The Challenge
Indigenous resurgence has gathered pace across the globe in the last three decades, and achieving formal recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples has been one of its major victories. Both the International Labour Organisation Convention 169 (ILO 169, 1989) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007) are hailed as major milestones. Compliance with those is also significant with regard to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The Patagonian region played a particular role in the process of nation-building in Argentina. While the Welsh in Chubut were part of those populations who would eventually benefit from the process, indigenous peoples suffered widespread displacement, dismemberment and dispossession.
In challenging practices not aligned with international indigenous rights legislation, indigenous communities are prompting Argentina to comply not only with the legal framework and sustainable development goals which it has adopted but also with the indigenous rights enshrined in its own National Constitution.