I Watched UNDRIP Get Copy-Pasted Last Week
On watching UNDRIP get dismantled in real time.
Good morning team,
Well….Christmas came early this year, I witnessed Indigenous rights get tested and copy-pasted in real time.
Last week I was in a meeting on the draft declaration on Afrodescendants.
Some states are using UNDRIP provisions for a new declaration. Self-determination. Lands and territories. Free, prior and informed consent.
Word for word.
The draft has placeholder brackets with UNDRIP Articles 2, 7, 13, 14. Just sitting there. Waiting to be adopted wholesale.
How I Worked Last Week
I didn’t take the floor much. Not because I don’t see what’s happening. But because I do.
It’s because if Indigenous Peoples start weighing in on Afrodescendant issues, we’re inviting them to weigh in on ours. In a budget crisis where States are already sniffing around for mandates to combine? That’s exactly the wrong door to open.
So I watch. I calculate. I look for paths that protect Indigenous rights without blowing up relationships we’ll need later.
Let me be clear.
This isn’t about tension between Indigenous Peoples and People of African Descent.
Any collective has legitimate claims to human rights, People of African Descent deserve also their own rights frameworks. I’m not here to block anyone.
But I am here to protect Indigenous rights.
And what I’m watching is states exploiting sloppy drafting to water down what we already won.
Copy-paste UNDRIP without safeguards? You hand states exactly the precedent they need. Not because Afrodescendants gained something. Because the drafting wasn’t precise enough to keep Indigenous rights distinct.
Let’s Be Honest About What’s Coming
Will there be tension once this framework is codified? I’d bet on it.
When you’re considering Indigenous Peoples and right of people of African Descent as equal, and create rights overlap without clear differentiation, conflicts will emerge. And that’s when states can play us against each other.
That tension isn’t inevitable. It’s a design choice.
UNDRIP took almost 30 years to negotiate. Indigenous Peoples were at the table the entire time. We fought for provisions that reflect:
Our specific histories
Our relationships to land
Our governance structures
Our contexts
That’s why it works. It was built with us.
People of African Descent deserve to build their own. A declaration developed by them. Grounded in their unique contexts:
Anti-racism
Reparations
Durban
I’m guessing as I’m not of African Descent.
A framework that’s actually theirs. Not a copy-paste of ours.
What Copy-Paste Does to UNDRIP
UNDRIP is done. Thirty years of negotiation. Adopted in 2007. Done.
But when you lift duties of States from UNDRIP wholesale into a new declaration, you create the appearance that both are still in development. Still being defined. Still open for interpretation.
Suddenly UNDRIP isn’t a unique framework. It’s source material.
A template still being adapted. That reopens what we closed.
Now, states don’t need to attack UNDRIP directly. They can just treat it as part of some evolving “collective rights for vulnerable groups” project.
And the erosion of Indigenous rights begins. Not through opposition. Through blurring.
What We’ve Learned About Conflation
We can’t go back in time and kick ourselves in the ass. We can’t undo the moments where we should have been stronger on differentiation. Internationally, UNFCCC, CBD. Nationally.
The opportunities we missed to push Indigenous rights further, faster.
That’s done. The best time to start is now.
And the way forward isn’t fighting conflation head-on.
Not with local communities. Not with People of African Descent.
Fighting slows us down.
Will make us appear as war criminals.
The smarter move? Differentiate through:
Faster pace
Stronger language
Strategies
Let them build their frameworks based on their own contexts.
We’re further ahead so let’s continue to build ours stronger. Let them negotiate their provisions. We implement ours deeper. Let them develop their mechanisms. We make ours more effective.
Differentiation through action, not opposition. That’s how we protect Indigenous rights without burning energy on battles that drain momentum.
The Room I’m Reading
Primarily African states. LAC states.
African states are the ones we need on Indigenous rights issues, now more than ever. Even though many African countries still struggle with recognizing Indigenous Peoples domestically. Publicly oppose their declaration? They’ll remember when we need them.
LAC states are our core partners. UNDRIP is already constitutional law across Latin America. But LAC countries also have significant Afrodescendant collectives with legitimate claims. Appear to attack Afrodescendant rights? We alienate the only south bloc standing behind UNDRIP.
The wrong move is to oppose everything. Sound like we’re gatekeeping justice.
The right move is surgical.
What Complementarity Looks Like
Collective rights exist across international law. They’re not trademarked.
What matters is how those rights are framed. What legal instruments anchor them.
For Indigenous Peoples:
Self-determination grounded in peoples’ rights under international law
Historical continuity to pre-colonial societies
Distinct territorial relationships
Sui generis
For Afrodescendants:
Self-determination framed as internal self-determination under anti-discrimination law
ICERD
Durban Declaration
Participation, representation, remedies for structural racism
Again, just brainstorming as I’m not of African Descent
What to avoid? Collision with Indigenous rights.
One safeguard clause makes this explicit:
“Nothing in this Declaration shall be interpreted as diminishing or altering the rights of Indigenous Peoples as recognized in UNDRIP.”
That’s not blocking. That’s protecting what we built.
Afrodescendants get robust collective rights grounded in the correct instruments for their struggle. Indigenous Peoples maintain the distinct legal foundation of UNDRIP.
Both frameworks stay strong. Indigenous rights stay protected.
Before You Go
This was the second reading. The next one will be likely in October/November.
I see the risk to Indigenous rights. I see the room. I see the path.
Not opposition. Not silence. Surgical. Disciplined. Patient participation.
The work is:
Legal safeguards for Indigenous rights
Complementarity between frameworks
Legal security for what we already won
Get that right, and Indigenous Peoples walk away with our framework intact.
Get it wrong, and states walk away with exactly what they wanted.
That was my work last week.
See you next week!