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Human Rights
For too long, indigenous peoples around the world have been marginalized and subject to unjust and discriminatory legal systems of states. Large disparities in economic and political power make indigenous peoples especially vulnerable to wrong-doing. For more than 30 years, we have worked to build a legal framework to help indigenous peoples win recognition of their human rights, including: right to exist as distinct peoples and cultures; right to be free from discrimination and forced assimilation; and right of self-determination and other essential rights.
We invite you to review the Center’s Human Rights work and get involved:
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Takes #NODAPL to the United Nations
Representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, today to garner international opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the reservation.
In Peru, Indigenous are Fighting Drug Traffickers
During the pandemic, some Latin American countries were so focused on dealing with Covid that they got distracted from other menaces like drug dealing. In Peru, a cocaine production boom has sieged indigenous territories and some national parks. CGTN America's Dan Collyns brings a story about Narcos versus drug dealers in Peru.
UN General Assembly Recognizes Right to a Healthy Environment
July 28, 2022 -- The United Nations General Assembly made an historic, groundbreaking move, declaring that everyone on this planet has the right to a healthy environment.
Urgent Call for Support Against Threat of Massacre by Miners
A Journey into Five Decades of Struggles for Indigenous Self-Determination in the Americas
An Interview with Armstrong A. Wiggins published in IdeAs Journal
Land of the Brave – A Western Shoshone Documentary
The Indian Law Resource Center is pleased to support LAND OF THE BRAVE - Broken Treaty III, a sequel to the acclaimed BROKEN TREATY AT BATTLE MOUNTAIN and TO PROTECT MOTHER EARTH. LAND OF THE BRAVE, the third and final film of the Western Shoshone Trilogy, documents Western Shoshone life and survival over the past 20 years and their fight to protect their land and way of life.
Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and the Amazon
Organizações Indígenas denunciam política de Bolsonaro à Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos
SUCRE, BOLIVIA – Aconteceu nesta quarta-feira (13), na cidade de Sucre na Bolívia, Audiência da Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos para discutir a situação dos povos indígenas no Brasil. A Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB), a Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (COIAB), a Articulação dos Povos e Organizações Indígenas do Nordeste, Minas Gerais e Espírito Santo (APOINME) e o Indian Law Resource Center denunciaram o Governo de Jair Bolsonaro e sua política atentatória aos direitos dos povos indígenas.
Organizaciones indígenas denuncian la política de Bolsonaro ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
SUCRE, BOLIVIA – Este miércoles, 13 de febrero de 2019, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos convocó a una audiencia pública en la ciudad de Sucre, Bolivia, para discutir la situación de los derechos humanos de los pueblos indígenas en Brasil.
How the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can be used to protect against a Trump Agenda
This month marks the anniversary of the U.S. endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations adopted the Declaration in September, 2007, but it took three additional years for it to gain the support of the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the only states to vote against it.
Human Rights Council holds panel discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples
10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Human rights at stake in NAFTA negotiations
UN expands monitoring body for Indigenous Human Rights
The 10th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), which took place July 10-14, 2017, included a discussion of its new mandate and working methods. The expanded mandate is a result of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples of 2014, which requested the Council review EMRIP with a view to improve its mandate to better serve as an effective implementing and monitoring body for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous Peoples’ rights more important now than ever
In a season of reckless threats and racist and misogynistic rhetoric, of xenophobia and border walls, indigenous peoples’ rights are at risk, whether intended targets or not. Right now, the Senate is considering a budget that calls for $1.6 billion for "high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology." This border wall that is envisioned by President Trump and U.S. lawmakers would cut across at least half a dozen Native American lands including Yuma, Apache, Yaqui, Pima, Kickapoo and Tohono O’odham.
Center calls on UN body to act quickly to protect indigenous rights
Indigenous leaders call for implementation of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
June 20, 2017 (Español) | Indigenous leaders are in Cancun, Mexico, this week calling on the Organization of American States (OAS) to take action during its 47th General Assembly to implement the promises in the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted June 15, 2
Líderes indígenas hacen un llamado a la implementación de la Declaración Americana sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas
June 20, 2017 ENGLISH | Esta semana, líderes indígenas se encuentran en Cancún, México exigiendo que la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) adopte medidas durante su 47° Asamblea General para implementar la Declaración Americana sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, la cual fue adoptada el 15 de Juni
Standing with Standing Rock
Call for Partial Summary Judgement | Feb. 21, 2017
The Center was among more than 118 Tribal Nations and organizations who joined the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center in an Amicus Brief urging the Federal District Court to declare the Army Corps' early termination of the EIS Process and grant of an easement to Dakota Access unlawful.
Download Amicus Brief
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: 10 year Anniversary
It is hard to believe that on September 13, 2017, a decade will have passed since the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Over the last ten years, we have continued our work to ensure the promises in the Declaration are realized and, in spite of some challenges, we have seen some good progress in laws, policies, and practices locally and internationally.
Tribes seek new status at the United Nations
(New York City, NY) — Indigenous leaders from across the United States and the world gathered in New York December 14-15, 2016, to participate in a consultation with the United Nations General Assembly on how to strengthen the participation of indigenous governments at the United Nations.
Informal Consultations on Indigenous Participation at the UN
Center staff and board members are participating in information consultations of the current 71st session of the UN General Assembly on “Ways to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them.”
About the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will help protect our self-determination rights, our rights to our territories and natural resources, our right to sustainable development and to the healthy environment on which indigenous peoples physical and cultural survival depends. It will also help to ensure respect for the practices, traditions, laws, and cultural values of indigenous people.
Minnesota tribes learn about engaging in the UN
Tribal leaders from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and other Minnesota Indian Affairs Council representatives met with Indian Law Resource Center lawyers August 4, 2016, for a high-level workshop about how to engage in the United Nations system to protect tribal lands, sovereignty, and cultures.
Indian Law Resource Center chairwoman appointed to top UN body on indigenous issues
Terri Henry, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Secretary of State and chairwoman of the Indian Law Resource Center board of directors, is one of 16 experts tapped to serve on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She will begin her three-year term on January 1, 2017.
The World Bank Approves Indigenous Peoples Policy
This month, the World Bank’s board of directors approved a new Environmental and Social Framework, modernizing a decades old set of policies aimed at preventing Bank-funded development projects from harming the environment and people.
Mayan leadership learns how to hold development banks accountable for human rights violations
Multilateral development banks play a key role in financing large-scale development projects, such as dams and forestry initiatives, that have often had devastating impacts on indigenous people and their communities. The Center led a workshop on the United Nations System and multilateral development banks for the traditional and ancestral authorities of the Mayan Nation.
Armstrong Wiggins Appeals to the OAS to Implement the American Declaration
Armstrong Wiggins, director of the Center's Washington, D.C. office, appealed to the OAS General Assembly in Santa Domingo June 13, 2016 to work towards the implementation of the newly adopted American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
OAS adopts new Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
After nearly 30 years, the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on June 15, 2016.