The Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Mapuche case

The legal representation of the indigenous people is quite recent and it is founded on some important agreements (i.e. the Convention adopted by the International Labour Organization on 27th June 1989 on Indigenous and Tribal peoples) and on disparate soft laws produced mainly by the work carried out within the UN framework, as established by the recent General Assembly Declaration of 13th September 2007, and other international organizations (i.e. Organization of American States).
In 1989 the ILO Conference adopted the convention n.169 on “Indigenous and Tribal Populations in Independent Countries”, that worldwide represented 300 millions of individuals, divided in 40 millions in South America, 60 millions in India, and the rest spread among Russia, China and Africa. It clearly mentions the importance of the self-determination of indigenous populations, without the paternalistic and integrationist implications previously contained in the convention n.107. Another important aspect of the convention n.169 is that it clarifies the difference between territory and land and people and population.
The fundamental rights within the general policy are: identity; non-discrimination and equality, self-determination, direct involvement in the decision-making process as well as in any development project, preservation of their traditional customs and institutions, internal conflict resolution in accordance with their customary law.
This new convention on “Indigenous and Tribal Population in Independent Countries” entered into force a year later and has been mandatory only for the members of the ILO that had ratified it.
It may look like a natural assumption that indigenous people fall into the general concept of “minorities” but this is not the actual case as indigenous people have distinctive identifying elements such as being the very first people to have settled in that specific territory and the importance of their control over such territory and their right to retain their cultural identity. Furthermore, the indigenous people themselves don’t want to be classified as a minority as under international law minorities don’t have the right to self-determination.
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The UN can take action on the concerns that humanity is facing in the 21st Century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and so on. The organization has grown into a means for governments to find common grounds and resolve issues together.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights saw the acceptance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly on 13th September 2007, as an achievement for justice and human dignity after more than two decades of negotiations between governments and indigenous peoples' representatives. It finally gives rights to indigenous peoples and their specific issues, thereby ending their historical exclusion from the international legal system.