NCAI endorses UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
Coulter urges action at Organization of American States
By Gale Courey Toensing
Story Published: Nov 14, 2008
Story Updated: Nov 13, 2008
WASHINGTON – The National Congress of American Indians has passed a
resolution supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and urging its endorsement by state governments and
Congress.
The resolution was adopted unanimously by NCAI’s Subcommittee of Human,
Religious and Cultural Concerns, presented to the Litigation and Governance
Committee, and finally adopted unanimously by the general assembly without
discussion during NCAI’s 65th annual conference in Phoenix Oct. 19 – 24.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN
General Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007, in a historic vote by an overwhelming
majority – 143 member states voted in favor, 11 abstained and four –
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – voted against the
declaration. Each of the four countries that opposed the declaration have
large indigenous populations who own or have claims to huge land masses.
While it is not binding in law, the declaration represents the highest moral
standard for the treatment of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous
peoples, written as it is in a human rights framework that will guide
government policies for indigenous communities and promote the participation
of indigenous peoples in the political processes and decisions that affect
them.
The NCAI resolution recognizes that the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples “reinforces the respect and protection of full
self-determination rights by and on behalf of U.S. Tribal Nations as well as
the protection of tribal lands and treaties as a matter of international law
and policy and is therefore in the vital interests of all U.S. Tribal
Nations.”
The resolution acknowledges that the declaration expresses both the
individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their
rights regarding culture, identity, language, employment, health,
educational and other issues.
The UN Declaration lays out the minimum human rights necessary for the
“survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world.”
These include the right of self-determination, protections from
discrimination and genocide, and recognition of rights to lands, territories
and resources that are essential to the identity, health and livelihood of
indigenous peoples. The declaration also explicitly requires that these
rights and protections are balanced with other rights and interpreted in
accordance with the principles of democracy, justice, non-discrimination,
good governance and respect for the human rights of everyone.
The NCAI resolution reiterates the declaration’s provisions that
“discrimination against indigenous people should be abolished and that
promotion of their full and effective participation in all matters that
concern them should be encouraged.”
The resolution asserts that indigenous peoples’ “right to remain distinct
and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development is vital
according to this declaration.”
The NCAI document promises to send its resolution “to all state Governors
and legislators for support through their legislature for memorial
resolutions to the Congress of the United States; and. ... the NCAI calls
upon the United States to sign the declaration.”
Robert Tim Coulter, one of the original authors of the declaration and
executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, Mont., and
Washington, D.C., says the declaration is “the most significant development
in international human rights in decades. Tribes must work harder than ever
to pressure the U.S. to respect these rights.”
Coulter said the best way to gain support is to demand that the United
States join in adopting a strong Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples in the Organization of American States. The OAS is currently
negotiating a powerful American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples much like the U.N. declaration.
The OAS is the principal forum for strengthening democracy and human rights
in the Western Hemisphere and is made up of 35 member nations in North,
Central and South America.
“We must publicly protest the continuing violation of our rights in the
United States, and we must demand serious action in the OAS to finalize an
effective declaration supported by all countries in the Americas,” he said.
Coulter urged tribes to get involved at upcoming OAS meetings in Washington,
D.C. on Jan. 26 – 30 and March 23 – 27, and tribal leaders to make plans now
to attend “to ensure our voices are heard.”
More information is available at the OAS Web site http://www.oas.org/.
“We have to continue fighting to change discriminatory and grossly unjust
laws that are applied to Native peoples.” Coulter said.
While the U.S. government has made no move toward endorsing the declaration
in the 14 months since its passage, both Canada and Australia have inched
forward.
Canada’s House of Commons endorsed the declaration on April 8, and called on
the Senate and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration to “fully
implement the standards contained therein.”
Harper declined to do so, claiming that the declaration is not applicable in
Canada.
Ironically, two months later Harper tacitly admitted just how applicable the
Declaration’s human rights protections are in Canada. On June 11, Harper
issued the first formal apology from a Canadian prime minister for the
brutal Indian residential schools that were federally financed from the
1870s until the last residential school was closed in 1998.
“The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in
our history,” Harper said. “Today, we recognize that this policy of
assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our
country. The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian
residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has
had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and
language.”
Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who defeated former Prime Minister
John Howard last December, has demonstrated his intention to improve
relations with the country’s indigenous peoples. The government issued a
“National Apology to the Stolen Generations” in February and a commitment to
“Close the Gap” in indigenous health inequality in March.
According to Peter Seidel, a partner in Public Interest Law, in an article
published in The Guardian (Australia) Oct. 15, the government is close to
endorsing the Declaration.
“Australia’s long held opposition to the Declaration now looks set to
change, with the Commonwealth expected shortly to formalize its support.
When it’s taken, the step of formally, albeit belatedly, supporting the
Declaration will be very powerful symbolism for Australia. And it will of
course strengthen, not diminish, our reputation within the international
community as a country at the vanguard of promoting and protecting the basic
human rights of all, particularly the most disenfranchised,” Seidel wrote.
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