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.
by Robert T. Coulter - The Declaration contains more than 15 articles spelling out and protecting many aspects of tribal self-government and jurisdiction. Tribes are studying these detailed provisions, making strategies, and deciding what elements of the Declaration to implement first. The Declaration is a very useful guide for what changes are necessary, but it will take a strong, national campaign by tribes to get serious, concrete changes made.
The UN Human Rights Council held its 33rd session on September 13-September 30 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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.
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.
On September 22, 2015, the Human Rights Council held a half-day panel discussion on follow-up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
The Indian Law Resource Center, in a joint statement with Americans for Indian Opportunity, the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, National Congress of American Indians, and the Native American Rights Fund, called on the UN to address the epidemic of violence against indigenous women by following up on the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples Outcome Document.
Rapa Nui leader, Santi Hitorangi, addressed the UN Human Rights Council on Sept. 18, 2015, in Geneva, seeking international support for the Rapa Nui’s right of self-determination and decolonization from Chile. “We, the Rapa Nui people, continue to fight for our right of self-determination, for protection and management of the Moai, our sacred burial sites, for regulation of immigration to our island, and the decolonization of our territory,” stated Santi Hitorangi, member of the Hitorangi Clan.
Indian Law Resource Center delivers statement at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. CLICK HERE FOR MORE...
The declaration lays out the fundamental rights of the world's indgenous peoples.
The United States State Department holds a listening session in New Mexico to gather tribal leaders views on human rights in Indian Country.
A year ago, the international community at last officially recognized that indigenous peoples have a permanent right to exist as peoples, nations, cultures and societies when the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Sept.13, 2007.
During a meeting of the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, Namibia sponsored a resolution asking for a delay in adoption of the declaration, saying it contradicted the national constitutions of a number of African countries.
