What is the difference between the two?
Collective Rights in Action
Collective rights differ because they refer to the rights as a group that will then protect the individuals. The question is where is the identity of the people formed. Is it formed in the community or the individual and which should be the focus for policy?
Individual rights refer to the rights a person has to pursue a life without interference from others or government. These stem from classical liberalism with the notion of lassize-faire. The development of internationally recognized human rights has mostly been in this category since it is believed that guaranteed rights for individuals will naturally lead to rights for groups.
The Aboriginals in Australia have been developing indigenous rights since the 1960s by prohibiting racial discrimination, gaining legal recognition of land rights, and facilitating self-determination.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1976 and the Aboriginal La Ordinance 1978 allowed the indigenous people to claim traditional land and only high-ranking government officials (federal and Northern Territory officials that is) could enter without permits.
In 1975, the Racial Discrimination Act passed in federal parliament as a direct response to the UN's International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination. Such rights like being equal before the law was finally available to the Aboriginals and any other minority.
Defining Indigenous Peoples according to the 1989 International Labour Organization´s Convention and the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
Tribal peoples whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community, and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations.
"Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system" - Jose R. Martinez Cobo’s Study on the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations
Peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonization who, retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was first drafted in 1985, and completed in 1993.It was officially adopted in 2006 by the UN Human Rights Council with 143 countries in favor and 4 countries against.
Articles 3-5:
Articles 10, 26, 28, 29, 32:
Indigenous people want the right to control their traditional land. This includes environmental rights to protect their land from misuse of natural resources.
Self-determination relates to self-governance, not the right to secede from the state. It means the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development inside the country in which they live. They want to govern themselves in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, and to retain their distinct political, legal, economic, social, and cultural institutions. They can also participate in their country's affairs if they so choose (Article 21 UDHR).
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
How Globalization has changed the game
Globalization-from-above (international capital formation) has led to the destruction of indigenous culture and land. But it has also brought together different communities from around the world that are fighting to create rights on the international level. This has led to the formation of NGO's, the recognition from the United Nations about the problems indigenous people face, and the creation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenious Peoples.
Conclusion:
The Human Rights effort is a hard and frustrating process due to the lack of enforcement power unless the state wants to, the specifics and the not-so-specifics, and the slow moving political process. Indiviual rights have been the main focus, but maybe the way Australia has proven that using collective rights works (at least helps by taking baby steps) shows that we need to rethink the human rights process. What do you think: individual or collective rights?
Collective vs. Individual Rights
with the debate on Indigenous Rights