Source: http://int.piplinks.org/circumpolar-inuit-declaration-sovereignty-arctic:-pan-arctic-inuit-council-wants-more-say-sovereignt.html
Timestamp: 2019-05-23 16:03:47
Document Index: 766656321

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 1', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 37', 'Art. 5', 'Art. 18', 'Art. 25', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 29', 'Art. 2']

A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic: Pan-Arctic Inuit council wants more say in sovereignty | Indigenous Peoples Links
A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic: Pan-Arctic Inuit council wants more say in sovereignty
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/maritimes/Arctic+Inuit+council+wants+mo...
In a stinging rebuke of the five polar nations ringing the Arctic Ocean, the organization representing the world’s 150,000 Inuit has issued a declaration on Arctic sovereignty, decrying the “neglect” that “outsiders” — led by the governments of Canada, Russia, the United States, Denmark and Norway — have shown towards the region’s native inhabitants at a time of unprecedented global interest in the Far North.
“As states increasingly focus on the Arctic and its resources, and as climate change continues to create easier access to the Arctic, Inuit inclusion as active partners is central to all national and international deliberations on Arctic sovereignty and related questions,” states the Inuit Circumpolar Council declaration, released Tuesday ahead of an Arctic foreign ministers’ conference that begins Wednesday in Norway.
The Inuit — whose homelands in Canada include Nunavut, much of the Northwest Territories, as well as northern Quebec and Labrador — say their views are crucial to resolving issues such as “who owns the Arctic, who has the right to traverse the Arctic, who has the right to develop the Arctic, and who will be responsible for the social and environmental impacts increasingly facing the Arctic.”
Through the ICC, Canada’s 50,000 Inuit are politically allied with related indigenous populations in Alaska, Danish-controlled Greenland and northeast Russia’s Chukotka region.
The ICC said the declaration was drafted over the past six months “to address the increasing focus by outsiders on the Inuit homeland known as Inuit Nunaat.”
ICC chairwoman Patricia Cochran of Alaska said: “We have lived here for thousands and thousands of years and by making this declaration, we are saying to those who want to use Inuit Nunaat for their own purposes, you must talk to us and respect our rights.”
Canada’s top ICC official, Inuvialuit leader Duane Smith from the Northwest Territories, told Canwest News Service on Tuesday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper “comes to Inuvik for an Arctic backdrop to announce some campaign measures, but does not ask Inuit what the Canadian government position should be on Arctic sovereignty negotiations.”
In an ICC statement accompanying the declaration, Smith said: “It is in the interests of states, industry, and others to include us as partners in the new Arctic, and to respect our land claims and self-government agreements.”
In recent years, the retreating northern sea ice, the opening of polar shipping routes and growing interest in Arctic oil and gas have combined to prompt the five Arctic Ocean coastal states to pursue undersea territorial claims through the United Nations, and to begin clarifying the rules for economic development and environmental protection in the polar realm.
While the countries have generally expressed a determination to pursue peaceful development of Arctic resources, sovereignty conflicts have arisen in recent years over such issues as increased Russian military activity in the North, the planting of a Russian flag at the North Pole sea floor, jurisdiction over the Northwest Passage through Canada’s Arctic islands, and ownership of tiny Hans Island between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
Last year’s Arctic Ocean summit — held in Ilulissat, Greenland, in May 2008 — produced a five-nation agreement to try to avoid conflict and environmental damage in the Arctic. But Inuit leaders, represented only symbolically through the presence of conference host Hans Enoksen, the native premier of Greenland, are demanding a bigger role in future discussions.
“While Inuit were asked to say a few words, and while members of the Greenland home rule were in the room (as part of the Danish delegation), Inuit were not officially represented. As well, the Canadian delegation was devoid of Inuit,” Smith told Canwest News Service.
The governments of the five Arctic Ocean nations have “neglected to include Inuit in Arctic sovereignty discussions in a manner comparable to Arctic Council deliberations,” the declaration states.
The Arctic Council includes the five coastal states as well as the northern nations of Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The ICC attends all Arctic Council meetings with “permanent participant” status.
In Canada, Inuit leaders have argued for years that their people’s historic presence throughout the country’s Arctic possessions is the single strongest factor cementing Canada’s sovereignty claims in the region.
Copyright © Canwest News Service
[Forwarded by Jack Hicks – arcticnews [at] jackhicks [dot] com]
1.1 Inuit live in the Arctic.
Inuit live in the vast, circumpolar region of land, sea and ice known as the Arctic. We depend on the marine and terrestrial plants and animals supported by the coastal zones of the Arctic Ocean, the tundra and the sea ice. The Arctic is our home.
