Indigenous peoples are garnering more focus on the world stage, and as such it is critical to understand their role in development. Indigenous peoples are especially impoverished, and often face institutionalized discrimination by their governments and other forces. This repression, limited access to services, and resource predation endanger indigenous peoples’ lives and livelihoods. I attempted to identify indigenous peoples’ policies in seven major development international non-governmental organizations, and after finding none upon document research and staff interviews, propose theories for why this could be the case. I compare international non-governmental organizations’ lack of policies to the presence of policies in international organizations. The difference between these two types of organizations formed the base of my theories, which were based primarily around the organizational structure and the different types of pressure and expectations that they face. I argue, though, that international non-governmental organizations should have indigenous peoples’ policies for several reasons including the improvement seen in international organizations’ treatment of indigenous peoples and the importance of accountability and transparency in the development process. The Report finishes by suggesting avenues to test the theories proposed, and plans for indigenous advocates. / text

The key research question explored in this study is: can a state attain its national economic development objectives and at the same time advance the rights of indigenous groups? Examines the tensions and prospects of the coexistence of both the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa and sustainable development with reference to selected case studies and approaches adopted by World Bank (WB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).The broad objectives of the study are: (a) To examine the link between indigenous peoples’ rights and sustainable development, (b) To explore the manner in which the international legal framework and African human rights system responds to the problem of indigenous in development, (c) To analyse key case studies of indigenous rights and development in Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa and explore emerging approaches by the WB and UNDP, (d) To make proposals on mechanisms for mediating indigenous peoples’ rights and national development aspirations. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Angelo Matusse of the Faculty of Law, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM