the UNDRIP’s 46 articles declares that “Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognised in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.”