1.2 Inuit have been living in the Arctic from time immemorial.
>From time immemorial, Inuit have been living in the Arctic. Our home in the circumpolar world, Inuit Nunaat, stretches from Greenland to Canada, Alaska and the coastal regions of Chukotka, Russia. Our use and occupation of Arctic lands and waters pre-dates recorded history. Our unique knowledge, experience of the Arctic, and language are the foundation of our way of life and culture.
1.3 Inuit are a people.
Though Inuit live across a far-reaching circumpolar region, we are united as a single people. Our sense of unity is fostered and celebrated by the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), which represents the Inuit of Denmark/Greenland, Canada, USA and Russia. As a people, we enjoy the rights of all peoples. These include the rights recognized in and by various international instruments and institutions, such as the Charter of the United Nations; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action; the Human Rights Council; the Arctic Council; and the Organization of American States.
1.4 Inuit are an indigenous people.
Inuit are an indigenous people with the rights and responsibilities of all indigenous peoples. These include the rights recognized in and by international legal and political instruments and bodies, such as the recommendations of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and others. Central to our rights as a people is the right to self-determination. It is our right to freely determine our political status, freely pursue our economic, social, cultural and linguistic development, and freely dispose of our natural wealth and resources. States are obligated to respect and promote the realization of our right to self-determination. (See, for example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR], Art. 1.) Our rights as an indigenous people include the following rights recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), all of which are relevant to sovereignty and sovereign rights in the Arctic: the right to self-determination, to freely determine our political status and to freely pursue our economic, social and cultural, including linguistic, development (Art. 3); the right to internal autonomy or self-government (Art. 4); the right to recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with states (Art. 37); the right to maintain and strengthen our distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining the right to participate fully in the political, economic, social and cultural life of states (Art. 5); the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect our rights and to maintain and develop our own indigenous decision-making institutions (Art. 18); the right to own, use, develop and control o ur lands, territories and resources and the right to ensure that no project affecting our lands, territories or resources will proceed without our free and informed consent (Art. 25-32); the right to peace and security (Art. 7); and the right to conservation and protection of our environment (Art. 29).
1.5 Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic.
Our status, rights and responsibilities as a people among the peoples of the world, and as an indigenous people, are exercised within the unique geographic, environmental, cultural and political context of the Arctic. This has been acknowledged in the eight-nation Arctic Council, which provides a direct, participatory role for Inuit through the permanent participant status accorded the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Art. 2).
1.6 Inuit are citizens of Arctic states.
As citizens of Arctic states (Denmark, Canada, USA and Russia), we have the rights and responsibilities afforded all citizens under the constitutions, laws, policies and public sector programs of these states. These rights and responsibilities do not diminish the rights and responsibilities of Inuit as a people under international law.
1.7 Inuit are indigenous citizens of Arctic states.
As an indigenous people within Arctic states, we have the rights and responsibilities afforded all indigenous peoples under the constitutions, laws, policies and public sector programs of these states. These rights and responsibilities do not diminish the rights and responsibilities of Inuit as a people under international law.
1.8 Inuit are indigenous citizens of each of the major political subunits of Arctic states (states, provinces, territories and regions).
As an indigenous people within Arctic states, provinces, territories, regions or other political subunits, we have the rights and responsibilities afforded all indigenous peoples under the constitutions, laws, policies and public sector programs of these subunits. These rights and responsibilities do not diminish the rights and responsibilities of Inuit as a people under international law.
2.5 Inuit are permanent participants at the Arctic Council with a direct and meaningful seat at discussion and negotiating tables. (See 1997 Ottawa Declaration on the Establishment of the Arctic Council.)
4.1 At the first Inuit Leaders’ Summit, 6-7 November 2008, in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Canada, Inuit leaders from Greenland, Canada and Alaska gathered
to address Arctic sovereignty. On 7 November, International Inuit Day, we expressed unity in our concerns over Arctic sovereignty deliberations, examined the options for addressing these concerns, and strongly committed to developing a formal declaration on Arctic sovereignty. We also noted
that the 2008 Ilulissat Declaration on Arctic sovereignty by ministers representing the five coastal Arctic states did not go far enough in affirming the rights Inuit have gained through international law, land claims and self-government processes.
Adopted by Inuit Circumpolar Council, April 2009