indigenous peoples
The second half of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of initiatives calling for the recognition of indigenous peoples and their rights, separately from minority groups. There is no generally accepted definition of indigenous peoples, sometimes referred to as native or tribal peoples. The 1989 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of the International Labour Organisation living in independent countries defines them as “indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country or a geographical region to which the country belongs at the time of conquest or colonisation or the establishment of present state boundaries.” indigenous peoples are typically bound to their land by a specific cultural and historical link that pre-dates the settler or colonising population and they are distinct in identity from the rest of the population. The 2007 Declaration of the UN General Assembly on the rights of the indigenous peoples recognises the right of indigenous peoples to territory and to self-determination and autonomy.