Book Review: Indigenous Cultural Property and International Law: Restitution, Rights and Wrongs by Shea Elizabeth Esterling

Martha L. Schmidt, LL.M.

Abstract

This review of Elizabeth Esterling’s monograph Indigenous Cultural Property and International Law: Restitution, Rights and Wrongs, emphasizes the complexities of cultural property restitution rights under International Law. The article examines the language of customary international law, expanding on Esterling’s analysis of UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) with a comparative analysis of ICRIN (International Covenant on the Rights of the United Nations. Following Esterling’s use of textual, purposive, and contextual lenses, particular attention is given to Article 11 of UNDRIP in relation to paragraph 11 of ICRIN. The legal language surrounding culture and its relationship to territory is significant in these texts. Even under these frameworks, the self-determination of Indigenous peoples has been historically minimized and complicated by the formation of international legal codes. Human rights discourse too often becomes an obstacle to indigenous rights, given the pitfalls of essentialism as a political strategy.