Aboriginal Treaties: for the Past, Present and Future – Prof. Irene Watson

09/08/201818/08/2018 Editors Articles, Events, Opinion

This article is part of a series posted by the ILA Reporter to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

‘Treaty’ is a loaded word and concept. This is particularly the case when it is viewed through the lens of western jurisprudence which is applied to the politico-legal relationships between First Nations and colonial settler states.

In colonial relationships, the question of power is central to the view and version of how a treaty is privileged. Historically, the treaties entered into between colonial states and First Nations have favoured one treaty party – the colonial state, in every instance.

How are the right to food and customary law linked? An Australian and South African comparison – Anna Bulman

23/08/201623/08/2016 Editors Analysis, Opinion

Prior to colonisation, African peoples and Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples lived in close connection with the land and environment, and governed themselves according to their own complex systems of law. With the colonies came completely different legal systems that were imposed onto the captured land, and which failed to properly recognise the existing structures.