The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the practical utility of international norms to indigenous peoples. In recent decades, indigenous peoples have looked increasingly to international fora to secure what they see as their rights. It becomes important, then, to evaluate the potential utility of these efforts. Two conclusions dominate my assessment of the role of international law. Firstly, the lack of enforceability of the norms means that international law is unlikely to achieve change in the face of state resistance. Secondly, the vagueness of the norms, coupled with the complexity of self-government regimes, severely limit the principles' ability in achieving specific change. Instead, the utility of international law is seen to lie in changing attitudes amongst the general public and governments, by establishing common standards of treatment to which all indigenous peoples are entitled, creating new channels of communication and broadening the context of indigenous disputes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.27451 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Gillon, Kirstin. |
| Contributors | Webber, Jeremy (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Laws (Institute of Comparative Law.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001550067, proquestno: MQ29826, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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