S. James Anaya

University Distinguished Professor and Nicholas Doman Professor of International Law

401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO  80309
Office: 467
Phone: (303) 492-4475
E-mail: james.anaya@colorado.edu

Curriculum Vitae:  View (PDF format)

Educational Background:
J.D.   Harvard Law School   1983  
B.A.   University of New Mexico   1980  
Bio:

James Anaya has taught and written extensively on international human rights and issues concerning indigenous peoples. Among his numerous publications are his acclaimed book, Indigenous Peoples in International Law (Oxford Univ. Press (1996); 2d ed. (2004)), and his widely used textbook, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy and Process (Wolters/Kluwer, 6th ed. 2011) (with Hurst Hannum and Dinah Shelton). He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from May 2008 to June 2014.

Dean Anaya has lectured in many countries throughout the world. He has advised numerous indigenous and other organizations from several countries on matters of human rights and indigenous peoples, and he has represented indigenous groups from many parts of North and Central America in landmark cases before domestic and international tribunals, including the United States Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Among his noteworthy activities, he participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was the lead counsel for the indigenous parties in the case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the first time upheld indigenous land rights as a matter of international law. As UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Dean Anaya monitored the human rights conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide, addressed situations in which their rights were being violated, and promoted practical measures to secure indigenous peoples' rights, travelling frequently to meet with government officials and visit indigenous communities.

Prior to becoming a full time law professor, he practiced law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, representing Native American peoples and other minority groups. For his work during that period, Barrister magazine, a national publication of the American Bar Association, named him as one of "20 young lawyers who make a difference." Dean Anaya served on the law faculty at the University of Arizona from 1999 to 2016 and on the faculty of the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1999. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the University of Toronto, and the University of Tulsa.

Representative Publications

  • United Nations Publications: Numerous reports written as UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including reports on country situations, specific cases of alleged human rights abuse, and cross-cutting issues of concern to indigenous peoples. The reports are available at: http://unsr.jamesanaya.org/
  • International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice (5th ed. 2011) (co-author, with Hurst Hannum & Dinah L. Shelton).
  • International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (2009).
  • Indigenous Peoples in International Law (2d ed. 2004).


    • Selected Publications

    Reparations for Neglect of Indigenous Land Rights at the Intersection of Domestic and International Law - The Maya Cases in the Supreme Court of Belize, in Reparations for Indigenous Peoples: International and Comparative Perspectives 567 (Federico Lenzerini ed., 2008).

    Works In Progress

    The Contours of Self-Determination and its Implementation: Implications of Developments Concerning Indigenous Peoples, in Justice Pending: Indigneous Peoples and Other Good Causes (Essays in Honour of Erica-Irene A. Daes) 5 (Gudmundur Alfredsson & Maria Stavropoulou eds., 2002).

    Published Books

    Anaya (co-author, with Hurst Hannum & Dinah L. Shelton), International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice, (5th ed. 2011).
    Anaya (co-author, with Richard B. Lillich, Hurst Hannum, & Dinah L. Shelton), International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice, (4th ed. 2006).
    Los Pueblos Indigenas en el Derecho International, (Luis Rodrígez-Piñero Royo trans., in collaboration with Pablo Gutiérrez Vega & Bartolomé Clavero Salvador, 2005) [Spanish translation of Indigenous Peoples in International Law (2d ed. 2004)].
    Indigenous Peoples in International Law, (2d ed. 2004)..
    International Law and Indigenous People, (2003) (editor).
    Indigenous Peoples in International Law, (1996).
    Canada's Fiduciary Obligation to Aboriginal Peoples in the Context of Accession to Sovereignty by Quebec, Volume I: International Dimensions, (1995) (co-author, with Richard Falk & Donat Pharand).

