Report on indigenous fishing rights in the seas with case studies from Australia and Norway

At its eighth session, in May 2009, the Permanent Forum appointed Carsten Smith and Michael Dodson, members of the Permanent Forum, as special rapporteurs to prepare a study on indigenous fishing rights in the seas, and requested that the report be submitted to the Permanent Forum at its ninth session, in April 2010. The study includes an analysis of the potential protection of indigenous fishing rights in the seas provided by the existing international framework, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Labour Organization Convention No. 169 and Apirana Mahuika et al. versus New Zealand. Case studies from Australia and Norway, with reference to conventions and States in those two respective regions (vis. Papua New Guinea in relation to the Torres Strait Treaty; Sweden and Finland in relation to the Nordic Saami Convention), are presented to enable comparison between these States and with international law.