Territorial
Integrity of Mother Earth
The
TIME
Is
NOW
Recommendation to the 13th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples
Recommendation to the 13th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples
12-23 May 2014 UN
Headquarters New York
Good Governance
and the
Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth
Statement
of Tupac Enrique Acosta, Huehuecoyotl
Callpolli
Nahuacalco, Izkaloteka
In the
Spirit of the Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth
Good greetings to you all:
To the ancestors and the Nations of
Indigenous Peoples of these territories, to the Memory and Spirit of each of
the Indigenous Peoples of Tonantzin, Our Sacred Mother Earth now in attendance,
to the members of the UN Permanent Forum and all the support staff at this 13th
Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
A special greeting and congratulations to our
Chairperson, Ms. Dalee Sambo Dorough and also a word of recognition for the
deceased leaders and spiritual guides of our Nations of Indigenous Peoples who
led the way in the struggle in the international arena for recognition,
respect, and protection for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. We invoke their
vision and strength once again here today, we call upon the leadership of Billy
Frank, we call upon the strength of Tomas Banyacya, and all the others relatives
of our Indigenous Peoples who acted upon the responsibility for our future in their
times.
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Fundamental to the right of nationality, as members of the Nations of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala, the Great Turtle Island
which is referenced in article 6 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, and evidenced unequivocally by the Treaty Status, namely international
personality which was subject of the UN Treaty Study conducted by Dr. Miguel Alfonso Martinez, is the collective right
of nationhood of Indigenous Peoples
beyond the contextual constraints of the Westphalian system of sovereignty of states. It
is a collective right, similar to how the present UN system of mutual
international recognition as sovereign states provides the framework of
jurisprudence for the purported jurisdiction of the states individually and
then collectively at the global dimension under the dominion of the UN system,
the jurisprudence which articulates the nationhood of Indigenous Peoples is
also is a projection of jurisdiction at the planetary level, with mutual
responsibilities towards the Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth, and the well being of the Future
Generations. The distinction being that
our Rights of Nationhood emerge from
the COGNITION, and then thus RECOGNITION, of our responsibilities as
ONE of the Nations (two legged species of kindom) – among ALL of the RELATIONS
to whom and with we share as human society collectively, the responsibility to
act in complementarity within the equally shared environment of the Natural World.
We are Original Nations of Mother Earth, and will not consent to be diminished or
to be dominated under the regime of the government states of the UN system as
mere ethnic groups, or minorities.
Colonialism and colonization are incompatible
and irreconcilable to the principles and practices of good governance. With the adoption of UN GA1514 (1960), this reality became evident and standardized
within the UN system by mechanisms of assessment, prosecution, and restorative
justice exemplified by UN GA1541 (1960).
The intent in 1960 at the dawn of the era decolonization was a determination
by global society not to simply to redress the international crime of
colonization, but instead to act deliberately and collectively on the mandate
“to bring colonialism to a speedy end."
That was 54 years ago. It was only seven years ago upon the adoption in 2007 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the rights of Indigenous Peoples “equal to all other peoples” became a norm in the international system of the United Nations in the context of colonialism and decolonization referenced by UN GA1514.
That was 54 years ago. It was only seven years ago upon the adoption in 2007 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the rights of Indigenous Peoples “equal to all other peoples” became a norm in the international system of the United Nations in the context of colonialism and decolonization referenced by UN GA1514.
But in terms of good governance, it is not
only seven years, or 54 years or 522 years (October 12, 1492) since the pogrom of colonization inflicted upon
the Nations of Indigenous Peoples became a crime against humanity. Colonialism and genocide have always been
criminal acts against humanity. These
dates simply mark the codification within the Westphalian system of the states now known as the United Nations when the crime of colonization
became an actionable crime in international law. And again the call for action under UN GA1514
in 1960 was to “bring to a speedy end”, not simply camouflage the crime and
become accomplice by dressing the body of the victim (the colonized) with a set
of domesticated rights that actually diminish and would eventually destroy the Nationhood of Indigenous Peoples.
These codes of common conduct also mark the
beginning of the processes of articulation and institutionalizing of mechanisms
of decolonization.
One of the other international bodies which
emerged in the processes was the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, where the UN system currently still
monitors the situation of “non-self governing territories” in terms of the
application of the principles of UNGA1514 and UNGA1541. The government of the United States of America, for example reported to this body which
was established under section 73(e) of the UN Charter until 1960, informing the
UN on the status of the non-self governing territories of Hawaii and
Alaska. Currently, the USA reports to
the UN Decolonization committee on the colonial status of American Samoa and
the US Virgin Islands, while Puerto Rico is presented as an “associate free
state” per UN GA1541.
Therefore, in view of the High-level
Plenary Meeting of the UN in 2014 and in relation to the interactive dialogue on the special
theme of Good Governance of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2014,
the Permanent Forum should address without discrimination violations of the
right to self-determination and full and equal participation of Indigenous
Peoples, equal to all other peoples
in the concept, design, implementation and
evaluation of each and every one of
the UN actions and policies that involve our Indigenous Peoples and the protection
of our collective rights. In particular,
regional trade agreements among member states of the UN, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
and the imminent threat of Trans-Pacific
Partnership Agreement (TPP for short English) should be juridically evaluated
as instruments that violate of the right of Full and Equal Pariticipation as
Peoples, equal to all other peoples.
