of indigenous rights
Explainer: UNDRIP is an unfortunate sounding acronym which stands for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It also lends itself to all sorts of puns. Indigenous peoples must at times feel that waiting for the declaration to be fulfilled is like waiting for a dripping tap to fill a bath.
The political fight over UNDRIP sometimes goes on without any actual reference to the document or the obligations it outlines. UNDRIP was originally drawn up by a wide range of indigenous representatives who made their case at the UN. There were particularly strong representations from Anglo-settler states, which included Moana Jackson. As Jackson has written, some of the indigenous delegates were "disappeared" by their governments when they returned home.
The four colonial settler states of United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries that not only refused to sign, but voted against it. This was a pretty good indication that they recognised they'd been breaching the principles for centuries and didn't want to address what the declaration was saying.
Link to article: The dripping tap of indigenous rights (msn.com)
