Increasingly, issues concerning the rights and status of Indigenous peoples are gaining national and international attention, traction and engagement in many parts of the world. The emergence of demands for the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples' rights within domestic and international legal systems has given rise to a broad range of law and policy reforms and developments in many countries and international organisations and human rights systems.
The course generally takes issues concerning Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand as a starting point and uses these to consider issues affecting Indigenous peoples more broadly. Students are encouraged to look beyond and learn how reform is achieved in other legal systems by looking at best practices, successes and failures in other domestic, international and Indigenous legal systems. It is hoped that students will feel empowered to be creative, resourceful and informed when they craft their own solutions for Indigenous communities and clients.
The course will provide comparative legal and policy perspectives in regard to the development and re-construction of domestic and international legal systems that recognise and protect the rights and status of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous communities. It will also consider Indigenous peoples' customary laws, legal systems and diplomatic traditions expressing their own visions of their rights and status in relation to other peoples.