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Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives (Federico Lenzerini ed., Oxford Univ. Press 2008) 650 pages, ISBN 9780199235605.
What indigenous peoples have suffered in the past and what some of them continue to suffer today is becoming widely recognized as serious violations of human rights. After more than 30 years of advocacy by indigenous peoples, the United Nations General Assembly finally passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007.1 The adoption of the Declaration can be seen as signaling the commitment of the international community to remedy historical ills and combat the present denial of rights. The volume edited by Federico Lenzerini appreciates this landmark agreement as a historical moment, but the various contributors also seek to move beyond the Declaration by addressing the fundamental question of what constitutes justice for the struggle of indigenous peoples.
Reparations for Indigenous Peoples considers the right to reparations by indigenous peoples for breaches of their individual and collective rights. The question of reparations in international law is evolving and continues to be relevant in a number of contexts. One such context involves the current legal action pursued in the United States to compensate victims of Apartheid in South Africa. Even where the need for compensation and reparation is recognized, the feasibility, forms, and effectiveness of these measures will vary. Understanding reparations for human rights violations, therefore, requires an international perspective and benefits from comparative study. The book accomplishes these tasks by maintaining a practical approach to analyzing effective redress while at the same time being comprehensive in its vision.
The book is divided into three parts. The first provides an assessment of the relevant international legal framework. This section includes the status of indigenous peoples in international law and the legal basis of reparations for human rights violations. The second part, comprising the major part of the volume, is rich with detail on the global, regional, and domestic practice of reparations for indigenous peoples. The third part seeks to identify in the comparative perspective the means for operational strategies and "best practice" to ensure reparations for injustice.
I.
After a concise introduction by the editor Federico Lenzerini on the scope and aims, the book begins by asking whether international law is ready to...