DATE

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20006

Dear President Obama,

I write to urge you to immediately endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  The declaration is a set of principles that would provide Native Americans and Native Alaskans with greater security regarding their basic human rights, including their rights to equality and non-discrimination.

When the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, only four nations voted against it: New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United States. Since then, both Australia and New Zealand have reversed their positions and endorsed the declaration, and Canada also has recently indicated an interest in reversing its position in a qualified way. And now the United States has joined the trend toward enlightenment.

On November 12th, 2010, the Canadian government endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We urge the government to move ahead with the implementation of its provisions in a principled manner that fully respects their spirit and intent.

Mr. President, Honourable Ministers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Distinguished delegates, Indigenous brothers and sisters; Today I’m speaking on behalf of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB).

After two weeks of continuous work, long discussions and many negotiations we reach the end of COP10. The IIFB representatives, including Indigenous women, have actively engaged in all these discussions with our proposals and deliberations.

President Barack Obama again named November as National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, asking Americans to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving, November 26, as National Native American Heritage Day.
 
"The Obama Administration has once again exhibited that every day the federal government is paying more attention to the role of American Indian and Alaska Native nations as members of the American family of governments," said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians.

On November 5 the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, examined the United States’ compliance with its international human rights obligations. The council comprises 53 member states and conducts human rights reviews of all 192 UN member states in a four-year cycle. In reviewing the United States, members of the council questioned a delegation of over 30 U.S. officials.