UNDRIP Implementation

The preamble of the Charter of the United Nations states that the peoples of the United Nations are determined “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person.”3 The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration)4 of 1948 declares that “the inherent dignity” of all members of the human family is “the foundation of freedom, [...] The Necessity of Exploring Inherent Dignity in Indigenous Knowledge Systems• James (Sa’ke’j) Youngblood Henderson sake of the human person or the person for the sake of the state: the human rights regime articulates that the state exists for the sake of the human.7 The idea of inherent human dignity has been at the heart of the major overarching human rights treaties that grew out of the Universal [...] Today, the idea of inherent human dignity is widely recognized as the innovative concept of the entire international human rights system.8 The importance of inherent dignity continued to be foundational in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,9 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights10 and the International Covenant on Economic, Soc [...] The conversations and explorations of this concept of the inherent dignity of Indigenous peoples need to be resumed in the implementation of the UN Declaration with the participation of Indigenous leaders, coming from within their diverse and distinctive knowledge systems and languages. [...] He was one of the strategists, expert advisers and drafters of the United Nations Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Indigenous Heritage and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.