URSPRUNGSFOLK OCH RATTEN TILL SJÅLV-BESTÅMMANDE: Sjalvbestammandedoktrinen mot en ny mening?

Resumé

Ulf Johansson Dahre: Indigenous peoples

and the right to self-determination: selfdetermination

towards a new meaning?

The beginning of the last decade of the 20th

century has seen the end of a distinet era in

international relations. This era, encompassing

the years 1945-1990, was the era of decolonization,

in which self-determination

was defined or understood in relation to decolonization

in the third world. This era also

brought a distinet definition of self-determination.

Entitled to self-determination were

the peoples of European overseas colonies.

Minorities and indigenous peoples excluded.

However, a redefinition, or an extension

of the concept, is ocurring. It is likely that

self-determination will become a legal right

of indigenous peoples, but not explicitly recognizing

secession, but a right to political

and social participation within the existing

States. In the transition from colonial to postcolonial

contexts, self-determination is becoming

a means of conflict resolution and a

way of pushing for democratic rights, also

for indigenous peoples.