Paper short abstract:

International law guarantees “human security” for all. The concept includes the right to subsistence resources and economic survival as well as freedom from war and the threat of war.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of "human security," in contemporary international discourse,

means not only protection from war and the threat of war but also the right to economic survival. International law can contribute to human development policy by focusing on economic and social rights as formal guarantees of the law.

Indigenous peoples have the legal, human right to basic subsistence needs including the rights to a livelihood, employment, food, health, good nutrition, education, shelter, and a clean environment. These aforesaid specific rights are recognized by international treaties, conventions, declarations, decisions of international courts and tribunals and some state courts, customary international law, and conventions or declarations of international regional organizations. A critical subject for indigenous peoples is the right to control ancestral lands and their accompanying natural resources. These lands and resources are essential to preserving indigenous culture. For example, forest, water, and agricultural lands provide food, medicine,

nutrition, shelter and livelihood for indigenous families. Article XXVI of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights (2007) states that "indigenous peoples have the right to the land, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied and otherwise acquired." The International Labor Organization Convention 169 "Concerning Indigenous Tribal Lands in Independent Countries" (1989) states in Article XV that "the rights of peoples concerned to the natural resources pertaining to their land shall be specifically safeguarded."