American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

Negotiations on American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Indian Law Resources Center:


Indigenous representatives from the Americas attend a preparatory meeting of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus at the OAS.  Photo by Leo Crippa

WASHINGTON – A special session of the OAS Working Group in charge of negotiating the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was held December 9-12, 2008 at the Organization of American States headquarters. Reynaldo Cuadros, Ambassador of the Bolivian Mission to the OAS, chaired the session.

About 60 indigenous representatives from the Americas attended the session which was preceded by a preparatory meeting of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus.   Armstrong Wiggins, Director of our Washington DC Office, and staff attorney Leonardo Crippa gave a briefing on recent developments and provided legal assistance at the special session when meeting with states.

Chief Karl Hill of the Cayuga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Confederacy) gave the opening statement on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus.

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OAS Holds Special Session on Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Today, the Organization of American States (OAS) convened a special meeting on the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  The special meeting is to evaluate and strengthen the negotiation of the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Negotiations have slowed over the past year as some states have questioned the need for a region specific American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The drafting of a strong American Declaration is important because it gives Indian nations the opportunity to establish legal standards that address issues specific to the Americas and to improve upon the rights in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Further, the Inter-American System has a well-developed complaints mechanism in the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that can be used by tribes to implement a strong American Declaration (the Western Shoshone successfully used the Inter-American Commission against the United States in United States v. Dann).

Indian tribes can participate directly in the negotiation of the draft American Declaration.  Representatives of the Haudenosaunee, Navajo Nation, and the National Congress of American Indians have regularly attended the negotiating meetings.  Chief Karl Hill of the Cayuga Nation made the opening statement on behalf of the Indigenous Caucus.

For more information on the Special Meeting, see here: http://www.indianlaw.org/node/367

To read Chief Karl Hill’s opening statement, see here: http://www.indianlaw.org/