Advocacy and Lobbying Related to the Right

RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP AOTEROA NEW ZEALAND. Waitangi Tribunal. Again, with caveats, the Waitangi Tribunal in Aoteroa New Zealand may be mentioned. Here too challenges remain with regard to the resolution of claims on account of evidential mat- ters, logistics, bureaucratic procedures, discrimination, etc. Others. Some of the best practices from the Module on Land, Territory and Resources may also be mentioned: • PACOS Land Rights, Sarawak • Nepal Community Forestry • Forest Rights Act, India • Movement for the Protection of Forest and Land Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Ban- gladesh

B. Acion and Mobilizaion to Defend Rights

INDIA. JJBA, Jharkand see section on Land, Territory and Resources BANGLADESH Movement former Committee for the Protection of Forest and Land Rights in the Chit- tagong Hill Tracts; The movement spearheaded a reasonably successful campaign to resist in- dustry-oriented mono plantations in the name of “social forestry” that were to have been funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Bangladesh. The struggle still continues in courts of law and outside as a process of creating new “reserved forests” out of community lands is still to be formally resolved. NORTH EUROPE Saami advocacy for Nordic Saami Convention. JAPAN Nibutani Dam Case of the Ainu People in Sapporo District, Hokkaido, Japan. This case recog- nized the Ainu people’s right to the land and also recognized them as an indigenous people. This was a turning point in the Ainu struggle against discrimination and for equal rights. REFERENCES Judgment of the Sapporo District Court, Civil Decision No. 3, issued March 27, 1997, 1598 Hanrei Jiho 33; 938 Hanrei Times 75, 38 International Legal Materials 394 1999. Tahara, Kaori. 1999. “Nibutani Dam Case” in Indigenous Law Bulletin, University of South Wales Indigenous Law Centre, AugustSeptember 1999 International Issue: 18-20. Roy, Raja Devasish. 2005. Traditional Customary Laws and Indigenous Peoples in Asia London: Minority Rights Group International: 11. 62 Refer to materials from the Madrid Seminar on Special Mecha- nisms for Indigenous Peoples, some of which are enclosed in the CD which accompanies this manual. Note to trainers Module-3 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 63 NICARAGUA Awas Tingni case: Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Caso de la Comunidad Mayagna Sumo Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua, Sentencia de 31 de agosto de 2001. This landmark case upheld the rights of the Mayagna community’s customary law land rights, highlighting the “communitarian” and other traditions, which were held to have not been extinguished by the creation of the Nicaraguan state. An interesting feature of the case is that the main counsel in the case is the incumbent Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Funda- mental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Prof. Dr. James A. Anaya.

C. Actual Exercise of the Right

INDIA Sixth Schedule District Councils as a best practice. EXAMPLE SIXTH-SCHEDULE DISTRICT COUNCILS Extract from: Roy, Raja Devasish. 2005. Traditional Customary Laws and Indigenous Peoples in Asia London: Minority Rights Group International: 15. Mizoram is also among those states in Northeast India where the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India applies. This Schedule provides for another type or form of au- tonomy at a level that is lower than that of a state; namely, autonomous district and re- gional councils, whose populations are usually from one or more ethnic groups that are distinct and separate from those in other parts of the state. Thus, Mizoram has a number of district and regional councils populated by indigenous people who do not belong to the majority Mizo group who themselves are an indigenous people. One such coun- cil is the Chakma Autonomous District Council, having jurisdiction over an area with an overwhelming majority of indigenous Chakmas, who are also the largest indigenous group in the neighbouring region of Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. The Sixth Schedule district and regional councils – such as Chakma Autonomous District Council – have jurisdiction over several matters, including land administration, administration of justice, and limited legislative powers. They are partially autonomous from the state governments although the Governor of the state, a federal government appointee, retains certain legislative prerogatives, and enjoy the power to make laws on, inter alia, such subjects as allotment of lands other than reserved forests, manage- ment of forests other than reserved forests, regulation of ‘jum’ swidden cultivation and inheritance of property. In addition, these councils are empowered to regulate the levying of interest rates above a certain percentage, money-lending and trading by those not native to the state. EXAMPLE SIXTH-SCHEDULE DISTRICT COUNCILS Establishment of Village or Town Committees or Councils Extract from: Roy, Raja Devasish. 2005. Traditional Customary Laws and Indigenous Peoples in Asia London: Minority Rights Group International: 17. Apart from the special constitutional safeguards on Mizo customary law as men- tioned earlier, other such safeguards on customary laws include the legislative preroga- Module-3