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Davis, Megan --- "A Personal Reflection on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" [2009] IndigLawB 11; (2009) 7(11) Indigenous Law Bulletin 9

A Personal Reflection on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

By Megan Davis.

My first experience of the United Nations working group elaborating a Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples (‘the Declaration’) was as a United Nations Indigenous Fellow. I had been selected for the UN Indigenous Fellowship in my final year of my law degree and was sponsored by the Foundation for Aboriginal Islander Research Action (‘FAIRA’), for whom I had worked as a legal researcher from 1998-2000. Subsequently I attended many international meetings as a representative of FAIRA and had the good fortune of being mentored by Les Malezer. I recall in my first year at FAIRA being given a packet of junket from my Secret Santa at the annual Christmas party.

During my time as a UN Fellow, I attended all of the main indigenous working groups and relevant treaty committee sessions, including the working group elaborating the Declaration. During the Fellowship, I worked in the Indigenous Secretariat of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. At the working group on the Declaration, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on the drafting of the official report. This meant that, for two weeks, I listened to the entire debate, summarising and collating all interventions made by states and indigenous observers. I recall working long hours, often into the early morning, in a small team drafting the report. It certainly gave me a different perspective of international law and UN conference procedure.

The UN Fellowship, once completed, led to a United Nations Certificate in Human Rights Training. Following this experience I returned the next year as a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (‘ATSIC’) Delegation. One of the commitments the United Nations asks of Indigenous organisations is that, after indigenous Fellows return home, they be actively involved in international human rights advocacy. In this way, we may put into practice the theory and experience gained during the UN Fellowship. ATSIC showed its commitment by including me, then as junior legal counsel, in its delegations to the Declaration working group. In subsequent working groups I gained valuable experience and insight into international law.

I was fortunate to watch and learn from established international lawyers such as Dr Sarah Pritchard, who taught me how to research international human rights law jurisprudence as well as UN (Economic and Social Council) procedure. I was able to observe how Sarah drafted interventions concisely and succinctly. In fact, in my first experience as an Indigenous lawyer at the working group, Sarah convinced ATSIC Commissioners – on numerous occasions – to give me the opportunity to deliver interventions on ATSIC’s behalf. That kind of experience in my early years as a lawyer was invaluable. Other international Indigenous lawyers and human rights activists with whom I was fortunate to work alongside include Dalee Sambo Dorough (Inuit), Tracey Whare (Maori), Kristina Nordling (Saami), Ferry Marisan (Biak), Konstantin Roebbeck (Yakutz) and Estebancio Castro (Kuna).

Spurred on by my passion for international law – especially human rights law – I commenced a Master of International Law at the Australian National University. I was particularly interested in studying the history of Aboriginal engagement in international law, the fundamentals of international human rights law and democratic theory. After the abolition of ATSIC, I attended the Declaration working group a few times as an academic observer. These were the interesting, barren years, when there was an impasse between states and indigenous observers. Aboriginal human rights leaders Frank Guiverra and Les Malezer were global indigenous caucus leaders during this period and shepherded the Declaration through this rough period.

In many ways, 2004 was a watershed year because there was a definite shift in strategy by the indigenous representatives. With the first United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples coming to an end, and the establishment of a new UN Human Rights Council, these were times of uncertainty. The long-standing ‘no change’ policy of international aboriginal representatives gave way to a new spirit of engagement. Ruth McCausland and I attended in 2004, representing Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning. We took verbatim notes of the entire two-week meeting. In retrospect, those notes are a valuable record of the significant developments in that year. In it, we have recorded the point at which Bill Smith, an Aboriginal Australian representative at the UN, stood up and gave a short intervention declaring, ‘words, words, words … that is all we seem to talk about’ – he then suggested that the Chair get out the butcher’s paper, put the billy to boil and nut out the differences around the billabong. Of course, Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) is no billabong, and we cannot for certain say that this was a turning point in the meeting. However, Chair Luis Chavez did bring out the overhead projector and pen and, very crudely, we began sifting through the articles in the draft Declaration pinpointing areas of agreement.

The Federal Government’s endorsement speech on 3 April 2009 was befitting the occasion. It is no overstatement to say that this is a significant development in the course of Aboriginal rights in Australia. There were no ‘qualifiers’ or ‘riders’ undermining the effect of the endorsement, despite some earlier suggestions to that effect. In fact technically it is not possible to have reservations on an international declaration, which is non-binding in nature.

The ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra was modest and succinct; it was made particularly special by the stellar collaboration between the Australian Art Orchestra (under Paul Grabowsky) and the Young Wagilak Group of Ngukarr in eastern Arnhem Land. Their performance of Crossing Roper Bar was truly magnificent; the charismatic talent of Benjamin Wilfred and Wesley Wilfred was breathtaking. This mesmerizing collaboration is one that all Australians will be proud of. It is great, human creative endeavour like this fusion of jazz and Aboriginal music that makes one hopeful for the future.

In the end, being there for the formal endorsement of the Declaration, surrounded by those with whom I had spent many days and nights in Geneva— Sarah Pritchard, Mick Dodson, Tom Calma, Frank Guiverra to name a few — there was a sense of shared accomplishment . On a personal level, I was proud that, in a very small and modest way, I had contributed to that achievement.
Megan Davis was a UN Indigenous Fellow and participated in the UN Working Group elaborating a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 1999-2004. Megan has a Master of Laws (International Law) from the Australian National University and is a member of the International Law Association’s Indigenous rights committee.


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