Indigenous People Research Paper

2.1 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Indigenous Peoples are found in all continents of the globe. Worldwide their population would be between approximately 500 million. They are responsible for nurturing most of the world’s cultural and biological diversity. The Indigenous Peoples of the world are very dissimilar. They form a spectrum of humankind, ranging from customary hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers to research scholars. Indigenous Peoples form majority of the population in some countries; others consist of small minorities. In India itself, some of the north-eastern states have a large number of tribal population, while some other states have a miniscule population.

Indigenous Peoples typically have a close bond with land, language and culture.

are the indigenous communities. They are discriminated against in schools and are exploited in the workplace. In many countries they are not even allowed to study their own languages in schools. Sacred lands and items are stolen from them through unjust treaties. National governments continue to deny Indigenous Peoples the right to live in and manage their traditional lands; often executing policies to exploit the lands that have sustained them for centuries. In some cases, governments have even enforced policies of forced assimilation in efforts to eradicate Indigenous Peoples, cultures, and traditions. Time and again, governments around the world have displayed an utter lack of respect for indigenous values, traditions and human rights.

In global dialogues on safeguarding and promotion of Indigenous Peoples’ human rights, some nations had argued that a more assiduous application of human rights principles would resolve the issue. Indigenous Peoples, on the other hand argued that such present standards have time and again failed to protect them so far. What is needed, they felt, is the development of new international documents addressing the specific needs of the world’s Indigenous

The two main regions of tribal settlement are the highlands and plains of its central and southern regions, and her north-eastern states. Although there are regional variations, the tribes share many characteristics, including living in geographical seclusion and being comparatively more homogenous and more self-sufficient than the non-tribal population. As a result, several tensions (both observable and latent) permeate relations between the tribal and non-tribal groups on the one hand, and the tribal population and the State on the other. The established, and largely acknowledged, resolution is to balance the dichotomy between integration of the tribes and their independent identity; and define the outlines of a national inclusive policy that would allow them to safeguard their way of life without compromising