UN Adopts Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people

[tony mitra]

Two decades of work finally comes to fruition.

An agreement agreement was finally reached between the co-sponsors (67 countries) of the Declaration and the African Group of States (53 countries) on an amended text of the Declaration. This amended text was submitted as a draft resolution to the General Assembly for adoption on 13 September. The draft resolution is now available in all languages from the UNPFII official website.

The resolution was passed with 143 nations voting for it, 4 nations voting against it, and 11 absteining.

The 4 nations that voted against it are : USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

11 Absteinees were : Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Samoa, Russian Federation, Ukraine

Everybody else voted for it.

I am personally ashamed that Canada voted against it, and am going to find out more about it. There are rumors in circulation that the US strong armed both Canada and Australia into it, and that New Zealand usually goes with Australia. Nonetheless, I feel personally offended at Canada's stand and am thinking to calling up the local MP to find more about it.

Meanwhile the UN secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, has issued this brief declaration:

The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a triumph for indigenous peoples around the world. He notes that this marks a historic moment when UN Member States and indigenous peoples reconciled with their painful histories and resolved to move forward together on the path of human rights, justice and development for all.

The Secretary-General calls on Governments and civil society to urgently advance the work of integrating the rights of indigenous peoples into international human rights and development agendas, as well as policies and programmes at all levels, so as to ensure that the vision behind Declaration becomes a reality.

New York, 13 September 2007
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Now, this is not as hot a topic on these boards, as Iraq or Hillary Clinton etc, but I encourage people to think about the plight of the indigenous people, in almost every country and every continent, and the shabby treatment they received by the so called civilized society over the past centuries, and take a moment if you will, to think about them, or read up more on this issue directly from the UN web site, and see why your Governments voted the way they did.

Comments welcome.

[AnnEsthesia]

Of course the US was against it. Can you imagine if the Native Americans got more rights and could.. *gasp* demand their land back?

[Cobra]

How do you know the Indigenous people of an area are really Indigenous. Their people are just as likely to have stolen the land from some other "indigenous" people. It was just so long ago that it wasn't recorded and/or we don't remember it.
Can you imagine if the Native Americans got more rights and could.. *gasp* demand their land back?

and gasp, there is a very good reason they can't.

[AnnEsthesia]

Not really. The courts could decide that the initial land agreements for the reservations before the government broke the treaties and stole more land should be reinstated. It would suck for the people who currently own the land, but they could do it, if they wanted to.

[Cobra]

Yes they could do it, but again the whole sucking for the people who own the land is a good reason for them not to. If you take that route you can go all the way back to the first landing and first treaties leaving America with only a few miles of territory left.

[AnnEsthesia]

And yet, we say "sucks for the Palistinians, oh well" when discussing the creation of the Israeli state. The genocide they suffered was hardly any less sad or barbaric than that of the indigenous people here. No, there were no death camps, instead we have a trail of tears, etc.

[Cobra]

And yet, we say "sucks for the Palistinians, oh well" when discussing the creation of the Israeli state.
Sucks for the Indians too. Those two idea mesh perfectly. Land goes to whoever can claim and keep a hold of it.

[crimzonsol]

Of course Steven Harper was against it, he didn't even win the elections, The liberals just lost the elections. The conservatives didn't win, except in good old redneck alberta.

[tony mitra]

Guys, this is not only about American Indians that lost the land and the lifestyle. Indian tribes in South America fared little better and famous civilizations, such as the Aztecs and the Mayas disappeared, not to mention less well known tribes then and today. Think of the Australian aborigins, or the bush people of southern Africa, or the pygmies, or even the Gypsies of Europe. They are there, everywhere, but invisible in local TV and newspapers, as if they do not even exist.

There are countless indigenous people in almost all countries and all continents that have disappeared and are disappearing, all over the world. Their only fault was that they did not always fight fire with fire, and more often than not, did not have an inbuilt resistance to deceases that was brought on to them by the colonizers. Many more lost their way and their lifestyle when they were forcibly converted to modern religions, and a "civilized" lifestyle where they were to become bricklayers, or stone breakers, or loggers and deforestation squads, instead of fishing and hunting.

crimzonsol, I am still going to find out. Harper or no Harper, this is so very disappointing for me and such a let down. I used to think Canada is a tad more humane and a tad nicer than so many others. Anyhow, it would be good to see what happened and why. Do you know any MP personally that we could send an email to? I am going to find out, for sure, and am already hunting the Government web sites.

Cheers.

[crimzonsol]

Do you know any MP personally that we could send an email to?


I'm in alberta and not conservative I avoid the MPs like they are the plague.

[AnnEsthesia]

Oh, I understand that, Tony. But since it is the US and three other countries who refused to agree to this, I am saddened... though not at all surprised.

[moses2792796]

^^Well I think New Zealand's case was fair enough

[PatrickHenry]

The Brits could start by kicking the US military off Diego Garcia and giving it back to the Chagossians.

The US could start by getting their military the fuck out of Hawaii.

