Author: Kirsten Matoy Carlson

New Study Explores How Indian Tribes Influence Federal Lawmaking

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

The BYU Law Review has published a new article, Lobbying as a Strategy for Tribal Resilience, that explores how Indian tribes and organizations have used legislative advocacy to influence federal Indian policy. It demonstrates how tribes have used lobbying as a way to build resilience over time by influencing the development of federal Indian policies that promote and protect tribal sovereignty. The article emphasizes the role of American Indian voices in the federal legislative process and shows how tribes have used advocacy to initiate new policies, to reverse court decisions, and to oversee the implementation of existing policies.

The article can be found here.

Call for Papers: Indigenous Politics in the Americas and Beyond

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

The Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics (JREP), under the editorship of Alexandra Filindra (University of Illinois—Chicago), is pleased to announce a call for papers on Indigenous politics. The issue seeks papers from all subfields in political science that explore Indigenous politics including work that focuses on public policy, law, intergovernmental relations, and political participation as well as theoretical approaches to understanding Indigenous groups in the US, Canada, and around the world. Research that addresses issues internal to Indigenous groups, First Nations and tribal governments is also appropriate. We welcome rigorous, theoretically grounded work regardless of topic or approach including theoretical and empirical examinations of Indigenous groups, individual behavior, and intergovernmental relations.

The editors for the special issue are Dr. Richard Witmer, Creighton University (witmer@creighton.edu), Dr. Laura Evans, University of Washington (evansle@uw.edu) and Dr. Kirsten Matoy Carlson, Wayne State University (kirsten.carlson@wayne.edu). Proposals must be submitted to the guest editors by December 31, 2019. The publication schedule for the journal will require accepted papers to be completed in accordance with the journal’s editorial style by January 15, 2021.

Please submit your abstract to Rick Witmer (witmer@creighton.edu) and to Alexandra Filindra (aleka@uic.edu). Please indicate in the subject line that this is a submission for the special issue of JREP.

Abstracts should be up to 500 words and provide a concise description of the argument, data, and analytical approach. For empirical research, please summarize the research question, theoretical importance, hypotheses, and data to be used.

New Study Reveals 600% Increase in Reported Lobbying by Indian Tribes and Organizations

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

The Harvard Journal on Legislation has published a new article, Lobbying Against the Odds, that reveals that reported lobbying by Indian nations and organizations increased over 600% from 1978 to 2012. Additional highlights from the article include the following:
– 60% of tribes that reported lobbying from 1978 to 2012 also operated a gaming establishment.
– Indian nations spent an average of $109,408 on lobbying per year from 1997 to 2012.
– Gaming tribes reported spending twice as much as nongaming tribes from 1997 to 2012.
– Top spenders were not necessarily the tribes most frequently reporting lobbying or testifying before Congress.

The article can be found here.

Rapa Nui leaders seek protection from Chile armed forces

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
September 2, 2015 

Indian Law Resource Center
Contact: Ginny Underwood 
gunderwood@indianlaw.org 
+1-405-229-7210 

WASHINGTON, D.C. —   Renewed tension between the Rapa Nui people and the Chilean government has prompted the Indian Law Resource Center to file a request for protection orders on behalf of the Rapa Nui clans with an international human rights body.  

“In the last two weeks, four prominent Rapa Nui leaders were unjustly arrested and jailed for trying to exercise their right of self-determination and their right to protect their sacred sites,” said Leonardo Crippa, senior attorney in the Center’s Washington, D.C. office.   “The repressive measures aimed at disabling the Rapa Nui Parliament must stop.” 

The Center has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to reissue precautionary measures to protect the Rapa Nui peoples’ right to life, their right to liberty and to protect their basic human rights. In 2010, the Commission granted precautionary measures under similar circumstances to protect Rapa Nui leaders from violent evictions by the Chilean government and opened an investigation regarding human rights violations.   Those measures were allowed to lapse after negotiations began between the Rapa Nui Parliament and the Chilean government.   In March 2015, negotiations broke down and the Rapa Nui Parliament assumed management of their own resources to protect and preserve their sacred sites.

“ Chile treats the Rapa Nui as sub-human and without rights,” said Santi Hitorangi, a member of the Hito Clan, as he described the tension on Easter Island.   “The fact that the state has named our ancestral sites as a national park for their entertainment shows the degree of disrespect that exists between Chile and the Rapa Nui people.”

