ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores how the international indigenous peoples’ rights movement works in a specific locality, and at different levels. It addresses an aspect of indigenous peoples’ rights and “postcolonial” law, using case studies from different parts of the world and the international arena. The book examines the International Labour Organization Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the only binding international mechanism on indigenous peoples’ rights. It analyzes the role of the UN in defining the political position of indigenous peoples in the country. The book discusses the UN structures from another perspective— that of rural Cambodian activists seeking support for their claims of violations of indigenous peoples’ rights from which they are suffering. It describes the various ways in which the indigenous peoples of French Guiana have been governed throughout the last century.
