Human rights for nonhumans?
- 1 December 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
- Vol. 7 (3), 211-235
- https://doi.org/10.14318/hau7.3.013
Abstract
The legal grounds for the self-determination processes of two different indigenous peoples in Peruvian Amazonia reveal how the social relationships they establish with nonhumans enable them to exercise their current rights as “indigenous peoples” in international law. After examining the scope of the recent 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples both in this regard and from a historical perspective, I analyze in particular the notion of “spirituality” used in international law to qualify the relationship between humans and nonhumans among indigenous peoples. Finally, I argue that this recent change in the rights of indigenous peoples, considered as human rights, is the sign of a more widespread change in the nature of a subject of law. Les bases légales des processus d’auto-détermination de deux peuples autochtones de l’Amazonie péruvienne révèlent comment les relations que ces peuples entretiennent avec des non-humains leur permettent d’exercer leurs droits actuels en tant que “peuples autochtones” dans le droit international. Après avoir examiné ce que recouvre la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les Droits des Peuples Autochtones de 2007 à la fois depuis cette perspective et d’un point de vue historique, je m’intéresse plus particulièrement à la notion de “spiritualité” employée en droit international pour qualifier le rapport entre humains et non-humains propres à ces peuples autochtones. Finalement, je suggère que les transformations récentes dans le droit des peuples autochtones, considéré comme un sous-ensemble des droits de l’homme, marque un changement plus large dans la nature du sujet du droit.Keywords
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