Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

Although most Southeast Asian governments give
little recognition to communal resource management
institutions, traditional community leaders and their
members continue to play important role in guiding
the use of farmlands, water resources, pasturelands, and
forest. In Laos and Indonesia, for examples, more than
80 percent of all forestlands remain under indigenous
system of management. The local communities retain
control over substantial tracts of forest often operating
alongside commercial enterprises. In other words,
these indigenous patterns of stewardship of the natural
environment exist in the shadow, however, as they
given little or no recognition under the land laws and
policies in most Southeast Asian nations. (Lynch and
Talbott, 1995)
In the last three decades, it could witnessed that
indigenous peoples’ knowledge and rights as well as
their roles in managing and conserving forest land
and other forest resources is being acknowledged and
recognized throughout the world. (European Alliance
with Indigenous Peoples: 1995, 4) The international
community has shown increasing concern for the respect
and protection on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Conventions and declarations of the international
community provide a broad framework, as well as
specific statements regarding the recognition and
protection of indigenous peoples and their interests,
cultures, ways of life, cultural survival, and development.
(Asian Development Bank, 1999)
The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights have specific significance
for the respects of indigenous people rights. The 1948
UN Universal Declaration provides a common standard
for the human rights of all peoples and nations, and
proclaims the importance of traditional, political, and
civil rights, as well as basic economic, social, and cultural
rights. While the Covenant spells out civil and political
rights and guiding principles based on the Universal
Declaration.
The 1957 International Labor Organization (ILO)
Convention No. 107 concerning Protection and
Integration of Indigenous and Other Tribal and Semi-
Tribal Populations in Independent Countries addresses
the rights of indigenous peoples to pursue material
well-being and spiritual development. The Convention
No. 107 was followed by the 1989 ILO Convention
No. 169 regarding Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
in Independent Countries. The 1989 Convention
presents the fundamental concept that the way of life
of indigenous and tribal peoples and their traditional
HERITAGE, IDENTITY, CHANGE AND CONFLICT
organizations should be closely involved in the
planning and implementation of development projects
that affect them. In Article 14 of the Convention No.
169 in particular, states that: The rights of ownership
and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands
which they traditionally occupy shall be recognized. In
addition, measures shall be taken in appropriate cases
to safeguard the right of the peoples concerned to use
lands not exclusively occupied by them, but to which
they have traditionally had access for their subsistence
and traditional activities. It is also stated in Article 15
that: The rights of the peoples concerned to the natural
resources pertaining to their lands shall be safeguarded.
Agenda 21 adopted by the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED) 1992
clearly recognizes the actual and potential contribution
of indigenous and tribal peoples to sustainable
development. Besides, the 1992 Convention on
Bio-diversity calls on contracting parties to respect
traditional indigenous knowledge with regard to the
preservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use.
The Vienna Declaration and Programs of Action
emerging from the 1993 World Conference on Human
Rights recognizes the dignity and unique cultural
contributions of indigenous and tribal peoples, and
strongly reaffirms the commitment of international
community to the economic, social, and cultural
well-being of indigenous peoples and their enjoyment
of the fruits of sustainable development. The 1993
United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples addresses issues such as the right to
participation, the right of indigenous peoples to direct
their own development, the right to determine and
develop priorities and strategies for the development
and use of ancestral territories and resources, and the
right to self-determination.
The emerging concern for indigenous and tribal peoples
prompted the United Nations to declare 1993 as the
International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,
and decade from December 1994 as the Indigenous
Peoples’ Decade. (Asian Development Bank: 1999,
15)
As a result, since the late 1970s, the national
governments and donor agencies have begun to serve a
special attention and respect to forest-dependent people
and particularly indigenous communities in Southeast
Asia region. (Poffenberger: 1999, 19)
This section attempts to examine how the governments
of the three Southeast Asia countries namely Thailand,
Malaysia, and the Philippines recognize and regulate
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows
45