ABSTRACT
Table 7.1 includes some of the more significant bodies of international and national law that converge to create the legal and
policy environment in which academic and commercial research with indigenous peoples and local communities takes place. National access and benefit-sharing measures are addressed in Chapter 12, and a range of ‘soft law’ documents, such as codes of conduct and institutional policies, are covered in Chapters 1-5.1
Equitable research relationships are most likely to result when based on a bundle of basic rights, including rights to self-determination, autonomy and territory, as well as basic human and cultural rights (Posey, 1996; ISE, 1998). As stated by the International Alliance of Indigenous Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests and the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (1997):
‘Indigenous peoples are entitled to the recognition of the full ownership, control and protection of their cultural and intellectual property. They have the right to special measures to control, develop and protect their sciences, technologies and cultural manifestations, including human and other genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literature, designs, and visual and performing arts’ UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1993).
