Ancestral domainorancestral landsare thelands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples,particularly in theAsia-Pacificregion. The term differs fromindigenous land rights,Aboriginal titleorNative Titleby directly indicating relationship to land based onancestry,whiledomainindicates relationships beyond material lands and territories, includingspiritualandculturalaspects that may not be acknowledged inland titlesandlegal doctrineabout tradingownership.
Concept
editIndigenous peoples may prefer to be described as custodians or guardians of their ancestral domain or lands rather than as title owners orland owners.
The concept of individualproperty ownershipandland tenurethat can be traded was often introduced as part ofcolonialism.[1][2][3]While the Western model of land ownership gives an individual the property right to control land as acommodity,indigenous conceptions have a cultural and spiritual character. They invoke a mutual responsibility and relationship between land and people.[4]
ProfessorMichael DodsonAMdescribedAboriginal Australians' idea of country using the term during hisAustralian of the Yearspeech. He said:
For us, country is a word for all the values, places, resources, stories and cultural obligations associated with the area and its features. It in fact describes the entirety of our ancestral domains. So when we acknowledge traditional country, as increasingly people do so in Australia, it's no empty ritual: it's to acknowledge who we, the Aboriginal people, are and our place in this nation. In doing that, it seems to me, all Australians might have a clearer notion of who they are and where they stand in relation to their history and the land they live in.[5][6]
History
editThe term was used as early as the 1920s in the work of theInternational Labour Organization(ILO).[7]
Initially, the ILO was concerned with the situation of indigenous and tribal peoples in their roles as workers in the overseas colonies of European powers. It became increasingly evident that indigenous peoples were exposed to severe labour exploitation and had a need for special protection in cases where they were expelled from their ancestral domains only to become seasonal, migrant, bonded or home-basedlabourers.This recognition led to adoption in 1930 of the ILO'sForced Labour Convention(No. 29).[7]
Following the creation of theUnited Nations,the ILO with the participation of other parts of the UN system created theIndigenous and Tribal Populations Convention(No. 107). Convention No. 107 was adopted in 1957 as the first international treaty on this subject.[7]
This involved the underlying assumption that the only possible future for indigenous and tribal peoples was integration into larger society, and that the state should make decisions regarding indigenous development. In 1986 an ILO committee of experts concluded that "the integrationist approach of the Convention was obsolete and that its application was detrimental in the modern world."[7]
In 1988 and 1989, the revision of Convention No. 107 was on the agenda of the International Labour Conference (ILC) and in June 1989, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) was adopted.[7]
This paved the way for theUnited Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoplesin 2007.
Documentation
editIndigenous peoples in Asia have usedcommunity mappingto advocate forland rights.This mapping may include documentingsacred sitesandimmaterialbut geographically-linkedtraditional knowledgeof land.[8][9][10]
Regional contexts
editIndonesia
editIn 2013, the IndonesianConstitutional Courtamended the 1999 Law on Forestry to return land rights to indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands are forested.[11][12]
In Indonesia, there have been many land conflicts regarding indigenous community territories in resource-richKalimantan.According to data quoted in theJakarta Post,following the enactment of the Masterplan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI) in 2011, some 135 communities became involved in conflict with businesses.[13]Many conflicts involve indigenous peoples' traditional cultures being uprooted bypalm oilplantations, orloggingormininginterests.
NGOsin Indonesia set up the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency. A community mapper said the agency was created to "be prepared for the court ruling. If it the Constitutional Court ruled that customary forests belonged to indigenous peoples, we wanted to be able to show where those customary forests were located."[13]
Canada
editThe common term in Canada is "traditional territory". This can refer the entirehomelandof a large ethnic group or the particular hunting and trapping grounds of a smallband society.In areas where treaties have been signed, it refers to the land outside ofIndian reservesin which a particular indigenous nation still claims an interest. In the case of specific rights to hunt and fish in a territory, these are called "aboriginal rights"and are a separate legal category from"treaty rights".In the case of areas where there are no treaties, such as most ofBritish Columbia,the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled thataboriginal titleapplies to the entirety of a nation's claimed homeland, and not just to the particular locations of villages and other intensely-used sites. This was a unanimous ruling by the court in the 2017 caseTsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia.However, in that same year, the Canadian court rejected the spiritual use of a site as being sufficient to establish aboriginal title, inKtunaxa Nation v British Columbia (Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations).
