Indigenous Law and Its Contribution to Global Pluralism

What I’d like to talk about today is Indigenous law in connection with the international Indigenous rights movement, and that movement’s contribution to a model of global pluralism and changes in the very structure of international law. Indigenous legal systems represent particular social, cultural, and political dimensions of human interaction that define Indigenous peoples. Indigenous decision-making institutions, land tenure systems, economic structures and cultural patterns are dependent on and, in turn, perpetuate the legal traditions that originate in and live through Indigenous societies. Yet, powerful forces have long ignored the interests of Indigenous peoples in maintaining their own legal systems, and worse, have threatened the very survival of Indigenous peoples. The history of misdealing and atrocities committed against the Indigenous peoples of the American continents ever since Christopher Columbus found himself on a Caribbean island, miscalcuclated his location, and called his hosts Indians, is well