The Rapa Nui island, commonly known as Easter Island, is in the southeastern Pacific Ocean and is called a special territory of Chile, annexed in 1933 without the consent of the Rapa Nui people. Most of the 36 Rapa Nui clans have been engaged in a collective effort to recover their ancestral lands, protect sacred sites, and exercise their right of self-determination.  

The IACHR’s mission is to promote and protect human rights.   As an organ of the Organization of American States, the Commission has the authority to hold countries such as Chile accountable for human rights abuses. A decision by IACHR on reissuing precautionary measures could come within a few months.

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The Indian Law Resource Center is a non-profit law and advocacy organization established and directed by American Indians. The Center is based in Helena, Montana, and also has an office in Washington, D.C.   The Center provides legal assistance without charge to Indian nations and other indigenous peoples throughout the Americas that are working to protect their lands, resources, human rights, environment and cultural heritage. The Center’s principal goal is the preservation and well-being of Indian and other Native peoples.   For more information, please visit us online at www.indianlaw.org or www.facebook.com/indianlawresourcecenter .

Recent Scholarship on American Indian Policy in the States

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Witmer, Johnson, and Boehmke have published, “American Indian Policy in the States.”  The article investigates whether American Indian legislation is prevalent in state legislative agendas from 1998 to 2007.  It finds that states with legislative and executive insitutions that address Native issues, as well as larger American Indian popultions, are more likely to initiate and pass legislation relating to American Indians.  The article can be found here or here.

OAS to Resume Negotiations on the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Feb. 9-11

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Negotiations on the Organization of American States (OAS) draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will resume in 2015 following a three year hiatus.  The Fifteenth Meeting of Negotiations will take place next week at the OAS in Washington, DC, February 9-11, 2015.  

All indigenous peoples are invited to participate and offer textual proposals on the articles listed in the agenda.  Some of the articles under consideration at this meeting include Article XII (right to cultural identity and integrity), Article XVIII (healthy environment), Article XX (self-government), and Article XXI (indigenous law and jurisdiction). 

More information on the negotiation, including the agenda, can be found here:http://www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/indigenous_peoples_negotiation_XV_meeting_2015.asp. 

Registration to attend this negotiation can be completed here: https://www.oas.org/forms/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=ll0Mmo6. 

For more information or assistance in participating, contact Karla General at the Indian Law Resource Center at kgeneral@indianlaw.org.

Words Into Action: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Its Impact in the United States in 2014

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Update on the UN Declaration by Karla General of the Indian Law Resource Center:

Words Into Action
By Karla General*

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Its Impact in the United States in 2014

Four years ago, on December 16, 2010, when the United States issued its statement of support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, it joined the world community in welcoming a new era of human rights.

For the first time in the history of international human rights, indigenous peoples were seen as equals, entitled to all the rights guaranteed to all other human beings. Today, we commemorate the battles fought and won by this and previous generations to secure a permanent place for indigenous peoples in the world community.

Affirming Rights

When President Obama announced the United States’ support of the UN Declaration, he said, “what matters far more than words are actions to match those words.” This was a historic year of action for indigenous peoples in the United States. In September, the first World Conference on Indigenous Peoples made key decisions supported by 100 tribal nations in the United States to affirm the rights in the UN Declaration and take actions to put them into effect, including:

  • Initiating a process to create a permanent body in the UN system that will monitor and encourage implementation of the Declaration;
  • Considering options for a General Assembly decision to make it possible for tribal and other indigenous governments to participate in UN meetings on a permanent basis;
  • Intensifying efforts to end violence against indigenous women; and
  • Recognizing the importance of indigenous peoples’ sacred places.

The details of these decisions will be worked out by various UN bodies in the next 22 months, including the Human Rights Council. Importantly, just before the World Conference, the United States appointed Keith Harper as the United States Ambassador to the Human Rights Council. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Ambassador Harper will play a key role in putting the decisions of the Conference to work.

Aligning Actions and Policies

The United States does appear to be taking steps toward bringing its laws and policies in line with the UN Declaration. With legislative victories like passage of the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act and, most recently, the repeal of Section 910 of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA), which excluded Alaska Native Villages from key protections, tribal nations are gaining good ground in protecting their economies and their citizens.

Administratively, agencies are revising their tribal consultation policies in keeping with Executive Order 13175 of 2000 (Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments) and the Presidential Memorandum of 2009 (Tribal Consultation). Some agencies reference the UN Declaration in their revised policies and, at least when dealing with sacred places, several agencies work together to promote some of the rights in the Declaration.

