Sui Generis Orders under Focus

Collectivising the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Rural Populations

Resumo

Collective rights represent the last phase of a three generational model in international human rights law. However, the former generally lack respective possibilities for filing complaints, complaint procedures are largely absent similar as other forms of enforcement. International collective orders are commonly to be traced soft law instrument; in that sense, collective rights may lack legal enforcement and hence appropriate standing and recognition in intergovernmental committees. Similarly, legal categories in such new legal orders commonly demonstrate high levels of fragmentation and multiple dimensionalities. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas (2018) proves emblematic in that regard. The Declaration is to be understood as a sui generis order, at the same time, however, it demonstrably extends and deepens existing collective rights. The paper strives to explore to what extent existing indigenous rights such as embedded and articulated by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169 gain in legal status, what kind of dynamics may be identified between the legal categories established by the Declaration and how these connect to jurisprudence. Another focus will be placed on possible inter-categorical confrontations and intersectionalities; international movements including civil society actors deserve particular mentioning here. It is hypothesised that the two regimes stipulate rights of different nature, varying degrees of firmness and enforceability demonstrating their own particular approaches to a sui generis order of collective rights. The methodology applied includes legal theoretical approaches on the matter, including law and society debates particularly as to implementation issues as well as socio-political dimensions, shedding light on the relevant institutions involved. The issues discussed prove particularly relevant for larger debates on collective rights, new emerging legal and institutional regimes and the complexities inherent to enforcement, reciprocal shaping and recognition in international law and beyond.