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:
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced May 27, 2016, that due to a financial crisis it would be severely limited in its ability to fulfill its mandate by the Organization of American States (OAS) to promote respect for human rights in the region. We ask you to join us in creating awareness about the value of the IACHR and call for steps necessary to fund the Commission. #savetheIACHR #SalvemosLaCIDH
Dec. 16, 2015 marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. announcement of its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since 2010, tribal leaders have been working vigorously to implement the UN Declaration at all levels which includes law and policy reform, changes in administrative practices, and long-term efforts to correct conditions that impede tribal development or that undermine tribes’ right to self-determination, cultural rights, and resource rights.
May 15, 2015, the Indigenous Caucus of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas withdrew from the 18th session of the negotiations on the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Negotiations hit a stalemate when a few OAS states introduced text for the American Declaration that would have reduced rights already recognized in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
September 2013 | Highlights from the Center's participation in the 24th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland (MORE...)
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. Changing and reforming the legal framework for indigenous peoples has always been at the core of the Center’s work.
The Center provides training and legal information in order to expand the number of Indian leaders and community members who participate in international human rights procedures. We help indigenous leaders to promote and defend their human rights, to use human rights law to change domestic law and to use their political power to change the United States’ policies concerning international human rights law.
