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United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
December
10, 2004
For
twenty years, Indigenous Peoples and their support organisations have
been pressuring the United Nations to adopt a declaration for the
protection of the rights of the world’s Indigenous Peoples. It is
feared that – due to blocking attempts most notably by the UK and the
USA - the UN will now stop this process and leave Indigenous Peoples’
rights unrecognized.
The United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
is to become an internationally recognized legal instrument setting the
minimum standards for the promotion and protection of Indigenous
Peoples’ rights. The existing Universal Declaration of Human Rights
protects individual human rights. The Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples is needed to protect the collective human rights of
Indigenous Peoples, such as their rights to self-determination, culture,
religion, language, lands, territories and natural resources. The
protection of these collective human rights is essential for the
survival of the more than 5,000 Indigenous Peoples, totalling over 300
million Indigenous persons in the world.
The present draft of this Declaration is a document composed of 45
Articles. Its adoption by the United Nations highest body, the General
Assembly, was a primary objective in the present United Nations Decade
for the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004). However, as this Decade
comes to a close, only a mere two Articles of the Declaration have been
provisionally approved. The other 43 Articles, relating to the core
issue of the promotion and protection of the collective human rights of
Indigenous Peoples, have yet to be adopted.
The failure of the UN system thus far to establish and implement human
rights standards for Indigenous Peoples constitutes a significant
setback. And time is running out. The mandate of the UN Working Group
entrusted with the elaboration of this Declaration has now expired.
Indigenous Peoples now fear that this process will come to an end
without the desired result - despite the many efforts by both Indigenous
Peoples and Governments to work towards concensus on this Declaration.
Will the twenty years of hard work on this process be in vain?
Now it will be up to the decision-making body, the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights, to take on this issue and determine whether
this process can continue. The adoption of this Declaration is the most
urgent issue facing Indigenous Peoples globally and the key to their
very survival. It is important that an urgent message is sent to the
United Nations, making it clear that this must continue.
Source: Speaking4earth.com
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