CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

4th Intersessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Intervention by Andrea Carmen, International Indian Treaty Council
Discussion on Article 15
DAY 8, December 9, 1998

Thank you Mr. President and good afternoon to respected delegations of states and Indigenous Peoples.

Although our delegation, in unity with the Indigenous representatives in this room, has set forth our support and defended at length this support for the current text of Article 15 in the Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we are indicating by our very presence in this room that we are willing to listen, discuss and respond to sincere and reasonable proposals by states, presented in the context of the discussion set forth by the President, which propose to strengthen and clarify the text.

However, we have heard proposals expressed here today which in fact attack the very essence, meaning and basis of the Draft Declaration, and we have heard no conclusive arguments, discussion or justifications for them in any way whatsoever.

I will address at this time the single most objectionable statement which was very painful for us to hear as Indigenous Peoples and sincere participants in this dialogue. This was the suggestion proposed by the United States of America delegation, and echoed by the Japanese delegation, that the term Indigenous Peoples should be changed in the text to some approximation of the words "persons belonging to indigenous groups", language which may acceptable terminology addressing the rights of minorities, but which has no legal basis, no precedent in international law referring to the rights of Peoples.

Mr. President, respected state delegations, we are Peoples, we are Indigenous Peoples, and no state has presented any reasonable, justified explanation as to why we should not be recognized as such in a document which directly addresses our rights and survival.

The U.S. and Japanese proposal to dilute our rightful status as Peoples, in fact to delete our existence as Peoples in a document, in a Declaration which was expressly developed to recognize these rights, goes beyond the racism and discrimination which we have agreed has no place in international standard setting. This proposal is equivalent in the eyes of our delegation to ethnocide, and in fact, and I realize the strength of these words, to genocide committed with the stroke of a pen, eliminating our identity as Peoples with this proposed amendment, this redrafting, qualifying, watering-down insult to us in the text of Article 15.

I would like to refer to a statement by the late Christian Bain, a noted Canadian human rights scholar, who said that 'ethnocide is a monstrous crime, as it destroys the cultural dignity and identity of all members of a People, and very likely destroys their mental and physical health, as well as their unique world views and traditional knowledge. Ethnocide is like genocide on the installment plan.'

Mr. President and state delegations, I sincerely hope that Indigenous Peoples who are struggling to maintain our dignity as we proceed with this dialogue regarding the Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, will not be faced with 'genocide on the installment plan' as we have to hear reiterated this entirely objectionable proposal for language which attempts to delete the term Indigenous Peoples as we proceed article by article in this discussion.

I will briefly mention two more issues in response to statements made today by state delegations. I would like to remind states, especially the United States and Canada among the other delegations with legally ratified treaties with Indigenous sovereign Peoples and Nations, and in particular I refer to the United States' over 300 Treaties with Indigenous Peoples, that many of these Treaties recognize education as a collective Treaty right.

I would like to go on record as stating that our ancestors died for these rights, spilled their blood for these Treaties which are codified as international law and which the United States Constitution affirms as the Supreme Law of the land. This makes it doubly offensive that the United States delegation proposes to water down the text of Article 15 and refuses to recognize education as a collective right of Indigenous Peoples.

I have one final comment in response to issues raised by some state delegations, which I will take as sincere concerns, expressing the need to assure gender equality and preservation of the rights of individuals in the context of Article 15. I would like to remind the delegations of these states that last year this body adopted Article 43 of the Draft Declaration, which states that 'all the rights and freedoms recognized herein are equally guaranteed to male and female indigenous individuals'. These concerns are already adequately addressed and can be put to rest, eliminating the need for any such amendments to the text as currently written.

I want to thank you for this time and for your sincere consideration of my words, which I have expressed from my heart to you today.