Indigenous Peoples, Natural Resources and Permanent Sovereignty

The thesis analyses the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to natural resources under customary international law, focusing on the collective rights of indigenous peoples as such. In doing so, the thesis outlines the evolution of international law on indigenous rights after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007. The dissertation considers the possibility that indigenous rights with respect to natural resources may be conceived in terms of ‘permanent sovereignty over natural resources’, in the sense that permanent sovereignty vests in indigenous peoples rather than in States, and the possible implications of such postulation. The thesis is composed of three parts. The first part outlines the notion and current status of permanent sovereignty over natural resources in customary international law and examines the different conceptualizations that indigenous peoples have under international law, namely as individuals, as members of minorities and as peoples. The second part illustrates the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to natural resources before the adoption of the UNDRIP and the situations under international law when a people, rather than a State, may be holder of the right to permanent sovereignty over natural resources. The third part examines the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to natural resources after the adoption of the UNDRIP, outlining the differences with the right to permanent sovereignty over natural resources. The dissertation demonstrates that permanent sovereignty over natural resources entails the exclusive authority over the exploitation, disposition and utilization of natural resources of a territory and remains an inalienable right of States and of certain peoples with a right to independence in present international law. In contrast, the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to natural resources are part of their right to internal self-determination to be exercised within a State’s territory.