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Course

Indigenous Peoples in International Law - LAWS8413

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Academic Program must be 9200 or 9210 or 9230 or 5740 or 9240 or 5760 or 9211 or 5211 or 9220 or 5750.

Excluded: JURD7613

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

The past three decades have seen the worlds more than 300 million indigenous people make significant advances in international law with the recognition of Indigenous rights through current and newly established mechanisms that advance the development of norms relating to Indigenous rights. The international system has responded to the increased awareness of the human rights problems Indigenous peoples face and as a result, discernible trends and normative developments have emerged at the international level relating to Indigenous peoples. This course synthesises the contemporary international law pertaining to in particular the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This course is also available to students undertaking relevant postgraduate non-law degree programs at UNSW, provdied such enrolment is approved by the appropriate non-law Faculty.

LLM Specialisations

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
  • Appreciate the history of Indigenous peoples engagement in international law
  • Have a deeper understanding of the historical consequences of dispossession of Indigenous peoples and how it has manifested in contemporary human rights issues.
  • Specialised knowledge in the normative framework in international law pertaining to Indigenous peoples
  • A deeper understanding of the common problems facing the worlds' 300 million Indigenous peoples that dominate international concern and inform the normative framework

Main Topics

  • Who are ips? What is the right to self-determination?
  • UN human rights treaty body jurisprudence
  • United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations
  • United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
  • United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples
  • United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
  • World Bank, IMF, MNCs and economic development
  • WTO: TRIPS, GASCM and FTAs
  • Indigenous Knowledge: WIPO, CBD, Climate change
  • ILO
  • OAS

Assessment

8,000 word assignment (including footnotes)  80%
 Class participation  20%

Course Texts

Prescribed

Course Materials will be made available on Blackboard and will indicate readings appropriate to each topic for each day in the schedule.

Recommended

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.

Resources

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.
Library

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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