The Australian Human Rights Commission has released a new guide for Indigenous Australians, explaining how they can use the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
At the White House Tribal Nations Conference December 15, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would "lend its support" to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. "The aspirations it affirms," he said, "including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples, are one we must always seek to fulfill. . . I want to be clear: what matters far more than words, what matters far more than any resolution or declaration, are actions to match those words. And that’s what this conference is about.
Today, President Obama met with tribal leaders at the White House Tribal Nations Conference. The text below is his address to the audience and includes a statement of support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The president promised a full statement to follow.
Six high Kenyan officials have been charged by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) with crimes against humanity for their part in violence that left more than 1,000 people dead after the disputed 2007 presidential election. Of the six, two men exercised direct authority over the Kenyan police who carried out 405 extrajudicial killings.
On December 3, 2010 armed Chilean troops equipped with riot gear opened fire on unarmed Rapanui civilians refusing to be evicted from ancestral lands. The police started shooting pellet guns and tear gassing at the Rapanui people who for months now have been reoccupying their lands.
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.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.