CUAUHYOTL ABYA YALA
Urgent Action
November 26 -27, 2010
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Message to President Barack Obama and the US Congress
Spirit of Humanity?
From coast to coast, from sea to sea:
We are those who complete the history!
From time immemorial, from stars yet to be born:
We stand and turn,
We return and stand among you to say:
What kind of land that calls itself free, can deny the Spirit of Humanity?
We are those who fulfill the destiny!
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Link:
SEND A
Message to President Obama and the US Congress
http://www.petition2congress.
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Statement by Tonya Gonnella Frichner
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Regional Representative - North America
Regarding US House Resolution 1551
August 1, 2010
On July 22, 2010, US House of Representatives Resolution 1551.1H was submitted to Congress and referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should “promote respect for and full implementation of the provisions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples consistent with US law.” As positive as this wording of the resolution may seem, the phrase “consistent with US law” is highly problematic because US law with regard to American Indian nations and peoples is premised on unacceptable doctrines such as “discovery,” “conquest,” and “plenary power,” and on a presumption of United States supremacy over Indigenous peoples.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an international human rights instrument that recognizes the individual, collective, and group rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right of self-determination, and the right of Indigenous Peoples to give or withhold their free, prior, and informed consent when it comes to the exploitation of their Indigenous lands, territories, and resources. It is incumbent upon the United States government to fully endorse and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in a manner consistent with international standards of human rights, and in keeping with the recognition of the individual, group, and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Background:
Hopi Message at the House of Mica
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NAHUACALLI
MISSION STATEMENT
To create and sustain a
Cultural Embassy
of
Indigenous Peoples
That
will support local-global and holistic indigenous community development
initiatives in education, culture, and economic development in accord
with the principles of
Community Ecology
and
Self Determination.
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November
5, 2009
The
Honorable Barack Obama
The
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington,
DC 20500-0004
Dear Mr. President,
Greetings. Upon this
historical event, we wish to thank you for your commitment and dedication to
bring forth meaningful change for our Peoples. On behalf of the Timbisha
Shoshone of the Western Shoshone Nation and the many other Nations
and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of North America, we call upon the government of the
United States of America (USA) to act in due haste to adopt and implement the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which was adopted
by the UN General Assembly Resolution #61/295 at its 107th plenary on September
13, 2007.
We
are confident that through your leadership and peacemaking goals as exemplified
in your membership on the UN Human Rights Council, you will adopt this historic
human rights instrument. We ask
for this action immediately.
Mr.
President, we write this in recognition of what we believe is your sincere
commitment to uphold and strengthen the relationships with the US
government and
American Indian Nations.
In keeping with your invitation to meet leaders of the Nations
and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of North America which brings us to Washington
DC, we offer our greetings to you and extend our hands in the spirit of a renewed
and re-visioned expression of this relationship. A critical part of this relationship is recognizing that the
time has come to break the chains from centuries of racism, colonization and
ongoing oppression across North America.
This can begin to be accomplished by the US adopting the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We
have entered a new age – a time of reflection and correcting the wrongs of
previous eras. Let us set forth on
a positive pathway together. As
you know, thousands of Indigenous Peoples here in the US, and indeed throughout
the world, stood up with trust and faith in your message of equity and justice
for all, during your campaign. As
Indigenous Peoples are equal to all other Peoples, it is time that the
relationship of our Nations and Pueblos with the US must be redefined. This is more than a matter of
honor. It is a matter of doing
what is right and it is critical to our continuing and ever evolving
relationship with the US federal government.
Mr. President, we believe in
your commitment for real and systemic change that can imprint upon our future
generations
and lead the world in a good and honorable way. This can be accomplished by finally and for the first time
ever, fully recognizing the rights of the Indigenous Nations.??
Although
an apology for the oppression of US policies that brutalized our homelands and
have devastated our peoples, cultures and ecosystems, is well in order and in
fact long overdue, it is not enough.
Adopting the UNDRIP is a meaningful and responsible step toward
long-term reconciliation that can resonate across the globe with Indigenous
Peoples of the World.
The
implementation of the UNDRIP institutes a new systemic standard that calls for complementary
readjustment among entities of the government states and the Nations of the
Indigenous Peoples, normalizing peaceful relations and creating partnerships
based on mutual respect and cooperation.??
Hopefully,
this letter prompts the United States’ immediate attention to and adoption of
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We know this will produce a positive
and constructive diplomatic venue to advance the recognition, respect, and
protection of
the Human Rights and Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples, both within the
domestic and international arenas.