[Kyi Yo]

I am from the Pikuni Nation whose territory extended from central Canada down into what is now known as Yellowstone. There are four bands in my Nation, three in Canada and one in Montana, USA.

What happened on the 13th is a re-affirmation of our basic human rights already codified in other UN Declarations. The reason Indigenous peoples have fought so hard and long (>25 years) for this specific resolution is that we have never enjoyed the basic human rights accorded other peoples. The evidence is overwhelming and stark and there is no argument over the need for such a resolution.

The argument is about the language that returns control of our land, resources, education, languages, cultures back to us. Those things were already in almost every treaty signed with the US, but never honored. It is about self-determination, the right of every human being to determine the path of their lives. Again, that was also included in every treaty, which were never honored.

We’re “domestic dependent nations” and have unique relationships with the federal government that is NOT the same as “minorities”. Comparing our situation and our struggle to other minorities in the US is an invalid comparison.

The land of the brave and the free where every citizen enjoys certain inalienable rights, right? Except Native Americans, thus the UN Resolution is very important.

You have the right to practice your religions with minimal interference from the government. We just recently fought for a law that grants us those very same rights, The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, passed in 1978. Prior to the passage of this law, our first ammendment rights were consistently violated.

In 1990 a law was passed that allowed us to protect our dead, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Until that time, our dead were the victims of graverobbers and museums. At times it was hard to tell the two groups apart.

We also had to fight for a law to protect our children, the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 which kept our children from being adopted outside of our Tribes. Until that time, there were people and churches involved in searching out and adopting Indian kids who were orphans and who inherited land, oil, timber etc.. The first governor of Oklahoma and his entire family’s wealth came from such practices. They had several orphanages where they warehoused the Indian kids they “adopted” while they lived large off of the resources stolen from those children.

We’ve had to fight the government to stop the forced sterilization of Indian women that went on into the early 1970’s.

We’re still living with the devastation wreaked on our communities and families by the forcible removal of our children from their families and sending them off to government/church run boarding schools. Our children learned about violence and sexual abuse at the hands of the officials running those schools, many of them Catholic nuns and priests. The policy at the time was to “beat the Indian out of them”. Their hair was shorn, they were not allowed to speak their languages and they were routinely beaten, “for their own good” was reason enough. When those children grew up and came “home”, they brought the brokenness of human spirit that happens under such treatment.

The US government owes individual Indians tens of billions of dollars they collected “on their behalf” from mining, timber, water, grazing, and mineral leases on individual Indian lands. The federal government assumed a “trust” responsibility over those resources and monies. Currently, there is a lawsuit against the US government for the payment of those monies. It’s more complex then that, but I don’t have time to go into it right now. Needless to say, the federal government is refusing to pay back the 137 billion dollars an independent audit shows the US owes individual Indian land holders.

I could go on and on, but will stop there.

We’ve been trying for decades to get ONE of our cases heard before the world court. Overwhelming opposition by the US and it’s allies has always prevented that. Now, we have another avenue to pursue redress of these basic violations of our human rights.

So, yeah, September the 13th is a good day.

[AnnEsthesia]

Exactly, Kyi yo. :)

[tony mitra]

Kyi Yo,
Bravo! Congratulations, and good luck. I'd like to hear more from you and your people. There is not much representation here or most anywhere, from people like yourself. Welcome. :thumbsup:

I note that your people are from Canada and USA. I am personally offended by the Canadian negative vote. If you are active in Canada too, I'd like your help in contacting some of the local MPs. I am mad enough to demand that Canada explains its UN vote on national TV and press. Any help will be very welcome. I am also thinking of writing up something in the local Newspaper (don't even know if they will bother to print it).

PatrickHenry,
Well said, and I am impressed. Not too many people know about Diego Garcia. Even less know that the British forcibly evicted local inhabitants so that the island could be handed over to the US Govt for building a military base. :thumbsup:

[AnnEsthesia]

You know, I was just thinking about the call I got at work oh, 7 years ago. It was from this lovely man who was (I think) leader or in a leadership position within a tribe somewhere in the Western US. They were trying to find a lawyer here in the East who could help them try and find and regain custody of a child that had been taken from their tribe a year or two previous to that. He told me the story about how it came to be that the child was with someone outside the tribe (the mother was an addict and had given the child over without telling anyone) and the parents were trying to get the grandchild back into the tribe.

It was so heartbreaking and we talked for over an hour about all the laws that are supposed to be followed and rarely are. Truly sad. Ever since then and the subsequent calls I got from him letting me know how it went, I really feel for them in a way I never did before, simply because I had not considered the issue from my standpoint as a white citizen of the US.

Of course, I also talked to someone years ago who was traveling through Indian Country and watched a Native being beaten by a group of white ranchers. He was shocked that everyone just took it with a grain of salt.

The times change, but little changes, it seems.

