International Norm Diffusion in the Pimicikamak Cree Nation: A Model of Legal Mediation

摘要

Over 1000 people from across the globe convene in Geneva, Switzerland, every summer to voice their concerns on indigenous rights. This pilgrimage to the week-long U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations has taken place every year since its inception in 1982, when only about thirty people attended. The increasingly global nature of political activism among indigenous peoples is evident in the growing number of participants at the Working Group, the United Nations' recent creation of a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to advise its Economic and Social Council, and the adoption of the U.N. Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the Human Rights Council in 2006. The language of human rights has become a platform for organizing the international indigenous movement. Its rhetoric has enabled indigenous peoples to claim legitimacy for their campaigns for political, economic, and cultural autonomy.