Anda di halaman 1dari 4

International

Organization for
Self-Determination
and Equality (IOSDE)


www.iosde.org
info@iosde.org

IOSDE Statement on Self-Determination, Peace and Conflict, Security and Decolonizing


Domestic Abuse and Redefining Aggression
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples experience a violence and aggression against dignity as colonial dependents via
discriminatory State and international laws, mechanisms and policies. That violence can be understood as similar to the
emotional violence that a domestic dependent experiences when she or he cannot exit an abusive relationship due to
dependency, danger and surrounding external societal discrimination: When indigenous peoples have reacted and tried to
assert their rights, they have suffered physical abuse, imprisonment, torture and even death.1 It is imperative that the
United Nations (UN) remedies human rights violations occurring to Indigenous and Tribal Peoples by striving to create
international peace through formally and institutionally redefining war, conflict and aggression to include not only armed
conflict, but also culturally oppressive State policies and international political segregation that are designed to prevent
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples from formally decolonizing in a transparent and self-determined, as well as in an internally
FPIC (free, prior and informed consent2)-based manner. It fact, such steps are the duty of the United Nations as an
organization, and at the very foundation of its promotion and protection of human rights according to UN Charter Chapter
I (Purposes and Principles) Article 1.3
The General Assembly Resolution Definition of Aggression must be expanded to violence and abuse that occurs not only
via force or weapons, but exclusive State sociopolitical structuring and repressed self-determination. In addition to State
militarization of Indigenous and Tribal territories so as to be able to utilize Indigenous and Tribal lands for resource
extraction and other purposes, identified weapons of mass destruction in the definition of aggression must include
policies and systems, including segregated, exclusive States-only UN Membership, that result in State-sponsored cultural
discrimination, international political and judicial dominance, a denial of the right to say no to land-grabbing and foreign
visions of political and legal systems and development (as well as violations of free, prior and informed consent), and
high crime and suicide rates in Indigenous communities as a result of still-enforced colonialism and denied territoriallyand politically-based decolonization and thus self-determination.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Division for Social Policy and Development, Secretariat of the
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues State of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples, New York, 2009, p. 92.
2
The element of free implies no coercion, intimidation or manipulation; prior implies that consent is obtained in advance of the
activity associated with the decision being made, and includes the time necessary to allow indigenous peoples to undertake their own
decision-making processes; informed implies that indigenous peoples have been provided all information relating to the activity and
that that information is objective, accurate and presented in a manner and form understandable to indigenous peoples; consent
implies that indigenous peoples have agreed to the activity that is the subject of the relevant decision, which may also be subject to
conditions. from EMRIP (UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), Advice No. 2 (2011): Indigenous peoples
and the right to participate in decision-making, para. 25.
3
UN Charter, Chapter I (Purposes and Principles), Article 1. The Purposes of the United Nations are: 1. To maintain international
peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for
the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the
principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach
of the peace.

IOSDE: an equal future starts with an equal now



Redefining War and Conflict
World conflict, mass destruction and catastrophic consequences are resulting in and from the apartheid and segregation of
traditional leadership of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples from World Politics. Under the UN Charter issues concerning
international peace and security are a main focus of the Security Council and are to be of consideration to the General
Assembly in matters to bring to the attention of the Security Council.4 Under Article 39 of the UN Charter the Security
Council shall shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression. Article
11(1) of the Charter considers the maintenance of international peace and security to include, specifically, disarmament
and the regulation of armaments.5 However, the acts that threaten the peace and security of Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples in the world context include non-physical aggression- as discussed, these acts of aggression include psychological
and emotional violence through discrimination, segregation and restricted traditional culture- and land-based selfdetermination.
The following Articles support that what Indigenous and Tribal Peoples experience acts of aggression as committed by
States against Indigenous and Tribal Peoples ushers a need for international attention to and responsibility taken for these
acts of aggression by State(s): Article 5(3) of General Assembly Resolution Definition of Aggression: No territorial
acquisition or special advantage resulting from aggression is or shall be recognized as lawful.6 Article 5(2) of General
Assembly Resolution Definition of Aggression: A war of aggression is a crime against international peace. Aggression
gives rise to international responsibility.7
Human Rights-based politics and the Right to Self-Determination
The UN must decide if it is an organization for the promotion of the political entities known as States, first and foremost,
or equality and human rights. Because there are, and always have and will, exist equal traditional and new Indigenous and
Tribal political, territorial and legal entities that are not State-model-based but are, in fact, equal to States in their own
traditional bases in pre-colonial, pre-State-building, and outside of the scope of uti possidetis (as applied via formation of
new States and border-based political entities according to the boundaries of colonial administration), and consisting of a
Peoples culture, land and history.
Acknowledging the inherent abuse and suffering of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples on the ground level and in their daily
lives resulting from foreign-imposed governing systems, as well as the human right to peace and dignity, IOSDE supports
that Indigenous and Tribal Peoples desiring self-determination and self-governing have the right to do so through methods
found in, for example, the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, General Assembly (GA) Resolution 2625:
The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, the free association or integration with an
independent State or the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people
constitute modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.8

See UN Charter, Articles 11(1), 11(2) and 11(3).


UN Charter, Article 11(1).
6
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 3314 (XXIX), Definition of Aggression, 14 December 1974, Annex, Article 5(3).
7
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 3314 (XXIX), Definition of Aggression, 14 December 1974, Annex, Article 5(2).
8
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 2625, Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations
and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, 1970.
5

IOSDE: an equal future starts with an equal now

IOSDE expresses freely determined by a people to mean as-determined in a FPIC, or free, prior and informed consent,based manner, context, mechanisms and conditions.
Decolonizing and Self-Determination: Updating the international legal definition of Colonialism
IOSDE supports full and formal political and territorial Decolonization and full and equal political and legal recognition
of traditionally- and electorally-governed Indigenous and Tribal Peoples beyond the scope of uti possidetis, State laws and
State borders, including those borders still causing political and territorial division of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.
IOSDE supports full and formal political and territorial Decolonization and full and equal political and legal recognition
of traditionally- and electorally-governed Indigenous and Tribal Peoples beyond political means that cause segregation
and inequality between States and Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in the context of equal representation at the United
Nations.
IOSDE supports full and formal political and territorial Decolonization and full and equal political and legal recognition
of traditionally- and electorally-governed Indigenous and Tribal Peoples alongside Indigenous and Tribal territorial
integrity.
Therefore, IOSDE also requests that the United Nations update not only its definition of aggression and war to include
non-physical, psychologically abusive State-Indigenous relationships, but also that the United Nations formally update its
official definition of colonialism so as to include contiguous land-based territories and not only blue-water or salt-water
territories.

*****
Written by
India Reed Bowers, B.A. L.L.M.
Founder & Director IOSDE
November 12, 2013

Some excerpts from Indigenous Decolonization and United Nations Membership - Indigenous Peoples and the Fundamental Right to
Self-Determination, by India Reed Bowers, available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/129340589/Indigenous-Decolonization-andUnited-Nations-Membership-Indigenous-Peoples-and-the-Fundamental-Right-to-Self-Determination and various academic journals
and websites.

IOSDE: an equal future starts with an equal now

IOSDE: an equal future starts with an equal now

Anda mungkin juga menyukai