What are indigenous peoples?
Indigenous peoples are those who lived in various areas on Earth before modern western culture arrived.  Some examples are the many groups of American Indians, the Australian aborigines, some central Asian peoples, and many African tribes.

What are human rights?
Human rights are the basic rights decided upon by international organizations such as the United Nations, UNICEF, and Amnesty International.  A person's human rights have been violated when he has been treated in a degrading or injuring manner.  The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights says that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood (Amnesty International Home Page, United Nations Home Page)."

Where is this problem occurring now?
Hot spots for problems surrounding indigenous peoples are located mostly in the southern hemisphere and near the equator.  The South, which is made up mostly of developing or "third world" countries, is running into many problems as its countries attempt to industrialize.  Also included in this list are the countries of the former Soviet Union.  These counties are included because in many ways they are still developing nations, both politically and economically.  Indigenous peoples in these countries are viewed in a way similar to the way the North American natives were viewed by European descended settlers in the 19th Century.  As a result, they are persecuted in many ways.  They are held out of well-paying jobs and are often forced to live in squalor.  In some cases they are even hunted down and "exterminated," "disappeared," or put into camps similar to concentration camps.  However, these are only in the most extreme circumstances.  More often they are only persecuted in ways that tend to fade into the background, rather than ways that might draw attention to the perpetrators' actions.

Where has it occurred in the past?
In the past, the problem of indigenous peoples has existed mostly in the North, particularly in the United States and Canada.  However, problems surrounding indigenous peoples still exist to a degree in these countries, but not to the extent that the human rights of the indigenous peoples of these countries are being threatened.

Who are the perpetrators?
The perpetrators of these problems are often the governments of developing countries.  Very rarely does it occur that individuals will act on their own to persecute a particular group of indigenous people.  Most often it occurs when groups powerful within the government or sanctioned in some way by the government act upon prejudices against the local indigenous people.

Who are the victims?
The victims are indigenous peoples around the world.  The Inuit people in Canada are some of the most vocal and well recognized indigenous people in the world.  Other persecuted indigenous groups around the world include: in Africa, the Ogoni of Nigeria and the Sahrawi of Western Sahara; in Asia and the Middle East, the Kurds, who are really an oppressed ethnic minority, and the people of Tibet; in South and Central America, the Mapuche Indians, the Mayans, and the Taino.

For more information on the plight of indigenous peoples and on violations of human rights, contact:
Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org
The United Nations: http://www.un.org
The World Wide Web Virtual Library, Indigenous Studies section: http://www.halcyon.com/FWDP/wwwvl/indig-vl.html
The Organization of American States: http://www.oas.org
The Council of Europe: http://www.coe.fr
The Fourth World Documentation Project: http://www.halcyon.com/FWDP/fwdp.html

Literature Cited
Amnesty International Home Page. 2 December 1997.  Available at http://www.amnesty.org (Accessed 6 December 1997)

United Nations Home Page. 1997.  Available at http://www.un.org (accessed 6 December 1997)

Text By Stephen Renard
Questions or Comments?  Please E-mail me at renarst@earlham.edu