Call for papers

Indigenous Peoples and Mobility 

The issue of indigenous peoples' mobility remains one of the areas to be explored within a growing body of indigenous research in the social sciences. Its importance is demonstrated by the decision of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to devote his latest report to the United Nations General Assembly to this issue (Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2024). This is the first systematic global study of the situation of mobile indigenous peoples. However, this situation represents only one aspect of the broader issue of the relationship between mobility and indigenous peoples, which also raises questions about the situation of those for whom mobility is not a way of life. 

I. Mobility as a way of life: mobile indigenous peoples

Mobile indigenous peoples stand at the intersection of two categories. On the one hand, their way of life places them among the nomadic populations, which are usually divided into three categories: pastoral nomadic communities, characterised by strategic movements organised around the search for pasture for their livestock; hunter-gatherer communities; and "peripatetic" nomads, who move between sedentary populations to whom they mainly provide services. On the other hand, they constitute, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, "a subset of indigenous peoples who identify themselves as such under international law". 

The combination of these two characteristics has long perpetuated practices and policies of exclusion and marginalisation of mobile indigenous peoples. These practices and policies were underpinned by an inherently negative perception of populations whose nomadic lifestyles reflected a lesser degree of progress than that of societies whose sedentary lifestyles represented the transition to 'civilisation'. It is, however, interesting to note that this perception was not always the case, particularly if we consider the recognition of nomadic states in the 18th century. This evolution thus reflects the entrenchment of a fundamentally patrimonial conception of a state exercising its sovereignty within a fixed and clearly delimited territory (Scott, 2017). This raises the question of how the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination is to be implemented, given that international law closely links self-determination to the creation of a state on a fixed, delimited territory.

The largely negative perception of nomadism is now being put to the test. In particular, the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has begun to emphasise that indigenous pastoral populations are perfectly suited to coping with the most difficult living conditions in the most inhospitable areas (FAO, 2022). Furthermore, the expertise and experience of these peoples are also highlighted, as evidenced by the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and the Environment, which was drafted in 2002 by a group of natural and social scientists from different regions of the world to address global environmental issues (climate change, erosion of biodiversity). It has also been fully adopted by regional human rights courts. Indeed, they have opposed states that justify the forced displacement of indigenous peoples on the grounds of the need to conserve biodiversity, which their activities allegedly threaten, by recognising their central role as conservationists (e.g. Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Kalina and Lokono Peoples v. Suriname, 25 November 2015; African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Centre for Minority Rights Development et al. v. Kenya, 25 November 2009).

The environment is central to our understanding of the situation of mobile indigenous peoples. Climate change, for example, exacerbates the pressures that some of them face and can even threaten their survival. It can also fuel tensions with sedentary populations, particularly over access to increasingly scarce resources. Policies aimed at initiating an ecological transition through the use of sustainable energy sometimes clash with the preservation of the rights of mobile indigenous peoples. A case in point is the dispute in Sweden over wind turbines that interfere with the activities of Sami reindeer herders (Cambou, 2020). This illustrates the complexity of the link between climate justice and social or cultural justice, and raises the question of whether the peoples concerned can be full actors in the transition.

Recognising that the mobility of these peoples is not just "outdoor recreation", as described by a Chief Inspector of Mines in Sweden (reported by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Communication No. 54/2013, finding of 18 November 2020), but rather an essential and existential way of life for indigenous peoples, also calls into question (international) human rights law. The preservation of their traditional hunting, fishing and gathering activities, which are constitutive of their cultural identity (Aumond, 2020), invites us to reconsider the right to property in light of their particular situation (Gilbert, 2014). Their freedom of movement also calls into question the relationship between their ancestral territories, which are shaped by their mobility, and the state territories they are able to straddle (Aumond, 2024). The exercise of their social rights also implies the adaptation of public services, especially health and education, to make them available and accessible. The same goes for the right of mobile indigenous peoples to participate in public decision-making. This set of rights then refers more broadly to the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. 

II. Mobility as a life experience: indigenous peoples on the move

Indigenous peoples may well engage in mobility, even if it is not a defining feature of their way of life. 