    Articles

    The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples: United Nations Developments, 35 U. Haw. L. Rev. 983 (2013).
    Observations on the Situation of the Charco la Pava Community and Other Communities Affected by the Chan 75 Hydroelectric Project in Panama, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/34/Add.5 (Sept. 7, 2009).
    Observations on the Situation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Region and the Events of 5 June and the Following Days in Bagua and Utcubamba Provinces, Peru, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/34/Add.8 (Aug. 18, 2009).
    The Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Chile: Follow-Up to the Recommendations Made by the Previous Special Rapporteur, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/34/Add.6 (Oct. 5, 2009).
    Report on the Situation of Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, U.N.Doc. A/HRC/12/34/Add.2 (Aug. 26, 2009).
    Summary of Communications Transmitted and Replies Received, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/34/Add.1 (Sept. 18, 2009).
    Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/34 (July 15, 2009).
    Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, U.N. Doc. A/64/338 (Sept. 4, 2009).
    Observaciones del Relator Especial sobre la situación de derechos humanos y libertades fundamentales de los indígenas acerca del proceso de revisión constitucional en el Ecuador [Analysis by the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties of Indigenous Peoples in the Process of Revising the Constitution of Ecuador], U.N. Doc. A/HRC/9/9/Add.1, Annex.1 (Aug. 15, 2008)..
    Summary of Communications Transmitted and Replies Received, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/9/9/Add.1 (Aug. 15, 2008).
    Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/9/9 (Aug. 11, 2008).
    Anaya (co-author, with Maia S. Campbell), The Case of the Maya Villages of Belize: Reversing the Trend of Government Neglect to Secure Indigenous Land Rights, 8 Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 377 (2008).
    Keynote Address: Indigenous Law and Its Contribution to Global Pluralism, 6 Indigenous L.J. 3 (2007).
    Keynote Address: Indigenous Peoples and Their Mark on the International Legal System, 31 Am. Indian L. Rev. 257 (2006 - 2007)..
    Divergent Discourses about International Law, Indigenous Peoples, and Rights Over Lands and Natural Resources: Toward a Realist Trend, 16 Colo. J. Int'l Envtl. L. & Pol'y 237 (2005).
    Indigenous Peoples' Participatory Rights in Relation to Decisions about Natural Resource Extraction: The More Fundamental Issue of What Rights Indigenous Peoples Have in Land and Resources, 22 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 7 (2005).
    The Emergence of Customary International Law Concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, The Emergence of Customary International Law Concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
    International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples: The Move Toward the Multicultural State, 21 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 13 (2004), reprinted in Defending Diversity: Case Studies 1 (Chandra Roy ed., 2004), and translated into Spanish as Derechoes Humanos Internacionales y Pueblos Indígenas: Hacia el Estado Multicultural, in En Defensa de la Diversidad: Monografias 1 (Chandra Roy ed., 2004)..
    The Native Hawaiian People and International Human Rights Law: Toward a Remedy for Past and Continuing Wrongs, 28 Ga. L. Rev. 309 (1994), reprinted in International Law and Indigenous Peoples 309 (S. James Anaya ed., 2003).
    Anaya (co-author, with Claudio Grossman), The Case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua: A New Step in the International Law of Indigenous Peoples, 19 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2002).
    Anaya (co-author with Robert A. Williams, Jr.), The Protection of Indigenous Peoples' Rights Over Lands and Natural Resources Under the Inter-American Human Rights System, 14 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 33 (2001).
    Environmentalism, Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples: A Tale of Converging and Diverging Interests, 7 Buff. Envtl. L.J. 1 (2000).
    The United States Supreme Court and Indigenous Peoples: Still a Long Way to Go Toward a Therapeutic Role, 24 Seattle U. L. Rev. 229 (2000), reprinted in Justice as Healing: Indigenous Ways 245 (Wanda D. McCaslin ed., 2005).
    Superpower Attitudes Toward Indigenous Peoples and Group Rights, 93 Am. Soc'y Int'l Law 251 (1999).
    Maya Aboriginal Land and Resource Rights and the Conflict Over Logging in Southern Belize, 1 Yale Hum. Rts. & Dev. L.J. 17 (1998).
    Indigenous Peoples and International Law Issues, 92 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. 96 (1998).
    Customary International Law, 92 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. 41 (1998).
    On Justifying Special Ethnic Group Rights, in Nomos XXXIX: Ethnicity and Group Rights 222 (Will Kymlicka & Ian Shapiro eds., 1997).
    Brief of Lone Wolf, Principal Chief of the Kiowas, to the Supreme Court of the American Indian Nations, 7 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 117 (1997).
    The Awas Tingni Petition to the International Commission on Human Rights: Indigenous Lands, Loggers, and Government Neglect in Nicaragua, 9 St. Thomas L. Rev. 157 (1996).
    Anaya (co-author, with S. Todd Crider), Indigenous Peoples, the Environment, and Commercial Forestry in Developing Countries: The Case of Awas Tingni, Nicaragua, 18 Hum. Rts. Q. 345 (1996).
    A Contemporary Definition of the International Norm of Self-Determination, 3 Transnat'l L. & Contemp. Probs. 131 (1993).
    The Capacity of International Law to Advance Ethnic or Nationality Rights Claims, 75 Iowa L. Rev. 837 (1990), reprinted in 13 Hum. Rts. Q. 403 (1991), and in The Rights of Minority Cultures 321 (Will Kymlicka ed., 1995).
    Recent Development, 22 Harv. Int'l L.J. 670 (1981) (reviewing Blackie's House of Beef, Inc. v. Castillo, No. 79-2358 (D.C. Cir. July 22, 1981)).

