AMAN’s struggle for rights is in line with the recognition of Indigenous rights enshrined in a wide range of international and national legal instruments which protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as well as the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has voiced the rights for Indigenous Peoples.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The rights of Indigenous Peoples are outlined in ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was ratified in 2007. It guarantees:

• The right to self-determination.
• The right for communities to represent themselves at negotiations with other parties through the own systems of management and institutions.
• The right to perform customary law.
• The right to own and manage land and natural resources.
• The right to identify themselves as Indigenous Peoples.
• The right to intellectual property.

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

The Rights of Indigenous Peoples was the focus of AMAN’s First Congress in 1999. From this, and various meetings of Indigenous Peoples in the different corners of the archipelago, AMAN demand access to the following:

• The right to 'control' and manage the land and all natural resources contained therein.
• The right to retain and maintain cultural identity, customs and local belief systems.
• The right to take care of themselves based on traditional management systems.
• The right to regulate itself in accordance with customary law and customary courts that apply.

Other Indigenous groups around the world champion similar demands.

Lessons of the Past

The lessons of the past indicate that almost all problems facing Indigenous peoples can be sourced from the centers of political power, both nationally and internationally.

The indigenous rights struggle has been encouraged by the leaders of the indigenous peoples movement from various corners of the archipelago – together with its NGO supporters – which led to the organisation of the First Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago in March 1999.

The decision was made at this conference to form the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples Nusantara (AMAN) as a vehicle for the common struggle for fundamental changes in national and state life in Indonesia.

AMAN is actively campaigning for a change in policy and law at national and regional levels, that explicitly recognize and guarantee the legal protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.