Sustainable Development of Indigenous Peoples (International Model of Legal Regulation)

Abstract

In the article author notes the international-legal regulatory formula for the sustainable development of indigenous peoples is assumed to be a paradigm for national and subnational implementation practices. However, the lack of a unified universally recognized definition of the concept of «indigenous peoples» complicates the implementation of the functional-target vector for achieving their sustainable development. In order to construct the concept, the author proposes a differentiated approach that classifies the criteria for qualifying indigenous communities based on the ranking of imperative and conditional-imperative features. It has been established that a pluralistic dispersed model has actually been formed at the international level, according to which the sustainable development of indigenous communities (with different semantic meanings for this population group) is reproduced in differentiated legal acts of international law. It is emphasized that disaggregated data is a necessary resource for qualifying the parameters of achieving sustainable development of indigenous peoples, allowing for the identification and verification of impact factors, the configuration of adaptive mechanisms for optimizing their accounting and application, and the development of appropriate tools for achieving the specified goals and objectives, as well as the appropriate measurement of their implementation with the prevention of variable consequences. At the same time, it is pointed out it is important to form and apply a system of indicative assessment of disaggregated data used in relation to indigenous peoples. In turn, several provisions of the main international legal acts on the sustainable development of indigenous peoples do not provide for the use of disaggregated data, and they do not reflect a system of correct indicators. In the article the author also argues for the importance of taking into account the traditional knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples when modeling disaggregated data and indicators for assessing the achievement of goals and objectives in the field of sustainable development. Author suggests using the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity, participation, integration and transparency as a methodological basis for the institutional design of sustainable development of indigenous peoples.