    Other Publications

    Opinion, Copper Mine Will Hurt Tribes and the Environment, Ariz., Republic, (Dec. 29, 2014)..
    Anaya (co-author, with Paul Finkelman & Gabriel J. (Jack) Chin), Parents, Children, and Citizenship by Birth, The Huffington Post, (Aug. 19, 2010), revised version reprinted under the title The Faces of the 14th Amendment, Newsday A39 (Sept. 3, 2010).
    Nicaragua's Titling of Communal Lands Marks Major Step for Indigenous Rights, 28 Indian Country Today, Jan. 5, 2009, at 5..
    International Developments Regarding Indigenous Peoples, in The 2002 Tribal, State & Federal Judges Conference: Protection of Indigenous Peoples Customary Law and Legal Rights: United States, International and Comparative Law Perspectives 1 (2002).
    The Ethical Dilemma of Doing Federal Indian Law, in The 2002 Tribal, State & Federal Judges Conference: Protection of Indigenous Peoples Customary Law and Legal Rights: United States, International and Comparative Law Perspectives 1 (2002).
    The Impact of Indigenous Peoples on the Development of International Law, in The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples ___ (2001).
    The Indigenous are "Peoples": A Reality and a Challenge, 14 Native Americas, Spring 1997, at 64.
    Native Nations Sign Historic Pact, 12 Native Americas, Summer 1996, at 46.
    Anaya (with Theodore Macdonald), Demarcating Indigenous Territories in Nicaragua: The Case of Awas Tingni, 19 Cultural Survival Q. 69 (1995).
    International Law and Indian Hunting and Fishing Rights, in Encyclopedia of Native Americans of Native Americans in the 20th Century (Garland Publishers, 1994).
    How to End Neglect of Indigenous People, Des Moines Register, Mar. 30, 1989.
    The CIA with the Honduran Army in the Mosquitia: Taking the Freedom out of the Fight in the Name of Accountability, Akwesanse Notes, Summer 1987, at 20.
    Tribal Law Impact on Civil Actions in New Mexico, N.M. Trial Law., Feb. 1986, at 1.
    Brooklyn Rivera: "Peace with Justice . . . The Reunificiation of the Indiana Family . . .", Akwesasne Notes, Winter 1984, at 11.
    A Miskito Memoir, Albuquerque J. Impact Mag., Sept. 11, 1983, at 4.
    Six-part weekly editorial series on Central America, N.M. Daily Lobo, Oct. 7 - Nov. 17, 1983.
    Desde El Salvador, El Hispano, Dec. 23, 1983, at 2.

