A/HRC/48/74
that the principle exists with regard to both collective and individual rights. The principle
must be applied to indigenous children specifically, while this may differ from the approach
used for non-indigenous children in a State, the culture, lifestyle and collective rights of
indigenous peoples must be taken into consideration. It must be applied specifically to the
child in question and cannot be disregarded in favour of the best interests of the indigenous
collective.
7.
Article 30 of the Convention guarantees the rights of indigenous children to enjoy
their own culture, profess and practise their own religion and use their language. In its
seminal general comment No. 11 on indigenous children, the Committee on the Rights of the
Child confirmed that under this article, States have an obligation to protect those rights and
to take special measures in consultation with indigenous communities, including the
participation of children in that process. An integral part of article 30 is that it contemplates
the child within the community, thereby recognizing the individual rights of the child within
the community, including rights to the enjoyment of their own culture, religion and language.
The rights of indigenous children are also explicitly contemplated in article 17 (d) with regard
to access to media in indigenous languages and in article 29 (d) on the aims of education.
Other key instruments
8.
In addition to their rights as children under the Convention, indigenous children have
the full gamut of human rights enshrined in all relevant international instruments, including
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, as well as regional instruments, including those specifically dealing with
children, such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
9.
Although not referred to specifically, indigenous peoples are understood to fall under
article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as ethnic, religious or
linguistic minorities, which guarantees their rights to enjoy their cultures, religions and
languages in community with others of their group.
B.
Collective rights of indigenous peoples under international law
10.
In addition to their individual rights, indigenous peoples have collective rights under
international law, as guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), as well as regional and domestic instruments, such as
the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes several
references to children.4
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
11.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples outlines the
collective rights of indigenous peoples and constitutes minimum standards for the survival,
dignity and well-being of all indigenous peoples (art. 43). The first mention of the rights of
indigenous children is in the preamble regarding the right of indigenous families and
communities to retain shared responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and wellbeing of their children, consistent with the rights of the child. Article 7 deals with a key issue
in the history of indigenous children, namely the collective right of indigenous peoples not
to be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including the forcible
removal of children of one group to another group. Article 14 confirms the collective rights
to education of indigenous peoples, including the establishment and control over educational
systems and institutions, using culturally appropriate methods, in their own languages,
without discrimination.
4
Articles VII, XV, XVII, XXVII, XXX.
3