Learn about the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the pillars of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Analyze how Indigenous Peoples have impacted some of the most important contemporary debates and how the indigenous movement rose up to claim and defend their rights.
Columbia University offers an online course on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this course you will learn about the achievements, challenges, and potential of the dynamic interface between the Indigenous People’s movement and the international community including the UN system. You will explore how Indigenous Peoples have challenged social norms and institutions in recent decades and how they shaped the decolonization of various systems at global, regional and national level.
The curriculum of this course is focused on the themes laid out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and explores how Indigenous Peoples have shaped the contemporary discussion about human rights, development, self-determination, governance, group rights and cultural rights. Together with your peers you will discuss how Indigenous Peoples, through their global movement, have been contesting and reshaping international norms and institutions. You will also learn how Indigenous Peoples have been working with the United Nations system, nation states and other stakeholders to claim and defend their rights.
This course is structured into five modules. The first module will provide you with an introduction to the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Movement, while the consequent chapters will explore specific rights such as the right to self-determination, land rights and cultural rights. The last module of the course will be focused on Indigenous Peoples-Related Mechanisms at the United Nations and will illustrate the power of advocacy.
This self-paced course takes roughly 30 hours to complete. While the course is free to audit, you may opt-in for a paid verified certificate for an extra fee.
