Affording Self-Determination: Human Rights and Indigenous Financial Autonomy

Human rights law protects the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. But what is the point of this legal recognition if indigenous peoples are in practice unable to finance their own projects for development?

Join NALSA and La Alianza to discuss this question with a delegation of indigenous activists from the purhépecha plateau (Mexico) who are using human rights litigation to find new pathways toward indigenous financial autonomy.

Under international law, it is generally accepted that governments must respect the political autonomy of indigenous peoples. However, after centuries of colonial extractivism and dispossession, many indigenous communities face enormous challenges in realizing this autonomy.

The purhépecha are at the forefront of contemporary indigenous struggles in Latin America. They have been featured in the Guardian, the DW and the NYT. Besides protecting their territories, their current legal strategies are claiming their right to administer the public budget directly – and thus the duty of Mexico to allocate a fair share of budgetary resources to indigenous communities.