ABSTRACT

The cultures, languages and heritages of Indigenous peoples are threatened globally. If language loss is taken as an indicator of the loss of a people’s intangible cultural heritage (as embodied in their folklore, oral traditions and expressive arts), it has been predicted that the world will lose one-third of its remaining languages by the end of the twenty-first century. In this chapter, a review and an assessment are made of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICHC) in terms of what its provisions contain that will help Indigenous peoples to gain a measure of protection for their intangible cultural heritage. This, under the Convention, includes their oral traditions, languages, performing arts, social practices, traditional knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional artisanship. Of particular importance is the extent to which Indigenous peoples themselves are empowered by the Convention to effectively protect and maintain their own intangible cultural heritage and to participate in the Convention’s processes. The relative strengths and weaknesses of the ICHC are also assessed against other standard-setting international instruments and processes that can be used to provide a measure of protection for the intangible cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, particularly in relation to their languages and traditional knowledge such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2006) and ILO Convention (No. 169) Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. Reference is also made to the relevance and effectiveness of the suite of intellectual property laws overseen by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and particularly the deliberations of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore regarding the development of a sui generis law for

the protection of traditional knowledge. Other international environmental treaties and processes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the ‘Seed Treaty’) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, are also examined to provide a comparative perspective on what measures are currently being taken that can enable the maintenance and survival of aspects of the intangible cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples. Before reviewing the ICHC, and placing it within the context of other instruments, it will be useful to summarise its key features.