Lobbying for US and Canadian indigenous rights at the international level

Indigenous peoples are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society and often face legal discrimination in individual countries. In 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is the so-called universal framework for the protection of indigenous peoples worldwide. The US and Canada were among the four countries that voted against its adoption, despite their long-standing cooperation in its drafting. The aim of the thesis is to assess the evolution of the status of indigenous peoples' rights and the influence of indigenous interest groups regarding this issue. The thesis first focuses on the theory of lobbying and its specificities in the American and Canadian political systems. An analysis of the development of the advocacy of indigenous rights at the international level, specifically at the UN, and then in the countries mentioned above, revealed which lobbying tools are most frequently used. The next part of the thesis focuses on the most prominent indigenous movements: Dakota Access Pipeline protests in the USA and the activities of the Idle No More protest movement in Canada. This section examines the specific use of lobbying strategies and tools and identifies what results have been achieved by lobbying efforts.