On September 30th, 2010, the 15th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to renew the mandate and change the name of the former “UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous People.” This position is currently held by Professor James Anaya and will now be called “the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
The government of Nicaragua ratified International Labor Organization Convention No. 169 on August 27, 2010. The convention is the only legally binding international instrument that specifically addresses Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Countries that ratified the document have used it as a framework for constitutional and legal reforms to ensure Indigenous Peoples rights are respected. In Guatemala Convention No. 169 was instrumental in the peace accords that ended 30 years of civil war between Indigenous groups and the government.
September 13th marks the third anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly. The US State Department’s formal review of the declaration will end in October. The department has asked Native American tribal leaders to write letters and give feedback about what the declaration means to their people. Now is the time to take action and let the Obama administration know why this document is so important to Native peoples in the US.
The UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples concluded its third session. The session took place from 12 to 16 July 2010, at the United Nations Office in Geneva. The Expert Mechanism is a new United Nations mechanism on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and was created by the Human Rights Council to continue the work of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 2007. This year’s session focused on the right to participate in decision-making.
In celebration of the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995/2004), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched the Indigenous Fellowship Programme (IFP) to give Indigenous Peoples the opportunity to learn about the UN system. The program offers insights into mechanisms dealing with human rights in general and Indigenous issues in particular so Native Peoples can assist their organizations and communities in protecting and promoting the rights of their people.
The Ecuadorian government is investigating Marlon Santi (president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or CONIAE) for alleged sabotage and terrorism in connection with his participation in a protest against government exclusion of Indigenous representatives from a high-level, international meeting about Indigenous issues.
International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is officially observed every year on August 9th in recognition of the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva in 1982. The United Nations and the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues commemorated the day by celebrating Indigenous film making and screening four short, Indigenous-made films:
Brazil: Marangmotxingo Mïrang (From the Ikpeng Children to the World)
On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution declaring the right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation” a fundamental human right. Presented by the Bolivian government, the resolution received favorable votes from 122 countries, while 42 countries—including Canada, the US, and Australia—abstained. No country voted against the measure. More than 884 million people around the world lack access to drinking water, 2.6 billion are without access to basic sanitation, and 3 billion have no running water within a kilometer of their homes.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