Accountability Matters

The United States was called to task on its human rights obligations in 2014 like no other year before. Treaty monitoring bodies reviewed its human rights record for compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention Against Torture.

In March, the Human Rights Committee expressed concern over the rate of domestic violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women in the United States and recommended full and effective implementation of VAWA, including measures to assist tribal nations. In August, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on the United States to intensify its efforts to prevent and combat violence against Native women and to ensure all cases of violence are appropriately investigated and prosecuted. The United States was also reviewed by the Committee Against Torture in November, and will be subject to a more comprehensive review in 2015 during its second Universal Periodic Review. In October, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, during a follow-up hearing of the Jessica Lenahan case, noted little to no progress since its initial recommendations to the United States in 2011, and again called on the United States to address the legislative and structural causes of violence against women.

The United States has indeed come a long way to support indigenous rights since it first voted against the UN Declaration in 2007. Yet, in 2014, international human rights treaty bodies have identified several areas in need of improvement. Indigenous peoples know there are many more gaps in implementation and are working to realize certain rights in the UN Declaration. Following the World Conference, some indigenous leaders are proposing an Executive Order calling for the executive branch to review federal administrative laws and practices for consistency with the UN Declaration. Much work therefore remains in the coming years to bring federal laws and practices in line with international human rights standards, and to ensure words do become effective actions that bring lasting improvements to the well-being of tribal nations.

*Karla E. General (Mohawk) is a Staff Attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C. Her work supports the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Center’s effort to end violence against indigenous women through the Safe Women, Strong Nations project.

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About the Indian Law Resource Center

The Indian Law Resource Center is a non-profit law and advocacy organization established and directed by American Indians. The Center is based in Helena, Montana and also has an office in Washington, DC. The Center provides legal assistance without charge to Indian and Alaska Native nations who are working to protect their lands, resources, human rights, environment and cultural heritage. The Center’s principal goal is the preservation and well-being of Indian and other Native nations and tribes. For more information, please visit us online at www.indianlaw.org or www.facebook.com/indianlawresourcecenter.

Indian Law Resource Center Lewis and Sidley Fellowships 2015

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

INDIAN LAW RESOURCE CENTER
CENTRO DE RECURSOS JURIDICOS PARA LOS PUEBLOS INDIGENAS

Lewis and Sidley Fellowships 2015

Applications for the Summer 2015 Lewis and Sidley Fellowships are being accepted. The application deadline for Summer 2015 is December 19, 2014.

The Indian Law Resource Center is a non-profit legal advocacy organization dedicated to providing legal advice, assistance, and representation to Indian tribes and indigenous communities throughout the Americas. We are also committed to developing new attorneys in the fields of Indian law and international human rights law.

To this end, we offer several fellowship and clerkship opportunities in both our Helena, Montana and Washington, D.C. offices. These fellowship and clerkship opportunities require a minimum eight week commitment and entail legal research and writing on major Indian rights issues related to current projects of the Indian Law Resource Center. The Lewis and Sidley Fellowships both offer a stipend of $3,000 for the term of the Fellowship. Applicants are welcome to supplement this stipend with additional financial support through their law school’s public interest programs or through other public interest scholarships.

The John D. B. Lewis Fellowship is a competitive Fellowship awarded each year to a law student who shows particular promise for a career in international indigenous human rights issues.

The Terrance A. Sidley Fellowship is a competitive Fellowship awarded each year to a law student who shows particular promise for a career in federal Indian law and international indigenous human rights issues.

A limited number of unpaid, competitive legal clerkships are also available. Applicants for these clerkships are encouraged to seek their own financial support through their law school’s public interest programs or through other public interest scholarships.

To apply for a fellowship or clerkship, please email the following application materials to Marilyn Richardson at mt@indianlaw.org:

 Cover letter specifying the office in which you would prefer to work and whether you wish to be considered for the Lewis or Sidley Fellowships, or an unpaid clerkship position;

 Resume;

 Law school transcript;

 Legal writing sample; and

 Two letters of recommendation (preferably one from a current or former employer and one from a law school professor).

Please combine the application materials into one PDF attachment or note why you are unable to do so. We accept clerkship applications on a rolling basis, but to be considered for the Lewis or Sidley Fellowship your application must be received by December 19, 2014. Decisions regarding the Lewis and Sidley Fellowships will be made by January 14, 2015.