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Current Situation of the Draft Declaration The OAS Working Group is currently engaged in the 'Final Revision' of the draft Declaration based on the New Base Text. To this end, Working Group participants - both indigenous peoples and state delegations - continue to meet for Negotiation Sessions to debate the draft text and submit proposals for alternative language in their...

Preliminary Developments Based on the Text Approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The first phase of the draft declaration development was characterized by a strong resistance to civil society participation. With a few exceptions, OAS member states maintained a staunch resistance to indigenous and NGO participation and confined participation to member state delegations and experts in the field...

The second phase of the draft declaration process was initiated by Resolution 1919 of the General Assembly on June 10, 2003, which urged the Working Group to begin negotiation meetings involving state member and civil society participation towards finding consensus on the draft declaration. These negotiations were based on a new revised text - the Working Group Chair's Consolidated Text...

The Working Group has now entered the third stage in the development of the draft declaration - the stage of final revision - which began during the second half of the Seventh Negotiation Meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, from March 21 - 25, 2006. This stage is currently underway based on a new text and a new working methodology. As a...

The General Assembly is the highest deliberatory and impermanent organ of the OAS and is comprised of delegations from all of the member states, which have the right to vote on the adoption of resolutions regarding topics within the General Assembly's sphere of competence. Its function, among others, is to make decisions and further initiatives related to the OAS's stated...

Base and Referential Texts for Draft DiscussionThere are three official versions of the draft declaration that have served as reference points for discussion over the draft's language during the three distinct chronological stages in the draft's development. These texts reflect contemporaneous developments in the debate over the draft language and provide a revised basis for subsequent discussions. The last two...

Establishing the Working Group The current Working Group was created by the OAS General Assembly on June 7, 1999( Resolution 1610) as a dependent organ of the Permanent Council to be in charge of the Committee on Juridical and Political Issues. The following points of this Resolution are noteworthy: 1. To establish a working group of the Permanent Council to...

Photo courtesy of ASOCBARI CUCUTA, Colombia - Bari leaders met with Shayda Naficy from our Washington, D.C. office for a human rights training, following two days of meetings with the National Authority of Indigenous Governments (ONIC), international human rights organizations and government officials regarding ongoing threats to the Bari and their way of life. The meetings were held to prepare...

Premier Danny Williams. CBC Photo Innu elder Marie Astor is fighting eviction notices her family received. Innu people are still waiting for reclamation of lands damaged by mining. Photo by Armand MacKenzie. READ MORE Press release and news coverage on the eviction notices sent to the Innu in May Text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology Apology Must Be Backed...

Editor's Note: Rosie Worthen is a sophmore majoring in International Studies and Modern Languages at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. She was an intern with the Indian Law Resource Center during her senior year at Helena High School. She shared this story about her first trip to Guatemala. _____________________________________________________________ As an International Studies major, I had the opportunity to visit...