Philippines
editIn thePhilippines,the term is used to refer to indigenous peoples'land rightsin law.[14]Ancestral lands are referred to in thePhilippines Constitution.Article XII, Section 5 says: "The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being."[15]
TheIndigenous People's Rights Act of 1997recognizes the right of Indigenous peoples to manage their ancestral domains.[16]The law defines ancestral domain to include lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources owned or occupied by Indigenous peoples, by themselves or through their ancestors.[17]
TheFood and Agriculture Organization's research on forest land ownership in the Philippines found conflicts in institutional mandates among theLocal Government Code,mining lawand theNational Integrated Protected Areas Act,and recommended exclusive resource use rights to community-based forest management communities.[18]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^"State of the World's Indigenous Peoples Chapter 2 Culture"(PDF).United Nations.Retrieved16 October2013.
- ^"University of Melbourne Aboriginal Cultural Protocols Guidelines"(PDF).University of Melbourne. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 16 October 2013.Retrieved16 October2013.
- ^"Background Briefing Guardians".Survival International.Retrieved16 October2013.
- ^Lightfoot, Sheryl (2008). "Indigenous Rights in International Politics: The Case of" Overcompliant "Liberal States".Alternatives: Global, Local, Political.33(1): 83–104.doi:10.1177/030437540803300105.S2CID145415734.
- ^Australian of the Year speech, Professor Michael Dodson AM.Museum Victoria. Archived fromthe originalon October 16, 2014.Retrieved16 October2013.
- ^"Protocol for Welcome to and Acknowledgement of Country"(PDF).Law Society of New South Wales. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 16 October 2013.Retrieved16 October2013.
- ^abcde"History of ILO's work".International Labour Organization.Retrieved11 October2013.
- ^Talubo, Joan; Pauline."Community Mapping in the Philippines: A Case Study on the Ancestral Domain Claim of the Higaonons in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon".Regional Community Mapping Network Workshop.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Tuminez, Astrid (2007)."This Land is Our Land: Moro Ancestral Domain and Its Implications for Peace and Development in the Southern Philippines".SAIS Review of International Affairs.27(2): 77–91.doi:10.1353/sais.2007.0044.S2CID153528141.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Widodo, Kasmita."Indonesia's 'One Map Policy' Down to Earth".MERDESA Institute for Rural Reconstruction. Archived fromthe originalon 22 October 2013.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Pasandaran, Camelia."Constitutional Court Annuls Government Ownership of Customary Forests".Jakarta Globe.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Lang, Chris."Indigenous peoples' rights and the status of forest land in Indonesia".Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^abSabarini, Prodita."NGO maps out indigenous community territories".Jakarta Post.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Romualdo, Arlyn; Palisoc, VCD."Protecting IPs' Rights to Ancestral Domains and Lands".University of the Philippines. Archived fromthe originalon 16 October 2013.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^Bernas, Joaquin."Ancestral domain vs regalian doctrine (2)".Philippine Daily Inquirer.Retrieved10 October2013.
- ^"Fast Facts: Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines | UNDP in Philippines".UNDP.2013.Retrieved2021-04-12.
- ^"Republic Act No. 8371".Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.29 October 1997.Retrieved2021-04-12.
- ^"Trends in forest ownership, forest resources tenure and institutional arrangements: are they contributing to better forest management and poverty reduction?"(PDF).FAO.Retrieved10 October2013.