Peoples’ Right to a Nationality international system. 39 In Africa, the term covers ‘native’ African populations and those defined as such by UNDRIP and the Commission’s Working Group on ‘Indigenous Populations and Communities’ such as the Bororo and Pygmies. 40 The need for indigenous peoples to enjoy collective rights to nationality has been highlighted by researchers such as Willem van Genugten, Anna Meijknecht and Bas Rombouts, who argue that indigenous communities should be recognised as distinct people(s) as provided by international law. 41 Cindy Holder and Jeff Conrtassel opine that many indigenous groups and communities emphasise the interdependence of individual and collective rights and recommend that a dual collective/individual rights to nationality be envisaged and enforced. 42 P Juviler has, however, differentiated between minority rights, which are individual rights, and indigenous rights, which are essentially collective rights. 43 C Community, Populations and Peoples’ Rights Communities are ‘groups based upon unifying and spontaneous factors essentially beyond the control of members of the group.’ 44 They are entities that exist on cultural units and cannot be regarded as mere aggregate of individuals. They have a high sense of belonging, willingness to preserve solidarity between them, and share a common heritage and common destiny. On the other hand, a people is plurality of persons considered as a whole. This is the case with ethnic groups, nations, or the public of a polity. The 1989 UNESCO Committee of Experts further defined a people as a group of individual human beings who enjoy some or all of the following common features: (a) a common historical tradition; (b) racial or ethnic identity; (c) cultural homogeneity; (d) linguistic unity; (e) religious or ideological affinity; (f) territorial connection; and (g) a common economic life. 45 Ian Brownlie argues that a people should have a ‘distinct character’, which depends on factors such as race or nationality, culture, language, religion and group psychology. 46 In Legal Resources Foundation v Zambia, the African Commision on Human and Peoples’ Rights extended the definition of people to ‘an identifiable group of Zambian citizens by reason of their common ancestry, 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 James B Minahan. Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World (2nd ed, Greenwood 2016) xi. See Barume, Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Africa with Special Focus on Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (n 37) 47. See Willem van Genugten, Anna Meijknecht and Bas Rombouts, ‘Stateless Indigenous People(s): The Right to a Nationality, Including Their Own’ (2014) 19(1–2) Tilburg Law Review 98. See Cindy L Holder and Jeff J Corntassel, ‘Indigenous Peoples and Multicultural Citizenship: Bridging Collective and Individual Right’ (2002) 24(1) Human Rights Quarterly 126, 128– 29. Peter Juviler, ‘Are Collective Rights Anti-Human? Theories on Self-Determination and Practice in Soviet Successor States’ (1993) 11(3) Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 267. See Definition and Classification of Minorities: Memorandum Submitted by the SecretaryGeneral, UN ESCOR, UN Doc E/CN/4/Sub.2/85 (27 December 1949) 5 [18]. See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, International Meeting of Experts on Further Study of the Concept of the Rights of Peoples Final Report and Recommendations, UN Doc SHS-89/CONF602/7 (22 Feb 1990) 7–8. Ian Brownlie, ‘The Rights of Peoples in Modern International Law’ (1985) 9(2) Bulletin of the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy 104, 107–8. 41

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