世界原住民族教育會議的《Coolangatta 原住民族教育權利宣言》指出，《世界人權宣言》等六種聯合國人權文件未能承認原住民族自決權利，對於保護原住民族教育權利仍有限制。本文深究其原因在於該六種文件皆為保護「個人權利」，有關自決、教育、消除歧視等條文亦以此為依歸。其中雖也保護屬於少數群體之個人在教育上有權不受歧視、維護語言與文化，但少數群體並非「民族」，無法享有自決權利。聯合國國際勞工組織在1989 年訂定《原住民與部落人民公約》，雖改變過去的統合主義，承認原住民文化，但仍未承認原住民族自決權。《Coolangatta 宣言》指出，聯合國的《原住民族權利宣言草案》開始肯定原住民族有自決權利。此《宣言》在2007 年終獲聯合國大會通過，其中的自決權也被界定為在國內的「內部自決」，而原住民族教育權利則包括：在國家教育體系中不受歧視、原住民語言與文化納入課程、建立原住民族教育體系等。此宣示性質的《宣言》，亟待形成公約與監督機制來確立自決權，俾能確立原住民族教育權利。

World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education in 1999 adopted The Coolangatta Statement on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Education, in which six international human right instruments including Universal Declaration of Human Rights were reviewed. Because what were protected with those instruments are individuals’ rights rather than collective rights, they have limited capacity for protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to education. Although the rights to education of individuals belonging to the minority groups were well constructed with those instruments, Indigenous Peoples argued that they are not only minority groups but also “peoples” who deserve the right of self-determination. Indigenous peoples throughout the world have mobilized international movement since 1970s’ to urge the UN to adopt international laws to recognize their collective rights to self-determination.In 1989, The Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples was revised by International Labour Organization to eliminate the previous integrationist perspective, but Indigenous Peoples’ right of self-determination hadn’t been recognized.After two decades of endeavours, the UN Assembly adopted UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, in which the right of self-determination was recognized which is the prerequisite for the Indigenous Peoples’ right to education, including the rights to be free of discrimination in national education system, to learn indigenous language and culture in curriculum, and to establish their own indigenous education system. However, not until the declaration further be transformed into convention with mechanism to monitor the state parties to fulfil it, will the Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination be firmly established.