[Kyi Yo]

Kyi Yo,
Bravo! Congratulations, and good luck. I'd like to hear more from you and your people. There is not much representation here or most anywhere, from people like yourself. Welcome. :thumbsup:


Thank you Tony,
I'm glad to be here and hope to contribute positively to the discussions. :)

I was involved in some of this battle, specifically working on the Convention on Biological Diversity for the Rio summit in 1992 and subsequent summits. The thought of Indigenous groups at the time was to try to use this convention to get in place some of the more critical elements of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We were trying to go through the back door to protect our remaining lands and resources from the bio-piracy by pharmaceuticals that was rampant at that time.

Again, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were trying to obstruct this at every turn. In addition, many States from South America were against the CBD because of the monies flowing into their countries from big pharma to exploit the knowledge of plants and medicines from Indigenous Peoples.

Just an FYI, 75% of the pharmaceuticals used today came from Indigenous Peoples. Our intimate knowledge of our lands and medicines have been exploited for hundreds of years. It's not that we don't want to help, or don't want to share what we know with other peoples. It's the way it's done. Patenting of our knowledge and plants and making huge profits from the sale of medicines derived from our knowledge, is totally against our world view and morals. The way our medicine people/healers see their role is very different then how modern medicine is practiced. They believe they've been honored, blessed to carry such knowledge forward into the future for the benefit of human beings. It is sacred knowledge that must not be abused, or the gift will disappear. They freely use their knowledge to help people, to bring them back to balance. It's not just a pill that's purchased at the pharmacy. Those plants are living, breathing beings who give their lives so we can be healthy. Taking a life, is a sacred thing. Not to be done in such a cavalier manner and certainly not for the sole purpose of making money and bringing their stock options higher.

So much about what is happening in the world goes against our very basic moral and ethical values. The things that make us human beings.

It's been a tough, but sweet victory. Imagine if you will, the poorest peoples in the world standing up against the gigantic drug companies (almost all based in the US) for the protection of their resources. It was frustrating, heart-breaking work. We persevered in spite of all the obstacles. I am so proud to have been a small part of these efforts.[hr]
You know, I was just thinking about the call I got at work oh, 7 years ago. It was from this lovely man who was (I think) leader or in a leadership position within a tribe somewhere in the Western US. They were trying to find a lawyer here in the East who could help them try and find and regain custody of a child that had been taken from their tribe a year or two previous to that. He told me the story about how it came to be that the child was with someone outside the tribe (the mother was an addict and had given the child over without telling anyone) and the parents were trying to get the grandchild back into the tribe.

It was so heartbreaking and we talked for over an hour about all the laws that are supposed to be followed and rarely are. Truly sad. Ever since then and the subsequent calls I got from him letting me know how it went, I really feel for them in a way I never did before, simply because I had not considered the issue from my standpoint as a white citizen of the US.

Of course, I also talked to someone years ago who was traveling through Indian Country and watched a Native being beaten by a group of white ranchers. He was shocked that everyone just took it with a grain of salt.

The times change, but little changes, it seems.


I am working with a young woman who was recently released from prison. Her crime? meth addiction. Criminalizing addiction, the war on drugs, should be called the war on minorities. Anyway, that's a whole nother discussion! :dork:

She is trying to find and get her children back. They were taken by their grandparents (non-Indian) and now there is no trace of them. I believe their names have been changed and they are on a military base with their uncle and his wife who is in the Army. It's very difficult to get any information about anyone in the service right now and I keep hitting brick walls. It's a good thing I have a hard head! (let's not talk about the mule ears :D).

I've traveled around the country, as well as many places in the world and can tell you, when I go to South Dakota, I make sure I have a gun, and that I only travel during the daytime! I make certain to only pull off at major truck stops on the freeways. It's sad, but every Native knows, South Dakota is dangerous. North Dakota is next, then Montana.

There's actually a very good book written about how the laws in the state of Montana came into being precisely to make anything Native, "illegal". It's called "Inventing the Savage" by Luanna Ross, Ph.D.. She focuses on Native women in Montana and along the way does some very good sociological research into how the laws of the past have followed us into the present. Our job is to ensure they don't continue into the future!

[tony mitra]

Fascinating!

I wonder if you have heard of a Ms Vandana Shiva.

Listen, if you ever come to Vancouver, or British Columbia, I'd like to take you out for a coffee or something. I have a million questions for you. And again, glad to see you on this forum, Kyi. :thumbsup:

[Kyi Yo]

Fascinating!

I wonder if you have heard of a Ms Vandana Shiva.

Listen, if you ever come to Vancouver, or British Columbia, I'd like to take you out for a coffee or something. I have a million questions for you. And again, glad to see you on this forum, Kyi. :thumbsup:


Anyone working in the activist community knows of Vandana Shiva. She's one of my personal heroes. Although I've never met her personally, we follow her work closely.

I used to hit Vancouver a couple times a year when I traveled a lot. I no longer travel except back to Canada for ceremony, but you can be certain, if I ever make it to Vancouver again, you'll be the first to know! I have a feeling we should start off with breakfast discussions and hope to call it quits at dusk. :cool: Thank you Tony!

P.S. Kyi Yo = grizzly, it's the whole word..... I'll go fix my forum name so it's easier for folks.