The UN Platform for Indigenous Issues is meeting this week, with a focus on self-determination. For interest, here are some thoughts on how Indigenous Peoples’ rights, set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (a voluntary agreement, but agreements are supposed to be signed in good faith) are/aren’t/could be progressed, with reference to the UK and museums. These are from a submission I made for an inquiry by one of the UN Special Rapporteurs, in January.
For more information on UNDRIP and how it relates to museums, and on human rights more generally, see this free guide, from 2020:
For further tools to help museums, libraries and archives support Indigenous Peoples, and many sustainable development challenges, see the ICCROM Our Collections Matter Toolkit .
1. Measures taken by States to implement the Declaration within the context of constitutional reforms, laws, legislation, policies, as well as judicial decisions.
At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, ahead of UNFCCC COP26 (2021), the UK Government stated: “The UK Government is fully committed to promoting and protecting human rights for all individuals, including indigenous people, without discrimination on any grounds. We continue to work overseas and through international institutions such as the United Nations to improve the situation of indigenous people around the world. In 2007, the UK supported the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”(1)
The UNDRIP has little profile in the UK, either generally, or in sectors; it is not mainstreamed into sectoral policies. The UNDRIP is sometimes referenced in inquiries, for example, as part of the ‘Scotland and the High North Inquiry’ (2017) (examining climate impacts in the Arctic), several submissions to the Inquiry referred to the UNDRIP.(2)
The UK is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which includes many commitments that are mutually supportive with UNDRIP (on the right to biodiversity, on promoting traditional sustainable use of biodiversity, access and benefit sharing, and more); the same applies to the UNDROP, UNFCCC and Paris Agreement. Mainstreaming these agreements across Government and into sectors more widely would help support the aims of the UNDRIP.
The UK has not undertaken a Truth and Reconciliation Commission such as has been done in Canada, and where a number of key actions for Government and institutions (including museums) were identified to progressively fulfil the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
More generally, the UK Government operates via arm’s length bodies, that are independent of Government. Such a situation can prevent the UK Government from fulfilling its international commitments and obligations, and where arm’s length bodies are unclear or unaware of what actions they could or should be taking to support sustainable development (although it can protect the bodies from undue political interference).
Within the context of Article 8, the UK has not progressed a law, laws or policies to progress the restitution of cultural property. With growing interest and attention in repatriation and restitution, there have been calls for more effective domestic legislation, notably for national museums.3 For example, museums in England come under the remit of Arts Council England (an arm’s length body), and it has recently developed guidance for museums on repatriation and restitution of cultural property and human remains (to accompany existing guidance, most of which relate to the repatriation of human remains).(4) In the UK, national museums are subject to particular laws (e.g. the 1963 British Museum Act) which make it more difficult for them to return cultural property to source communities. The British Museum also has a strong presumption against deaccession.(5) The British Museum, as a national museum directly funded and overseen by the UK Government (although at arm’s length), could do a lot more to progress the UK’s commitment to the UNDRIP. However, other museums are not legally bound in the same way, and are quite free to both initiate dialogue with other countries and Indigenous Peoples’ representatives, and to return material. Some have done so, but the rate is very slow; the active role of Indigenous Peoples and their representatives, and their long-term struggles for the return of material, are not always foregrounded (so action becomes about ‘the museum’, rather than those who struggled for action and recognition).(6)
Articles of UNDRIP with particular relevance to museums include (but are not limited to) Article 11(2) (“States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms, which may include restitution, developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs”), Article 12(2) (“States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through fair, transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned”) and Article 31 (“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions”).
Within the context of Article 21(2), on living conditions and the Right to Development, Indigenous Peoples residing in places severely impacted by climate change are particularly impacted when the UK does not fulfil its international commitments, for example in terms of meeting funding commitments under the Paris Agreement, or reducing international aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP. The UK’s ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuel use and extraction negatively impacts on Indigenous People’s futures. State funding (whether directly or through companies based in the UK) that supports fossil fuel and mineral extraction, including in Global South countries and in Indigenous territories in the subarctic and Arctic, undermines Indigenous People’s rights in Article 21(2). For example, more than 100 mining companies operating in Africa are listed on the London Stock Exchange.(7)
2. Concrete actions taken by States, consistent with Article 38, to achieve the realization of the exercise and enjoyment of the collective and individual norms affirmed in the Declaration.
