Droit et Cultures (Sep 2016)
Les concepts d’autochtone (indigenous) et de minorité (minority)
Abstract
The Concepts of Indigenous and Minority If the definition of the indigenous as «the member of a population settled on a given territory before the others and which has established specific ancient yet still valid relationships with this territory and its environment, with traditions and a culture of its own », he is above all considered as the member of a dominated population still in need of justice for the damage it underwent. As a «dominated» population, the indigenous share a lot with members of a minority equally dominated and the difference between both concepts – that of a minoritized indigenous population and a non-indigenous minority whose cultures and goods were damaged by a dominating power which is historically more recent, is not always obvious. We shall verify that the terms used to translate into law these concepts are considerable when they are not impossible to translate from one language into the other. In the case of France, former colonial state, the question lies in how not to admit wrongs inflicted to subjected populations nor to provide them with any specific rights they could enjoy. On the contrary, these populations are very «generously» invited to enter the modern civilization as integral part of the State’s majority culture and forced to adopt its language, the only one authorized throughout its territory. Indeed, it is forbidden to violate the unicity of the French People and any international text which recognizes collective or individual rights to indigenous or minority populations is considered contrary to the Constitution of the French Republic, aka «homeland of human rights». However, after a brief review of some international texts, the French singularity reveals a similarity with the restrictive positions of many national laws, given the important political stakes underpinning these two voluntarily ill-defined concepts from a legal point of view and which might threaten to constitute a path towards the reconsideration of national sovereignties and the States’ unity.
