This article discusses the Women's Convention and, in particular, the Optional Protocol procedure, in order to examine the extent to which international human rights law may play a role in eliminating discrimination against Maori women in New Zealand. I explore the different kinds of discrimination Maori women experience in New Zealand, such as discrimination that occurs in customary contexts and state imposed discrimination, all of which has been encouraged by sexist colonial laws and practices that affect the role of Maori women in public life.

There is presently much controversy concerning the legal and political significance of "Indigeneity" in settler states. Recently, Jeremy Waldron set out to critique what he saw as the uncritical use of liberal property morality by supporters of Indigeneity. This paper argues that self-determination is a liberal principle better suited to founding Indigeneity's political significance.

Since the 17th century, Taiwan's Indigenous peoples have been ravaged by a series of Asian colonizers and their ongoing oppression has largely conditioned their present status and treatment within the Republic of China. This paper focuses on the impact successive colonial strategies have had on the Indigenous territorial base and the capacity of Indigenous peoples to protect and promote their discrete cultural identities.

This paper proceeds from the idea that the nation is a fantasy, an imaginary zone through which identity, belonging and control are mediated. I explore the consequences of imagining the nation in this way by reading the formative Australian cases through which Native title jurisprudence developed in this country. Those cases —- Mabo, Wik and Yorta Yorta —- and the public discourses surrounding them reveal the competing national fantasies at stake in disputes over property, recognition and co-existence.

In this paper, we consider the use of history in Indigenous land rights claims in Australia through a critique of the High Court's construction of Native title rights in Yorta Yorta Aborginal Community v. Victoria. The leading joint judgment of Gleeson C.J., Gummow and Hayne JJ. (with whom McHugh and Callinan JJ. agreed on the result) posited the time of the assertion of sovereignty as the key moment in the history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal relations, and the test for the proof of Native title focuses on this moment.

In Australia, Canadian government approaches to dealing with Indigenous peoples' demands for recognition and justice are often lauded as being more progressive than those of their Australian counterparts. Drawing on aspects of the treaty-making process currently underway in British Columbia and the policies of "reconciliation" and Native title in Australia as examples, this paper compares Australian and Canadian approaches to their relationships with Indigenous peoples in terms of how each state handles demands for the recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and nationhood.

In 1840, the British Crown guaranteed to Maori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, the continued right to exercise tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) over their own taonga (treasures). This article assesses the historic and current legislative reality for giving effect to this guarantee in the context of the treasured landscapes of mountains. Throughout the world, mountain ownership and management has become an integral part of many Indigenous peoples' struggles for self-determination.

This article evaluates the adoption and implementation of an Indigenous certification trademark system in Australia. Section II considers the use of copyright law, moral rights provisions and consumer protection laws to protect Indigenous cultural property in Australia. It suggests that there needs to be additional protection under trademark law—especially to deal with problems concerning communal ownership, material form and duration of protection.

This essay analyzes the Canadian government's recent efforts to reform the federal Indian Act, a colonial-era statute regulating First Nations life on reserve. The First Nations Governance Initiative suggests that the federal government is still having difficulty coming to terms with the contemporary policy framework in which First Nations - federal government relations operate. The paper looks at Indian Act reform from a historical perspective and explains the impact of more recent developments including the Corbiere decision.

To some Aboriginal people domestic Canadian law is alien and oppressive. In this paper one source of this perception is explored, the argument digging below the surface of the law to layers of theory and world-view which conflict with the sensibilities of Aboriginal peoples.