International Law and Reparations for Indigenous Peoples in Asia

• Published in: Reparations for Indigenous Peoples
• Main Author: Phutoli Shikhu, Chingmak
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 24.01.2008
• Subjects: human rights; reparations; indigenous peoples; ostracism
• ISBN: 0199235600; 9780199235605
• DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199235605.003.0016

This chapter examines the complex reality of reparations for indigenous peoples in Asia, showing a very heterogeneous situation characterized by the deeply diverse approaches adopted by the various countries. While some Asian countries (e.g., Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Japan) have developed a more or less sophisticated practice – at the judicial and even normative level – of reparations for the wrongs suffered by indigenous peoples, others (e.g., China or Myanmar) continue to pursue a policy characterized by clear ostracism, toward the recognition of the basic rights of such communities as well as of their distinctiveness from the dominant sectors of the national society. However, it is a positive sign that the attitude of a number of Asian countries, with respect to reparations for indigenous peoples, is today moving toward the effective implementation of international standards on human rights.