Enabling Indigenous Trade 2025

1 The development of international Indigenous rights Reflecting on the past to guide future actions is a valuable practice for many Indigenous communities, and policy-makers, business leaders and civil society can learn from this approach. Indigenous rights, including economic rights, have developed significantly since the Second World War, laying a foundation for greater inclusion and sustainability in global trade. This evolution began with earlier treaties, such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840) between Māori and the British Crown, and the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation (1849) between the Kingdom of Hawai’i and the United States. The later creation of international bodies such as the United Nations (UN) and declarations like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) further emphasized self-determination and non-discrimination. However, trade frameworks such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed to consider or recognize Indigenous rights. A growing acknowledgement of these rights in inclusive trade dialogue is attributable to the persistent advocacy of Indigenous representatives and their efforts to build equal partnerships with settler governments, leading to greater international awareness of how trade policies continue to affect Indigenous Peoples. In the context of the intellectual property (IP) system, Indigenous People and developing countries have been advocating for decades for the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCE) from abuse and misappropriation. In May 2024, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge was adopted. Its objective is to prevent the erroneous granting of patents where the invention is not novel with respect to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (Article 1). Countries must require patent applications to disclose the country of origin or source of genetic resources and the Indigenous People that provided the traditional knowledge (Article 3). However, where the applicant does not have this information, it can make a declaration to that effect and patent offices are not obligated to verify this.1.1 International agreementsInternational community Governments can work collectively through international agreements and programmes to promote Indigenous rights and economic well-being. Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua / Walking backwards into the future, eyes fixed on the past Māori proverb 7 Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments