The international community showed its solidarity and commitment to protecting indigenous peoples and their rights when the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007, with a majority of 144 states in favor.

The first major development occurred at the International NGO Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the Americas in 1977, and subsequently the Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Organization of Work, 1989 (No. 169) has become an important international legal instrument.

The UN declaration states that indigenous peoples have suffered historical injustices due to, among other things, their colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, thus preventing them from exercising their right to development in accordance with their own needs. and interests. It recognizes their right to liberty, equality, self-determination and freedom from all forms of discrimination, as well as the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political structures, economic and social issues and their cultures, traditions, histories and philosophies, in particular their rights to their lands, territories and resources.

In 2016, the US government agreed to pay $492 million to 17 Native American tribes for mismanagement of natural resources and other tribal assets. Even Canada’s actions towards its Indigenous peoples are now being labeled genocide, while in April 2022, Pope Francis issued a historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic residential schools.

Unfortunately, indigenous communities in Pakistan are still struggling for recognition and protection of their rights. Laws such as the Land Acquisition Act 1894 and Articles 24, 152 and 173 of the Constitution of Pakistan allow the government to deprive these communities of their lands and the natural resources they use, necessary for their survival. . These laws only offer monetary compensation to these communities after they acquire their lands, which is heinous because money cannot protect them or guarantee their survival, after being driven from their lands to build mega projects.

These communities lived on these lands before the enactment of these laws and even before British rule on the subcontinent. In Sindh, indigenous communities such as Bheel, Meghwar, Kolhi, Bagri, Jogi and Oad as well as fishing communities are neither formally recognized nor registered as indigenous communities, which makes them weak and vulnerable. The mere extension of their lease or the occasional intervention of the upper judiciary offers no permanent solution whenever they are asked to prove their claims and ownership of their land.

Such practices have been seen in India, as only Muslims have to prove their credentials for the National Register of Citizens (NRC), under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019, stripping them of their citizenship. Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder and director of Genocide Watch, has warned of early signs of genocide in the Indian state of Assam and Indian-occupied Kashmir. Similarly, Myanmar stripped Rohingya Muslims of their nationality under the Citizenship Act of 1982, which ultimately led to the genocide of Rohingya Muslims, which was formally heard by the International Court of Justice.

Pakistan should prohibit such practices of depriving its indigenous peoples of their lands because they are unable to prove that they claim their lands, or in exchange for monetary compensation, which can lead to their displacement and threaten their survival.

There is an urgent need to introduce constitutional amendments to recognize and protect the rights of the indigenous peoples of Pakistan and to take appropriate measures for their registration by the federal and provincial governments. This can be the first step in the right direction by the government to protect its people and meet its international legal obligations.

The author is a lawyer and a faculty member of the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.