PhD defence

Rights Denied, Heritage Stolen

• L.F. Inácio Belfort Sales

Date

Tuesday 14 November 2023

Time

13:45 - 14:30 hour

Address

Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden

Supervisor(s)

• Prof.dr. M.E.R.G.N. Jansen
• Prof.dr. E.C. Pinto Moreira (Brazilië)
• dr. M. Bruil

Summary

Indigenous Peoples have reaffirmed, in the context of the United Nations, that we are collective subjects of rights, including the right to protect, maintain and control intellectual property over our cultural and natural heritage. The same colonialist practices of expropriation of territories are repeated in contemporary times by denying Indigenous Peoples our status as authors, inventors, innovators and improvers, through the use of the intellectual property system to promote the misappropriation of cultural expressions and traditional knowledge, intrinsic to genetic resources, preserved in indigenous territories in all parts of the world. In the past, territories have been expropriated, and in the present, the knowledge and practices that are part of the sacred and constitute the essence of indigenous peoples' cultures and spirituality have been the target of misuse and misappropriation using the concept of the public domain. The evolution of international law points to the recognition of rights for Indigenous Peoples, such as the principles of Free Determination, Free, Prior and Informed Consent and the Sharing of Benefits arising from the use of Cultural Expressions, Traditional Knowledge and Genetic Resources originating from the cultures and territories of Indigenous Peoples. This retribution must be fair and equitable. In light of these legal principles, the UN has called for changes and improvements to the international intellectual property system to incorporate these principles and guarantee greater transparency, legal certainty and social inclusion through the creation of a legally binding international instrument that recognises indigenous peoples' rights to biodiversity know-how and cultural expressions in accordance with our traditions.

PhD dissertations

Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.

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