Indigeneity and Human Rights in Asia and the Pacific Towards a Just Society: Challenges and Opportunities?

The 6th Conference on Human Rights provides a platform for academics, human rights activists and practitioners to explore current human rights issues in Southeast Asia and beyond. 

Dates: 25 & 26 October 2023

Venue: Online via Zoom and in person at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Background

The relationship between indigeneity and human rights has long caused various challenges to promoting democracy and fulfilling human rights in Asia and the Pacific region. Some of the basic rights of indigenous people have continued to strengthen as indicated by the existence of political and legal movements. However, it was also found that indigenous people groups were actually marginalized in the development of democracy. Some reasons behind this challenges are the absence of a single term related to indigeneity and the variant concept of indigeneity propagated by various parties. This variant concept causes the terms indigeneity and indigenous to become terms that can be used for any purposes. Some countries use the term to differentiate the treatment of certain individuals or groups. The term indigeneity is also used to reject several human rights norms that are deemed inconsistent with locality, the context of indigeneity, and national interests.

To respond to those matters, we are delighted to organise the 6th Conference on Human Rights. The conference is expected to become an academic hub for all academic scholars, observers, practitioners, government, and civil society to share ideas and experiences about indigeneity and human rights in Asia and the Pacific region from various perspectives. 

Conference hosts

This conference is co-hosted by the Department of Politics and Government at Universitas Gadjah Mada, the Centre for Human Rights, Multiculturalism, and Migration (CHRM2) at the University of Jember, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) at the University of Sydney, the Law and Human Rights Research and Development Agency (Balitbang) at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Indonesia, the National Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM), the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Indonesia, the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS) Indonesia, the Center for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS) at Universitas Gadjah Mada, the Indonesian Scholar Network on Freedom of Religion or Belief (ISFORB), the Indonesian Consortium for Human Rights Lecturers (SEPAHAM) Indonesia, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and the Global Campus of Human Rights, Italy.