United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Tenth Session New York, 16th – 27th May, 2011
Agenda item: 4. Human rights: (b) Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur; and Dialogue with the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
International Borders:
The Rights of Mother Earth and Indigenous Peoples
The Rights of Mother Earth and Indigenous Peoples
TONATIERRA
In the spirit of self determination of the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth,
equal to all other peoples:
equal to all other peoples:
Dear Madam Chair,
Congratulations and best wishes to you in your position as chair of the UNPFII.
In paragraph 98 of the report on the 9th session of the UNPFII, a recommendation is given that calls for the taking of effective measures to implement article 36 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to address border issues, such as those related to the Mohawk Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Article 36 of the UNDRIP states that Indigenous Peoples divided by international borders have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation with their own members as well as other peoples across borders. Two countries, member states of the UN, are specified in this recommendation: the United States and Canada.
This recommendation is commendable as an initial point of departure for the elaboration of a more comprehensive, realistic and just international policy of World Peace addressing the issues relevant to systematic violations of Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples caused by the international borders of government states not only of Abya Yala [the Americas], but intercontinentally and globally.
Madam Chair,
In further review of the recommendations of the 9th Session of the UNPII regarding the Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, a number of significant points emerge for consideration at this session of our forum, among them:
Paragraph 36 refers to the “concept of human development” and recommends the promotion of a paradigm of evaluation that should be more strongly founded on human rights principles and therefore on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, calling for the recognition of the Principle of Self-determination, and the right of independent development with regard to Indigenous Peoples.
Paragraphs 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, reference and recommend specific actions by UN member states, UN agencies and mechanisms whose conjunction of mandates in terms of ILO Convention C169, along with the mandates of the UNPFII provide the opportunity to advance along the trajectory of development of the UNDRIP as a global standard of World Peace.
As a global standard of World Peace, the UNDRIP stands along with the other international instruments and mechanisms to serve as authentic expression of the emerging planetary paradigm for Human Society with respect to Rights of Mother Earth, mandated by our present reality in terms of climate issues of both micro and macro scales. The UNDRIP is a systemic standard: it represents an emerging paradigm of renewed relationships based on respect for the ancient traditions and liberations of Indigenous Peoples and our mutual responsibilities to the future generations.
Taking into account the references to the conjunction of mandates given in paragraphs 36-53 of the report on the 9th Session of the UNPFII, and with special attention to the Mandates from the Future Generations which binds us here as Nations and Pueblos of the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, TONATIERRA now offers the following recommendation and comments to the 10th session of the UNPFII:
We call on the UNPFII to engage in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to conduct a study and submit a report to the UNPFII at its 11th session in 2012 on the implications and relevancy of the Preliminary Study on the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery as relates to the international obligations and processes codified in ILO Convention C169 with respect for the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples. In terms of processes of accountability for violations of these rights, perpetrated systematically by the imposition of international borders of government states on the territories of our Indigenous Nations, we recommend that specific focus for the study should be evaluation of the impact from local to regional, regional to continental, continental to global scales of ecology of the Natural World and our shared responsibilities as defenders of the Human Rights of the Future Generations and the Rights of Mother Earth.
In closing Madam Chair,
The entire island of Japan moved twelve feet in the recent tlalollin which precipitated the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The resulting expulsion of radioactive materials into the environment and the waterways of Mother Earth, calls for special measures to realize the deliberate and intentional transition of relationships in terms of human society planetarily to one of homeostasis with the Natural World. It is not the Earth that is quaking, it is the unsustainable economic systems of human society. She is merely awakening, once again - awakening us. As members of human society, as children of the Nations and Pueblos of the Indigenous peoples of Mother Earth, Nican Tlacah Cemanahuak, as Peoples equal to all other Peoples, may we once again offer our commitment to do our part in bringing about the realization of this fundamental freedom: the self determined exercise of our INTERDEPENDENCE in the generational struggle to affirm the Right to Be Human.
It is not what we want, but what we WILL.
Submitted by:
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh
Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
TONATIERRA
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
