A prominent issue in human rights is the between collective rights and individual rights. Collective rights protect a group of people, while individual rights protect the individual. It is especially important to take into account both collective and individual rights when condemning certain "violations" of human rights.
The concept of collective rights emerged because individual human rights do not guarantee adequate protection for First Nations peoples and other minorities exhibiting collective characteristics. These groups face various threats to their livelihoods, to their environments, to their health and to their security, and their very survival may depend upon the recognition and protection of their collective rights.
Collective rights guarantee the development and preservation of ethnic minorities' cultural identities and forms of organizations. A few existing legal instruments recognize these rights.
Collective rights guarantee the development and preservation of ethnic minorities' cultural identities and forms of organizations. A few existing legal instruments recognize these rights
Collective rights are intergenerational. Land rights must be understood from this perspective, as present generations have inherited the territory of previous ones, and are obliged to pass it on to future generations. For that reason, indigenous territory should not be classified as property but rather as inheritance or patrimony.
Collective rights over biodiversity are the result of the preservation and maintenance of knowledge, innovations and other practices based in nature. The conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is incorporated into the traditional lifestyles of collectivities including indigenous and black communities, famers and local people, and this invaluable contribution to global sustainability must be recognized.