    Presentations and Speeches

    Anaya (with Rebecca Tsosie), International Human Rights Law, Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries, in Indian Law and Natural Resources: The Basics and Beyond, Part 10 (Rocky Mt. Min. L. Fdn. 2017) [slide presentation].

    Book Chapters

    The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in International Protection of Human Rights: A Textbook 273 (Catarina Krause & Martin Scheinin eds., 2009).
    Por qué no debería de existir la Declaración sobre Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, en Declaración sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas: Hacia un Mundo Intercultural y Sostenible 37 (Natalia Álvarez Molinero et al. eds., 2009).
    Pueblos indígenas, comunidad internacional, y derechos humanos en la era dela globalización, Avances en la Proteccion de los Derechos de los Pueblos 89 (Fernando Mariño & Daniel Oliva eds., 2004).
    Los Derechoes de los Pueblos Indígenas, La Proteccion Internacional de los Derechos Humanos en los Albores del Siglo XXI ___ (Felipe Gómez Isa ed., 2003).
    International Law and U.S. Trust Responsibility Toward Native Americans, in Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance 155 (Richard Grounds et al. eds., 2003).
    The Maya Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Indigenous Land and Resource Rights, and the Conflict over Logging and Oil in Southern Belize, in Giving Meaning to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 180 (Isfahan Merali & Valerie Oosterveld eds., 2001).
    Self-Determination as a Collective Human Right Under Contemporary International Law, in Operationalizing the Right of Indigenous Peoples to Self-Determination 3 (Pekka Aikio & Martin Scheinin eds., 2000).
    Indigenous Peoples and Their Demands within the Modern Human Rights Movement, in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Fifty Years and Beyond 149 (Yael Danieli et al. eds., 1999).
    Native Land Claims in the United States: The Unatoned for Spirit of Place, in The 1991 Cambridge Lectures (Frank McArdle ed., 1993), reprinted in Cultural Survival Quarterly (Winter 1994).
    The Rights of Indigenous Peoples and International Law in Historical and Contemporary Perspective, in Harvard Indian Law Symposium 191 (1990), reprinted in Robert N. Clinton et al., American Indian Law: Cases and Materials 1257 (3d ed. 1991) and excerpted in Robert N. Clinton et al, American Indian Law: Native Nations and the Federal System: Cases and Materials 1451 (Rev. 4th ed 2003).

    Book Reviews

    Gaining Legal Recognition of Indigenous Land Rights: The Story of the Awas Tingni Case in Nicaragua, in Human Rights Advocacy Stories 117 (Deena R. Hurwitz & Margaret L. Satterthwaite eds. with Doug Ford, 2009) (co-author, with Maia S. Campbell).
    Book Review, 99 American J. Int'l Law 306 (2005) (reviewing Paul Keal, European Conquest and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Moral Backwardness of International Society (2003))..
    Book Review, 91 Am. J. Int'l L. 566 (1997) (reviewing Milton J. Esman & Shibley Telhami eds., International Organizations and Ethnic Conflict (1995)).

    Introductions, Forwards and Prefaces

    Foreword, in Walter R. Echo-Hawk, In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples vii (2013).

    Courses:

    Spring 2025 Special Topics LAWS 6708-804
    Fall 2024 International Human Rights Law LAWS 7440-801
    Fall 2024 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2024 International Human Rights Law LAWS 7440-801
    Spring 2024 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2023 International Human Rights Law LAWS 7440-801
    Spring 2023 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2022 International Human Rights Law LAWS 7440-801
    Spring 2022 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Fall 2020 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2020 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Fall 2019 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2019 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2019 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-902
    Fall 2018 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Fall 2018 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-902
    Spring 2018 Seminar: International Human Rights LAWS 8440-801
    Spring 2017 Framing and Legal Narrative LAWS 5211-801