Sincerely,
Joe
Kennedy
Chairman, Timbisha Shoshone of the Western Shoshone Nation
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On October 12, 2007 at the Arizona State Capitol in the chambers of the House of Representatives, a group of Native American Veterans conducted a signing ceremony during which they affirmed the United Nations Declaration on the the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, acting in Self Determination and defiance of the policy of the US State Department and the Bush Administration. Here is a copy of the the Signature Page from that historic event. The Native American veterans stated that if the United States of America didn't have the guts to sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, they would do it for them, and if the US didn't like it then let them just try to stop the ceremony. Now over two years later, the Native American Veterans still await the response from the Obama administration to their call for recogntiton, respect, and justice.
SIGNATURE
After
more than three decades of struggle at the international levels of UN diplomacy
and centuries of outright genocide and forced assimilation programs, the
Indigenous Peoples of the world are now finally acknowledged as full members of
global society with inherent rights of Self Determination under international
law. The passage of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General
Assembly on September 13, 2007 addresses both individual and collective rights,
cultural rights and identity, rights to education, health, employment, language
and Treaty Rights.
A
new day is upon us, the Indigenous Peoples Day - Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl.
Each
one of us, as members of the great and humble family of the Indigenous Nations
and Pueblos of this continent Abya Yala, have a story to tell in the long
battle to achieve recognition, respect and protection for the rights of our
Indigenous Peoples. Many of the
stories are told with sadness and even pain, as we recall the sufferings and
trauma that our peoples and the land itself have endured as the result of
centuries of colonization. In this
sense we are all veterans of the wars of colonization. The battle is still long from over;
centuries of trauma will take generations to fully heal, yet we have arrived at
the dawn of the day which was foretold by our traditions and prophecies.
And
how long is this day? How long shall it last? This day - the Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl - began with the first
rays of the original light of creation, when Life Giver made known the message
and meaning of life itself, among all of our relations of the natural world.
We, as Indigenous Peoples of the entire world continue to carry the meaning of
this message in our hearts and endeavor to pass this sacred tradition on to our
future generations.
May
our signatures here be a sign, of our continued commitment to encounter one
another and all of our brothers and sisters of the Family of Humanity along the
good road of Self Respect and Self Determination.
How
long is this day? As long as the Light….
Signature:_______________________________________________________________
Nation(s) of Indigenous
Peoples_____________________________________________
Date: October 12, 2007
Arizona State Capitol
Land of the Braves
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President Rafael Correa
Republic of Ecuador
C/O Luis Benigno Gallegos Chiriboga, Ambassador
Embassy of Ecuador in Washington
2535 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
Email: embassy@ecuador.org
Greetings. Recent events in the territories of the Confederation of the Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENAIE) have brought deep concern and alarm to the Nations of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [the Americas] as we become informed of the policies and actions of your government in terms of recognition, respect, and protection of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples within the plurinational state of Ecuador.
As members of the human family, we all mourn the unnecessary loss of life that is the common history of centuries of continental conflict which has characterized the policies of colonization by the royal crowns of Europe initially, and presently their subsequent political heirs in the form of the American Republics of the OAS system. This ongoing atrocity being committed against Humanity and the Indigenous Peoples must be brought to a speedy end immediately.
Specifically, the adoption on September the 13th 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples demands that a new standard of accountability be implemented, in particular with regard to recognition of territorial rights of the Indigenous Peoples and our Confederations of Nations, Pueblos and Nationalities.
In our hemisphere of Abya Yala [the Americas], the illegal and antiquated conceptual framework that attempts to justify the jurisdiction of the National State over the preceding and superceding natural territorial rights and ecology (Pachamama) of Indigenous Peoples, as codified in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, must now be denounced as an aberration of the Divine Right of States, a bastard intellectual relic derivative of the long abandoned concept of the Divine Right of Kings of feudal European societies.
The time is now, the place is the great expanse of the Amazonian Watershed which underlies the Ecuadorian Amazon, where we must turn the tide of history and emerge by the power of our common humanity from the centuries of genocide and terracide of colonization. As Nican Tlacah Cemanahuac, Indigenous Peoples of the Mother Earth, we engage with the entirety of Human Society in this cause, knowing that our struggle in not only the struggle for Self Determination of our Indigenous Peoples, but is the defining battle of the global Climate Crisis.
In this context, and in good will, we extend our invitation to your government to join with the Indigenous Peoples of the planet to address the issue of human societies relationship with the waters of the world within the much needed context of shared responsibilities in ecological and spiritual terms. We cannot accept the privatization of the waters of Mother Earth and expect to provide a sustainable way of life for our future generations. We call upon you as President of Ecuador to permanently remove any threat of privatization and commodification of the waters of the Amazon basin as an immediate first step towards peaceful relations with the Confederations of the Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador, and as example of a national policy of global ecological responsibility.
