The growing accessibility to the global community has allowed historically marginalized groups the opportunity to assert their positions on a global stage. The difficulty of States to enforce necessary protections of land and representation has allowed the entrance of new powerful international organizations with expansive networks to play a role in domestic policies. The largest indigenous group in Panama, the Ngöbe, has suffered from poor unification and political organization, weakening their position vis-à-vis the State. Recently, under the perceived threat of a large development project, the hydroelectric dam Chan 75, some Ngöbe groups have been able to make connections to bring awareness to their conflicts by appealing to distant sympathizers through international networks. These linkages are limited in their ability to force a change in national policy; however, these efforts are not in vain. The outcomes of the continuous negotiations that occur in the space of the physical development site are continuously changing to create the opportunity for the greater participation of the Ngöbe, who benefit from the leverage provided by international norms and vigilance.

This study investigates how to enhance Sámi participation in EU Arctic policymaking processes by adopting and adapting participatory practices from the Arctic Council. Through a qualitative content analysis of policy documents and elite interviews, the study identifies that the EU can learn from the Arctic Council by recognizing the Sámi as internal actors, developing their collaborative platforms, and integrating Indigenous Knowledge into policymaking processes. This thesis develops a conceptual framework, integrating the concepts of procedural and intergovernmental self-determination, epistemic belonging, and organizational interdependency to define meaningful Indigenous participation and influence, which guides the analysis. Using this framework, the study contrasts the Arctic Council’s successful practices, where Indigenous Peoples Organizations are treated as equals, with the EU’s tendency to view the Sámi as an external Indigenous group outside of EU borders. The study identifies opportunities for the EU to translate participatory mechanisms that reflect the Sámi’s unique position and integrate their knowledge, as well as barriers such as treaty and resource constraints. By translating Artic Council practices into soft-law, the EU can create an inclusive atmosphere, contributing to meaningful Sámi participation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:16:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosiane Pinheiro Palheta.pdf: 6018959 bytes, checksum: 7a132157645f7980d863f8c73f4cb34f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-22 / This survey has as study object indigenous participation in the District Council of Indigenous Health (CONDISI) in the context the Special Secretary for Indigenous Health from Manaus in Amazonas (SESA). It was Set up as the main objective to analyzing the indigenous participation in indigenous health policy focusing on the role of indigenous leaderships in DSEI Manaus / Am Between 1999-2013. The presumption of the thesis is that the indigenous movementin corporate the strategies of the national society to claim those rights to its self-determination with achievements and limitations in the context of indigenous policies such as health. The main references that formented the analys is were found in Brazilian and foreign authors in the Social Sciences area, especially anthropology, health and social work. The adopted methodology involved the bibliographical, documentary and field research with the use of observation and semi-structured interviews with 6 indigenous leaderships from CONDISI and health manager of the Municipal Health (Semsa) in 2012 and 2013. The survey pointed out as the main out come conceptions and conflicting practices of health and participation among health policy and indigenous health characterizing the role of indigenous leaderships in CONDISI to a constant struggle for indigenous self-determination / A pesquisa trata da participação indígena no Conselho Distrital de Saúde Indígena (CONDISI) no âmbito da Secretaria Especial de Saúde indígena de Manaus (SESAI). O objetivo é analisar como a participação indígena vem sendo incorporada nas políticas locais de saúde e qual o papel das lideranças indigenas na construção da política do DSEI Manaus no período de 1999-2013. O objeto central da pesquisa é a análise da participação indígena no âmbito da política de saúde indigenista de Manaus, sobretudo a executada pela SESAI. O principal pressuposto da tese é a de que o movimento indígena tem incorporado estratégias da sociedade nacional para reivindicação de direitos referidos a sua autodeterminação com conquistas efetivas no âmbito das políticas indigenistas como as de saúde. A metodologia adotada englobou a pesquisa bibliográfica, a pesquisa documental e a pesquisa de campo com a utilização da observação e da entrevista semi-estruturada. A pesquisa de campo realizou-se entre os anos de 2011 e 2013 junto ao Conselho Distrital de Saúde Indígena. Dentre os resultados da análise de dados constata-se que a participação enquanto categoria analítica e ao mesmo tempo categoria empírica foi objeto central da pesquisa. Dessa forma foi necessário refazer o trajeto que a participação trilho na historia da construção democrática brasileira. Todavia, apesar dos aspectos comuns que estão no invólucro da participação no seio das políticas públicas o trabalho permite concluir que a participação sob a lente indígena no bojo da política de saude indigenista está aquém das inspirações indigenas e longe do cerne que vem caracterizando a luta do movimento indigena no país. Conclui-se que incorporar as reivindicações indigenas às inovações e mudanças operadas no bojo das políticas de saúde não tem significado melhorias para a qualidade do atendimento e para mudanças efetivas no cotidiano da vida das populações indigenas

<p>Legislation on benefit sharing dates back to 1992 and the commandment of the UNConvention on Biological Diversity, hence implementation still has few cases to fall back on(CBD, 1992). The case study of the project ProBenefit presented by the thesis highlights howlack of deliberation can undermine a democratic process. The objective of the thesis is thatProBenefit’s attempt to implement the standards of the CBD on access and benefit sharingwill highlight not only problems met by this specific project, but difficulties that generallymeet democratic processes in contexts of high inequality. To define if the project ProBenefitsucceeded in carrying out a deliberative process the project will be analyzed by the criteria:access to information, representation, legitimacy and involvement.The population in the project area of ProBenefit had a long history of social marginalization,which made it hard for foreign projects to gain legitimacy. The lack of independentorganizations and the late establishment of the project, which resulted in time shortage, madeit impossible to prevent the distrust of the local population. The failure of the projectcoordinators to ensure active participation of all stakeholders resulted in a late and lowinvolvement of the local participants. The absence of independent organization also madedemocratic legitimacy of the process questionable. Even if ProBenefit had a vision ofdemocratic deliberation the project was unable to break down the prevailing unequal powerdistribution which resulted in an unsustainable process and failure. The conclusion of thethesis is that the attainment of deliberation foremost depends on how a project deals with theexisting distribution of power and how it succeeds in involving all stakeholders.</p>

Legislation on benefit sharing dates back to 1992 and the commandment of the UNConvention on Biological Diversity, hence implementation still has few cases to fall back on(CBD, 1992). The case study of the project ProBenefit presented by the thesis highlights howlack of deliberation can undermine a democratic process. The objective of the thesis is thatProBenefit’s attempt to implement the standards of the CBD on access and benefit sharingwill highlight not only problems met by this specific project, but difficulties that generallymeet democratic processes in contexts of high inequality. To define if the project ProBenefitsucceeded in carrying out a deliberative process the project will be analyzed by the criteria:access to information, representation, legitimacy and involvement.The population in the project area of ProBenefit had a long history of social marginalization,which made it hard for foreign projects to gain legitimacy. The lack of independentorganizations and the late establishment of the project, which resulted in time shortage, madeit impossible to prevent the distrust of the local population. The failure of the projectcoordinators to ensure active participation of all stakeholders resulted in a late and lowinvolvement of the local participants. The absence of independent organization also madedemocratic legitimacy of the process questionable. Even if ProBenefit had a vision ofdemocratic deliberation the project was unable to break down the prevailing unequal powerdistribution which resulted in an unsustainable process and failure. The conclusion of thethesis is that the attainment of deliberation foremost depends on how a project deals with theexisting distribution of power and how it succeeds in involving all stakeholders.