| j bosma on Wed, 23 Oct 96 20:54 MET |
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| nettime: Indigenous peoples walk out at UN |
URGENT ALERT - This press release and the following messages have been issued from Geneva with a call for support from around the world. Please redistribute this message through your networks, send faxes of support to 0041 22 917 03 34, and contact your government, state department/indigenous affairs, and put pressure on to strengthen the position of the Indigenous Nations and Peoples in Geneva that the Draft Declaration be adopted in its entirety. Please send us your support by fax immediately so that we can carry and present your support and rights: Fax: 0041 22 917 03 34 ATTN: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES GLOBAL CAUCUS <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< PRESS STATEMENT: 22 OCTOBER 1996 2:00 P.M. at the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE for more information contact: [email protected] fax: 0041 22 917 03 34 Indigenous Peoples Representatives Walk Out Of the UN Inter-Sessional Working Group on the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples A unanimous mass walk out by Indigenous Nations and Peoples was provoked today in Geneva, Switzerland at a U.N. meeting on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. After two days of discussions Indigenous participants agreed to present a proposal to the chairman of the Inter-sessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, suggesting that the existing Draft Declaration be immediately adopted without changes or ammendments. After the proposal was presented by Mr. Moana Jackson of the Maori delegation, it was simply ignored by the chairman and state representatives. Several attempts to reintroduce the proposal by other Indigenous delegates were also dismissed by the chair. Indigenous delegations immediately left the proceedings. Indigenous delegations refused to enter into a colonial process designed to allow states to dilute and change the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. After twelve years spent by Indigenous Peoples developing a Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UN member states are now trying to frame the debate on the basis of antiquated notions of state and individual rights. Such a framework cannot encompass and protect the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UN Charter itself defines the collective rights of peoples as the inherent "right of self-determination" by which "they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." Over the past 20 years, the international Indigenous Peoples movement has worked toward the development of new standards in international law and human rights to take into account the rights of Indigenous Nations and Peoples. The inherent right of self determination of Indigenous Peoples as expressed in article 3 of the UN Draft Declaration is continually being denied by states. Indeed, states continue to define the rights of Indigenous Peoples in colonial terms. Indigenous representatives are frustrated that state governments are attempting to diminish the substance of the Draft Declaration in a process not scheduled to be completed until the year 2004. Some states have said they will only recognize individual rights in the declaration they are going to draft. These and other factors remain major points of disagreement between states and Indigenous Nations and Peoples. The mass walk out leaves state government representatives in the embarrassing position of drafting their own declaration on the rights of Indigenous people without Indigenous participation or consent. After the Indigneous Peoples' walkout, several state representatives requested negotiations in an effort to bring Indigenous representation back into the proceedings. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Numerous other documents and statements that have been generated in Geneva on this issue in the last 2 days have been posted at: http://www.hookele.com/netwarriors The full text of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can be reviewed at: http://www.hookele.com/netwarriors/draftdec-text.html <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Contact People: Latin America: Marcelo Orellana Coordinacion Peublos Indigenos Cento y Sud America Pacific Region: Moana Sinclair, Te Kawau Maro North America: Steve Newcomb, Indigenous Law Institute East Asia: Boris Voyer, International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< [email protected] fax: 0041 22 917 03 34 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES GLOBAL CRISIS STAND OFF Net Warriors Kekula P. Bray-Crawford, Pacific Peoples Indigenous Organization Committee/IITC Lori Pourier, Indigenous Womens Network Crystal Echohawk, Indigenous Womens Network Steve Newcomb, Indigenous Law Institute Carl Michael von Hausswolff Roslagsgatan 58, S-113 54 Stockholm, Sweden tel: +46 (0)8 612 27 03 fax: +46 (0)8 16 83 39 http://www.it.kth.se/KREV/ -- * distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission * <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, * collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets * more info: [email protected] and "info nettime" in the msg body * URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: [email protected]