CROFTERS' INDIGENOUS STATUS REPORT TO BE LAUNCHED
How the United Nations can help promote the distinctive culture of the Scottish Highlands is the subject of a report being launched at the Scottish Parliament next week by the Scottish Crofting Foundation.
Specifically, the report looks at whether crofters can be considered the indigenous people of the Highlands and Islands and what benefits indigenous status would bring to the area.
After generations of summary eviction from their ancestral lands, crofters won the right to live in perpetuity on their crofts in 1886. Administration of the crofting system is carried out by the Crofters Commission, a quango administered by the Scottish Executive and mandated by Scottish Government ministers. The Scottish Crofting Foundation has been examining aspects of United Nations legislation on indigenous peoples to consider how it might apply in a Highland context.