Likewise, in evaluating with these same
criteria the UNHLPM 2014, the lack of respect and consideration to be
considered in Equality as Peoples
with all other Peoples in the proceedings is evident from conception, completely absent from the design, not even being considered in the implementation, and there are no mechanisms integrate equality in
the evaluation of the HLPM 2014
which is not a UN conference. We see individual advisors being selected by
extractive and non-representational processes, international peons whose role
in the projected UN High Level Plenary
Meeting of States of the General Assembly, which arrogantly is to be known
as World Conference on Indigenous
Peoples, is to repeat what the states have scripted to be told,
facilitating the assault of neo-liberal colonization by the corporations that
dictate the policies of the states, and whose role is to provide legitimacy for
development projects which the international financial consortia require in
order to market the concept that there is justice and consent of indigenous
peoples:
Colonization
is inconsistent with the Good Governance.
The UN
General Assembly High-level Plenary Meeting 2014
IS NOT A
UN CONFERENCE.
It is a schema of the
states which is actively and openly but unrealistically being promoted to be named
a CONFERENCE, in the same degrading naming process that we became known as
INDIANS, AMERICA, AMERICAN INDIANS, LATIN AMERICA, etc.
The HLPM is a semiotic schema
(doctrine) being constructed to contextualize the process INDIGENOUS CONSENT inside the Westphalian
System of the Divine Right of States in order to domesticate the Universal Human Right in International Law
of Indigenous Peoples, equal to all other peoples of the world.
*****************
The Doctrine of Discovery as a Violation of the Rule of Law and the UN
Decolonization Committee
As a systemic violation of the rule of law,
discriminatory and racist in conception and perpetration since October 12, 1492
until the present, the Doctrine of Christian Discovery of the Americas must not and cannot be simply be
redressed through advisory bodies of the UN system. Colonization must be brought to an end, not
dressed up as domestic policy and repackaged for sanitized consumption under
the guise of reconciliation. To do so would not invoke Good Governance. It would not be governance at all, but
instead complicity in the perpetuation of the crime of colonization. The issues of colonization and genocide which
are normalized socially and politically by the Doctrine must be criminally prosecuted and dismantled as violation of the rule of
law, with the full effective and equal participation of the Nations of
Indigenous Peoples, equal to all other peoples.
The Doctrine of Discovery is a violation of the rule of law.
Madam Chair and members of the Permanent
Forum:
We have taken note that the dispute over the Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands between
Great Britain and Argentina is an agenda item before the United Nations Decolonization Committee, and as we also have
intervened on this matter as Nations of
Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala at the V Continental Summit held in November 2013 in the Cauca Territories [Colombia],
we now submit the call for clarification
presented here at the Permanent Forum to the Representative of the Holy See on
this issue. In exercising our collective
continental Right of Self Determination and Nationhood as Indigenous Peoples,
the mechanisms of the UN bodies such as the UN Decolonizing Committee must not
be complicit in legitimizing and perpetuating the Crime of Colonization by
masking the issue of the Universal Call for Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery in their criteria and
proceedings. We call for accountability
and justice in this regard, in order to move forward with collective corrective actions to address the systemic
discrimination against Indigenous Peoples inscribed in the Decolonization
Committee mandates and procedures.
The processes and mechanisms of the UN
Decolonization Committee must address the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery as a Violation
of the Rule of Law, which must be prosecuted and procedurally engaged in
order to realize the Full, Effective,
and Equal participation of Indigenous Peoples in peaceful co-existence with
(but not under) those colonial settler societies in the Americas who derive
their juridical personality through the regimes of succession of the Doctrine
of Discovery (1492), the Papal Bulls (1493), the Monroe Doctrine (1823), and are contextualized regionally
and globally under the present UN systems such as the Organization of American
States (OAS) and the Westphalian system of State Sovereignty (AKA The Divine
Right of States).
Recommendation:
We call for the restitution of the primary source materials and testimony that was lent to the United Nations system as
fundamental to the evidence in document form of the systemic (system to system)
nature of the legal relationships between the Nations of Indigenous Peoples and
the member states of the UN system for the purpose of the Treaty Study conducted by Dr. Miguel Alfonso Martinez of Cuba.
Such delivery, should be initial act of good faith in terms of the
continuing process of systemic documentation among the Nations of Indigenous
Peoples and the UN system prior to and
as a necessary act of condition to allow for the full and effective participation of the Indigenous Peoples with the
High Level Plenary Meeting on an equal basis and without systemic discrimination in the process of producing the Final
Outcome Document of the High Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly
2014.
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Huehuecoyotl
chantlaca@tonatierra.org
*******
Endorsers: Maya Vision - Centro Cultural Techantit
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
Mandate of the Indigenous Peoples
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Endorsers: Maya Vision - Centro Cultural Techantit
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
Mandate of the Indigenous Peoples
