Recognition Is Not Justice: What Australia’s River Law Reveals About Indigenous Rights
In 2017, Victoria enacted the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act, the first law in Australia to recognise a river as a living entity. For the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and...
New WIPO Treaty to Protect Indigenous Rights: Reform without Sanction
Indigenous people’s traditional knowledge has routinely been misappropriated through the use of conventional intellectual property systems. The WIPO Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Treaty adopted in May 2024 after...
Reflecting on the Right to Self-Determination as the Primary Ground for Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact
From 21 April to 2 May 2025, the UN Headquarters in New York hosted the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) which endorsed the...
How a Caste Census Could Transform India’s Reservation Policies
The Indian government recently announced that the next nationwide population census will be conducted in 2026-27, and will include collection of caste data. This was a central issue in the...
Hacia Un Sistema De Native Title (Título Nativo) Justo Y Equitativo: ¿Es Suficiente La Conexión “Espiritual” Para Reclamar Derechos De Título Nativo?
El 9 de abril de 2025, la High Court of Australia admitió unanimemente con lugar una apelación en contra de una decisión de la Full Court of the Federal Court...
Towards A Just And Equitable Native Title System: Is “Spiritual” Connection Sufficient To Claim Native Title Rights?
On 9th April 2025, the High Court of Australia unanimously allowed an appeal in Stuart v South Australia from a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of...
Is Lack of Climate Change Mitigation measures a Human Right Violation?
A Disappearing Homeland The Torres Strait Islands are slowly disappearing owing to rising sea levels and costal erosion. Fortunately, however, in a landmark decision, the United Nations Human Rights Committee...
From Land Claims to Sacred Land Claims: Reflections on the Yunupingu Judgement and The Potential of ‘Freedom of Religion or Belief’
Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders: this article contains the name of a deceased person. On 12 March 2025, the High Court of Australia (‘the Court’) issued its much-awaited...
Climate Injustice: International Response to the Indigenous Women Experiences
Climate change is one of the most challenging threats humans face. It acts as a “threat multiplier,” intensifying social, political, and economic tensions in fragile and conflict-affected settings. As climate...
Human Nature: Understanding the Constitutional and Indigenous Context of Granting Legal Personhood to Taranaki Mounga
Last week Taranaki Mounga (mountain) joined a growing family of natural entities given legal personhood in Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Urewera was the first natural entity in the world to...
Australia inches closer to a national Human Rights Act
Australia is the only western liberal democracy without some form of federal charter of human rights. That may soon change, with a recent parliamentary inquiry recommending a federal Human Rights...
Green Reparations at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: The La Oroya Judgment
The La Oroya judgment, delivered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) on 27 November 2023, but only published late March 2024, constitutes an important legal first in the...
