International Indigenous Economic Law

49 Pages Posted: 5 Mar 2018

See all articles by Sergio Puig

Sergio Puig

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law

Date Written: March 2, 2018

Abstract

Scholarship on the links between business and human rights is widespread. However, the specific ways in which globalization accommodates the economically marginalized and those who are likely most vulnerable to its negative effects has received scant attention. The increasingly obvious manifestations of discontent over the effects of globalization — from Brexit, to the election of President Trump — combined with the evidence that confirms the very uneven distribution of its benefits, indicate that this is an important scholarly gap.

To bridge it, this Article explores the extent to which the main fields of international law that are tasked with promoting economic interdependence — international finance, investment, trade, and intellectual property — address the rights and interests of indigenous peoples, an expressly protected category of marginalized and/or vulnerable people under international law.

Relying on recent legal practice and four case studies, the Article compares these fields and explains the different ways indigenous peoples’ interests are accommodated by international economic law. More broadly, the intersection between international economic law and indigenous rights — what I call international indigenous economic law — provides important lessons to current demands to address the negative effects of globalization. In particular, the Article argues that international economic law must recognize the need to more seriously incorporate the struggle for social and economic justice espoused by human rights law. At the same time, human rights advocates should utilize the growing set of possibilities from instruments that promote economic interdependence to create or renew strategies that advance human rights values and goals. This complex line has been at the core of indigenous rights advocacy, the relative success of which provides some hope for the future of international law at a challenging time.

Keywords: economic interdependence, indigenous peoples, globalization, international economic law, social and economic justice, human rights

Suggested Citation

Puig, Sergio, International Indigenous Economic Law (March 2, 2018). 52 UC Davis Law Review ___ (2018 Forthcoming), Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 18-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3133326

Sergio Puig (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 210176
Tucson, AZ 85721-0176
United States

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