ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the intertwined histories of Aboriginal rights advocacy and human rights advocacy in Australia during two distinct periods: the post-war era of the 1950s–early 1960s, and the closing decades of the 20th century, spanning the 1970s–early 2000s. It shows that while the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights served Aboriginal rights advocates well for a while, the limitations of a human rights framework for the protection of specific indigenous rights and interests eventually led to a movement in the closing decades of the 20th century to develop an international legal regime specifically tailored to the needs, demands, and rights of indigenous peoples – as distinct from other minority groups. In charting the course of this history, the chapter seeks to emphasize the strategic and persistent nature of indigenous peoples’ engagements with the international legal instruments provided by human rights law and the United Nations. In emphasizing the complex and varied nature of indigenous peoples’ historical and continuing engagement with these international legal tools and discourses, the chapter attempts, ultimately, to prompt further lines of inquiry: how useful is the human rights framework for indigenous peoples, and how useful is the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