This mobility may be primarily internal. The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, for example, has highlighted the extent to which the rural-urban migration to which many indigenous peoples have been and continue to be forced poses a risk of loss of identity, language and culture (Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2021), particularly because of the likely break with the land and its resources that such migration entails. Moreover, this risk has been highlighted by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has also underlined the difficulties that these peoples may face in the context of their international mobility (Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2019). 

In this context, the Mechanism has identified the situation of trans-boundary indigenous peoples whose indigenous territory extends across several states, as in the case of the Kickapoo on the border between the United States and Mexico. This brings us back to the question raised for mobile indigenous peoples of the relationship between indigenous territory and state territory, and the question of whether the borders that demarcate the latter are opposable in the context of mobility within the former (Aumond, 2024).

Indigenous peoples residing in a State other than their country of origin constitute a diaspora that maintains links with their community of origin, the dynamics and resources of which deserve to be analysed.

Although the mobility of indigenous peoples is sometimes voluntary, in reality it is often forced. In such cases, evictions motivated by mining and other projects conflict with indigenous peoples' rights to their territories, lands and resources, and with States' obligations to ensure their free, prior and informed consent. 

Indigeneity can lead to persecution and cause targeted populations to flee their countries. Such persecution can also result from their political opinions, particularly those expressed in support of the defense of their rights and interests, especially environmental rights (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, 2016). Indigenous peoples may therefore fall within the scope of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951.   

Climate change is also forcing many indigenous peoples to move, sometimes across national borders. While they cannot currently rely on international asylum law, which does not provide for climate refugee status, the evolving interpretation of international human rights law, in particular the right to life, which is now understood as the right to live with dignity, already enables them to oppose any return to their country of origin if it is likely to expose them to a violation of this fundamental right (Human Rights Committee, Teiotiota v. New Zealand, communication no. 2728/2016, finding of 24 October 2019).

• Proposals may examine one or the other of these two aspects of mobility, or they may examine them together, particularly with regard to issues they have in common (e.g., environmental issues, indigenous territory, self-determination, or the relationship with resources).
• They may also cover all (mobile) indigenous peoples, or focus on certain subcategories (for example, the situation of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or in initial contact). Similarly, the analysis may focus on common issues or on a particular indigenous people.
• A multidisciplinary approach is also essential. Studies in history, political science, anthropology, law (national, regional, international or comparative) are therefore welcome.

 References:

Florian Aumond, « Les régimes juridiques dérogatoires accordés aux peuples autochtones dans les domaines de la chasse, de la pêche et de l’élevage », Études internationales, pp. 117-138, vol. 51, n° 1, May 2020.

Florian Aumond, « La libre circulation transfrontalière des peuples autochtones vivant de part et d’autre des frontières internationales. Un droit en construction », in Florence Faberon (dir.), Les régimes des autochtones et populations locales dans les outre-mers français. Droit et politiques comparés, Actes du colloque de Cayenne des 24 et 25 octobre 2022, Clermont-Ferrand, Recherches sur la cohésion sociale, pp. 191-205, 2023.

Florian Aumond, « Changements climatiques, droits humains et droits des autochtones. Autour des ‘constatations’ du Comité des droits de l’homme dans l’affaire Daniel Billy et autres contre Australie (21 July 2022) », Revue Juridique, Politique et Economique de Nouvelle-Calédonie, 2023/1, n° 41, pp. 161-173, 2023.

Dorothée Cambou, « Uncovering injustices in the green transition: Sámi rights in the development of wind energy in Sweden », Arctic Review on Law and Politics, 2020, vol. 11, pp. 310-333.

Jeremie Gilbert, Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights, Londres, Routledge, 2014.

FAO, Making Way: Developing national legal and policy frameworks for pastoral mobility, 2022.

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous peoples’ rights in the context of borders, migration and displacement, Doc. A/HRC/EMRIP/2019/2/Rev.1, September 2019.

Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Mobile Indigenous Peoples, Doc. A/79/160, July 2024.

Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, The rights of indigenous peoples living in urban areas, Doc. A/76/202, July 2021.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Doc. A/71/281, August 2016.

James C. Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2017.

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Deadlines:

• Deadline for proposal submission (one page): February 1st, 2025 at the following address: contact.nomopolis@gmail.com
• Proposals will be evaluated by the Editorial Board which will give a first feedback.
• Final articles should conform to the submission procedures and be sent before May 1, 2025.
• Articles can be in English, in Spanish or in French.