Despite the UK’s close association with many activities affecting Indigenous Peoples today, there is little profile of many of these conflicts and challenges. While a number of institutions have focused on ‘decolonising’ their institutions (decoloniality or decolonial approaches), their activities do not always relate to contemporary challenges or debates. For example, wars and conflicts in many African countries, climate impacts in Commonwealth countries and former UK colonies, or threats to Indigenous peoples and biodiversity in UK dependencies and former colonies, have little profile in the UK, either in general media or in public institutions including museums. In considering colonialism as ‘a thing of the past’, contemporary challenges, legacies of colonialism (such as tax havens), and new forms of colonialism (including neocolonialism, ‘green colonialism’, modern slavery and state debt of former colonies) do not get the attention needed to secure sustainable development.
For example, within the context of Article 8 (access to culture and land), the UK has not complied with the 2019 UN General Assembly resolution that the Chagos Islands/’British Indian Ocean Territory’ come under the sovereignty of Mauritius. The UNGA Resolution stated that the UK should “withdraw its colonial administration… unconditionally within a period of no more than six months”. Although some progress was being made,(8) the UK has recently discontinued talks to progress the handover of the islands to Mauritius.(9)
Within the context of devolution, the UNDRIP has been invoked by those seeking Welsh self-determination.(10)
General remarks
Cultural institutions, including museums, could support UNDRIP in a number of ways, and could be empowered and encouraged to do so with effective policy support, signposting to relevant policy agendas, and funding and other resources. For example:
1. Collecting, preserving, developing heritage and collections: Safeguard, share and develop cultural heritage, including through activities that revitalize Indigenous Peoples’ traditional practices, and that actively seek to restore cultural heritage where it is improperly held, as well as seeking to maintain cultural and natural diversity more generally. (SDG 11.4, also 1.4)
2. Education : Support Education for Sustainable Development, for all people, to understand cultural diversity, lifestyles in harmony with nature, threats to people, cultural and natural diversity. (SDG 4.7, also 12.8, 13.3)
3. Participation: Promote cultural participation for everyone, in the sense of empowering people and communities to access cultural and natural heritage, and to take part in decisions that affect them, through cultural activity. (SDG 10.2, also 11.7, 16.7)
4. Tourism: Shift tourism to be sustainable, responsible and regenerative, to bring real benefits to people and communities, and to remove any negative impacts. (SDGs 8.9, 12.B)
5. Research: Support research activities that promote sustainable development, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples. (SDGs 9.1, 9.5)
6. Management and operations: Ensure that all operational and management decisions support UNDRIP, in terms of ensuring there is no exploitation or modern slavery in the supply chain, providing employment and other opportunities, and by eliminating negative social and environmental impacts, notably taking climate action and supporting Indigenous Peoples’ livelihoods. (SDGs 8.5, 8.8, 12.6, 13.3, 16.6, 16.B)
7. Partnerships: Working as part of a global movement for sustainable development, through partnerships, and by supporting international initiatives such as international observance days (SDGs 17.16, 17.17).
There are excellent work programmes available for the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement, CBD, and the recently revised 1974 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, that could be used operationally to support the UNDRIP.
References:
1 https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/04/Statement-of-the-Permanent-Mission-of-the-United-Kingdom-of-Great-Britain-and-Northern-Ireland-at-the-Permanent-Forum-on-Indigenous-Issues.pdf
2 https://committees.parliament.uk/work/4683/scotland-and-the-high-north-inquiry/
3 National legislation would help museums navigate the complex terrain of restitution – Museums Association
4 https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-arts-museums-and-libraries/supporting-collections-and-cultural-property/restitution-and-repatriation-practical-guide-museums-england
5 https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/De-accession_Policy_Nov2018.pdf
6 See Curtis and Scholten 2022 for an overview of repatriation and restitution from Scottish museums, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370280388_Repatriation_from_Scottish_Museums_A_Short_Report
7 https://waronwant.org/resources/new-colonialism-britains-scramble-africas-energy-and-mineral-resources#overlay-context=media/new-report-british-companies-leading-new-%25E2%2580%2598scramble-africa%25E2%2580%2599-worth-1-trillion
8 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/03/uk-agrees-to-negotiate-with-mauritius-over-handover-of-chagos-islands
9 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/01/uk-drop-plan-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-mauritius/
10 https://nation.cymru/opinion/the-crown-estate-violating-wales-right-to-profit-from-its-own-natural-resources/
Curating Tomorrow, Henry McGhie 