We further support the demand of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador and other popular elements of the pluri-national state of Ecuador who call for an immediate embargo on the invasion of the extractive mining industry in Indigenous Territories of Ecuador. We echo the findings of the official audit by the Commission of Integral Audit of Public Credit, which denounced the World Bank financed mining projects in Ecuador as “illegitimate’ and “illegal”. (www.auditoriadeuda.org.ec)
Finally, we assert our solidarity with the just cause of the Confederation of the Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), and the regional confederation of the Confederation of Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), in anticipation of your personal attendance at the talks initiating dialogue now set for Union Base, Pastaza at the headquarters of CONFENAIE.
Sincerely,
Estimado Sr. Presidente,
Saludos. Los recientes acontecimientos en los territorios de la Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana (CONFENIAE) han causado una profunda preocupación y alarma entre las Naciones de los Pueblos Indígenas de Abya Yala [América] a medida que nos informemos de las políticas y acciones de su gobierno en términos de el reconocimiento, respeto y protección de los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en el estado plurinacional del Ecuador.
Como miembros de la familia humana, lamentamos universalmente la pérdida innecesaria de vidas humanas, ya que la historia común de los siglos de conflicto continental es caracterizado por las políticas de colonización por la elite de la Corona Real de Europa inicialmente, y actualmente sus herederos políticos subsecuentes en la forma de las Repúblicas Americanas del sistema de la OEA. Esta atrocidad contra la Humanidad y los Pueblos Indígenas que sigue en curso debe ser llevado a un final rápido y de inmediato.
En concreto, la adopción el 13 de septiembre de 2007 de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas Sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas exige que se aplique una nueva estándar de normas políticos y legales, en particular con respecto al reconocimiento de los derechos territoriales de los Pueblos Indígenas y nuestras Confederaciones de Naciones, Pueblos y Nacionalidades.
En nuestro continente de Abya Yala [América], el marco conceptual ilegal y anticuada que intenta justificar la jurisdicción del Estado Nacional imponiéndolo sobre el antecedo y sobresaliente derecho natural de territorialidad y ecología (Pachamama) de los Pueblos Indígenas, según se estipula en la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos del Los Pueblos Indígenas, ahora debe ser denunciada como una aberración del Derecho Divino de los Estados, una degenerada reliquia intelectual derivada del concepto de Derecho Divino de los Reyes, fosilizado en la historia de la sociedad feudal europeo.
El momento es ahora, el lugar es la gran extensión de la Cuenca Amazónica que subyace en la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, donde debemos cambiar el rumbo de la historia y emerger con la fuerza de nuestra humanidad común de los siglos de genocidio, terracidio y colonización. Como Nican Tlacah Cemanahuac, los Pueblos Indígenas de la La Madre Tierra, nos comprometemos con la totalidad de la sociedad humana en esta causa, reconociendo que nuestra lucha no sólo es la lucha por la autodeterminación de nuestros pueblos indígenas, sino que también es la batalla fundamental en términos de la crisis climática global.
En este contexto, y con buena voluntad, extendemos invitación a unirse a su gobierno con los Pueblos Indígenas del Planeta para abordar la cuestión de la relación de nuestra sociedad humana con la totalidad de las aguas del mundo en el contexto esencial de responsabilidades compartidas en términos ecológicos y espirituales. No podemos aceptar la privatización de las aguas de la Madre Tierra y esperar proporcionar una forma de vida sostenible para nuestras futuras generaciones. Hacemos un llamamiento a usted como Presidente del Ecuador para eliminar de forma permanente cualquier amenaza de la privatización y la mercantilización de las aguas de la cuenca del Amazonas como un primer paso inmediato hacia la las relaciones pacíficas con las confederaciones de los Pueblos Indígenas del Ecuador, y como ejemplo de un la política nacional de responsabilidad ecológica global.
Además, respaldamos la demanda de la Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador y otros elementos populares del estado plurinacional del Ecuador, que exigen un embargo inmediato de la invasión de la industria minera extractiva en los territorios indígenas del Ecuador. Nos hacemos eco de las conclusiones de la auditoria oficial de por la Comisión Para la Auditoría Integral de Crédito Público, que denunció a los proyectos mineras en Ecuador financiados con créditos del Banco Mundial como "ilegítimo" e "ilegal". (www.auditoriadeuda.org.ec)
Por último, afirmamos nuestra solidaridad con la justa causa de la Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE) y la Confederación Regional de la Confederación de Nacionalidades del Amazonia Ecuatoriana (CONFENIAE), en previsión de su asistencia personal en las conversaciones de apertura para el diálogo que se prepara en la Unión Base, Pastaza en la sede de CONFENIAE.
Atentamente,
NAHUACALLI
NAHUACALLI
Embajada de los Pueblos Indígenas
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
Contacto: Tupac Enrique Acosta PO Box 24009 Phoenix, AZ 85074
Tel: (602) 254-5230 Correo electrónico: chantlaca@tonatierra.org
