Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis analyses the concept of indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination within the international human rights system and explores viable avenues for the fulfilment of indigenous claims to self–determination through the design, implementation and evaluation of development policies. The thesis argues that development policy plays a crucial role in determining the level of enjoyment of self–determination for indigenous peoples. Development policy can offer an avenue to bypass nation states’ political unwillingness to recognize and promote indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination, when adequate principles and criteria are embedded in the whole policy process. The theoretical foundations of the thesis are drawn from two different areas of scholarship: indigenous human rights discourse and development economics. The indigenous human rights discourse provides the articulation of the debate concerning the concept of indigenous self–determination, whereas development economics is the field within which Amartya Sen’s capability approach is adopted as a theoretical framework of thought to explore the interface between indigenous rights and development policy. Foundational concepts of the capability approach will be adopted to construct a normative system and a practical methodological approach to interpret and implement indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination. In brief, the thesis brings together two bodies of knowledge and amalgamates foundational theoretical underpinnings of both to construct a normative and practical framework. At the normative level, the thesis offers a conceptual apparatus that allows us to identify an indigenous capability rights–based normative framework that encapsulates the essence of the principle of indigenous self–determination. At the practical level, the normative framework enables a methodological approach to indigenous development policies that serves as a vehicle for the fulfilment of indigenous aspirations for self–determination. This thesis analyses Australia’s health policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as an example to explore the application of the proposed normative and practical framework. The assessment of Australia’s health policy for Indigenous Australians against the proposed normative framework and methodological approach to development policy, allows us to identify a significant vacuum: the omission of Aboriginal traditional medicine in national health policy frameworks and, as a result, the devaluing and relative demise of Aboriginal traditional healing practices and traditional healers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/283344 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Panzironi, Francesca |
| Publisher | University of Sydney, Faculty of Law |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | The author retains copyright of this thesis., http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/copyright.html |
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