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TONATIERRA
Press Release
Date: Friday, December 1, 2006
Contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta
(602) 466-8367, (602) 254-5230
The Right of Self Determination
and Indigenous Peoples
Press Conference
Friday December 1st, 2006
11:00 AM
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ - Representatives of traditional alliances of Indigenous Peoples of the territory will gather today to affirm the inalienable right of Self Determination of the Indigenous Peoples in the wake of the recent rejection at the UN of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Leaders of the world's Indigenous Peoples and their supporters expressed sadness and anger Tuesday as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly rejected a declaration calling for the international recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ right to self determination and control over their traditional lands.
The Third Committee of the General Assembly, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, decided on November 28th to put aside the matter for further discussion, as a majority of member states approved a resolution in favor of deferment.
"It is shameful," said Arthur Manuel of the Secwepeme Nation, about the outcome of the vote on the declaration. "This was a historic opportunity for the UN to at least recognize our inalienable rights."
Les Malezer, an Australian aboriginal leader who chairs the Indigenous Caucus at the UN, added: "This is unjustifiable. This is an attempt to derail the whole process."
International outrage, betrayal and injustice are the terms being used to describe the sense of the current situation affecting Indigenous Peoples globally in terms of their relationships with the government states of the United Nations system. The text of the declaration came after 24 years of negotiations between government states, Indigenous Peoples and Non governmental organizations.
“This action assures continued discrimination, violation of our rights as Indigenous Peoples and vulnerability of our nations to pogroms of genocide. The failure to recognize our right of self-determination by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly is an unacceptable criminal lack of protection and promotion of the fundamental principal of our basic human rights,” said Jose Matus of the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, a human rights advocacy organization in Tucson.
“We join our Indigenous brothers and sisters around the world in strong solidarity in speaking out against the lack of respect, and failure of the UN member states to find common cause with the struggle for human rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
Deploring the Third Committee's decision, the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International said the declaration was an attempt to "fill an important gap in the protection of indigenous peoples' rights," and warned the governments against any move to "weaken" its text.
The press conference on Friday the 1st of December will be from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and will also address the related issues of Indigenous Rights in terms of border issues, the rights of migratory workers, and the impact of Free Trade Agreements such as NAFTA and the FTAA on the treaty and territorial rights of the Indigenous Nations of the hemisphere of Abya Yala (the Americas).
Links:
Indigenous Peoples Caucus
http://www.ipcaucus.net/
United States opposes declaration on Native rights
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414049
The Geography of Self Determination
http://www.tonatierra.org/nauacalli-022706.html
http://www.servindi.org
http://www.tonatierra.org/
NAHUACALLI:
The Right of Self Determination
and Indigenous Peoples
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General Assembly President, HE Madame Sheika Heya Rashed Al Khalifa, receives greetings from Indigenous delegate, Jose Carlos Morales. The President listened to requests that the Indigenous Peoples be acknowledged in the General Assembly when the Declaration is formally adopted.