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UN Commission on Human Rights
Remarks by U.S. Delegate Luis Zuniga, Item 15: Indigenous issues
April 8, 2004
Over hundred years ago the United States was in conflict with the
Native Peoples of America. In the hundred years since, the United
States has adopted various policies from assimilation to the
termination of tribal status to the current era of
self-determination. And, history is witness; the United States did
not always get it right.
Through it all, Native Peoples struggled to survive, to reclaim
their strength, to heal their people. They fought to defend the
land, America, through world wars, the conflicts of the cold war and
now in the war against terrorism. As a percentage of the population
of the United States of America, there are more Native Peoples
protecting our land in this way than any other group. Their
patriotism is evident. The United States is fortunate to have the
native people at our side. The United States is proud to have a
government-to-government relationship with over 560 Indian tribal
governments within the U.S.
Tribal elders have said that the seventh generation of contact is a
time for healing and reconciliation in all of the Americas. The
United States of America could not agree more. Indigenous people in
the Americas comprise the majority of the population in a number of
countries in the hemisphere and a significant minority of the
population in the remainder of the continent. We must work together.
Political systems and political parties must ensure that they are
fully open to participation of native peoples at all levels without
discrimination. States must recognize the humanity and dignity of
each indigenous person and put an end to discrimination. States must
understand the human desire of indigenous peoples to have control
over their own local affairs and work with them to meet their needs.
We welcome the efforts of Mexico, Peru and Guatemala and applaud
their persistence in creating the Special Rapporteur. We encourage
Mr. Stavenhagen to use his good offices and encourage dialogue
between States and Indigenous communities. The U.S. supported the
Danish initiative to create the Permanent Forum and have been
watching its development. The Forum, still in its infancy, is
beginning to fulfill the vision of mainstreaming the concerns of
indigenous communities throughout the United Nations system. And the
working group on the draft declaration continues its work to
articulate international protection for indigenous people. With the
Permanent Forum, the WGGD and the Special Rapporteur, the U.S.
cannot continue to support the Working Group on Indigenous
Populations. We believe the WGIP has been overcome by events and is
now an obsolete bureaucracy, consumed by its own institutional
interests and continues to absorb resources. It does not want to
willingly fade away in favor of more valuable tools. But, unlike
dinosaurs of ages past, WGIP will not itself spawn a lasting
resource. WGIP has continued to consume scare resources at a time
when the full range of indigenous issues is now being addressed by
the permanent forum. The U.S. does not find this duplication of
performance appropriate or justifiable. Mr. Chairman, Members of the
Commission, the WGIP deserves a dignified funeral. Let us give its
due. It is the time for WGIP to go.
The Working Group on the Draft Declaration on the « Rights of
Indigenous Peoples » continues to struggle to achieve the decade’s
goal of completing the work. This declaration is important, as it
would have a worldwide impact from the Americas to Asia, to Africa,
to Oceania, to Europe. It will apply to us all, even for those who
say they are all « indigenous ». In this respect the draft
declaration could have unintended consequences as its applicability
makes clear that a unitary state would be unable to comply with its
structure.
While the declaration as an instrument is an aspirational statement,
the U.S. is aware that at least one regional body and a host of
international human rights lawyers have begun to cite to the draft
as an authoritative source. Let us be clear on the legal status of
this draft. It is a draft and as such has no legal standing
anywhere.
Much has been said about so-called U.S. obstructionism at the WGDD.
The United States of America takes the work of itinerating a
Declaration of Indigenous Peoples seriously. For this reason the
U.S. has examined its position and has offered the notion of «
internal self-determination ». The notion of « internal
self-determination » recognizes that local authorities will and
should make their own decisions and a range of issues from taxation
to education to land resources management to membership. These are
the powers of a government. This is the essence of a federal system
with which we are quite comfortable. In this sense, the Draft
Declaration is not a human rights instrument. Instead, it is a
blueprint for how States ought to conduct relations with indigenous
peoples. The United States stands ready to negotiate that kind of
aspirational document. But we will not support continued
negotiations on a Draft Declaration that pretended to re-order
internal relationships within a sovereign democratic state. Neither
can we accept the fiction put forward by the states that their
native populations are not indigenous or that everyone in the
population is indigenous and therefore the Declaration does not
apply to those states.
The U.S. will insist that this Declaration must apply universally.
The Organization of American States is working on a hemispheric
Declaration and it is our hope that this declaration will address
the unique circumstance in our hemisphere. For us a global
declaration must meet the needs of indigenous peoples and States in
Asia, Africa, Oceania and Europe.
In over a decade, the WHDD has approved only two Articles. The WGDD
has not even been able to complete a first reading. The decade ends
next year. We expect that at the 2005 Commission on Human Rights,
this body will have to decide whether the process can continue. In
our view, unless rapid progress is made, the CHR would not be using
its resources responsibly if it continues this exercise. We urge the
WGDD to make rapid progress based on principles that can apply
everywhere to the benefit of native peoples and the nation states of
which they are part. We hope that Declaration is possible before the
end of the decade.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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