Indigenous peoples

Australia Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

The wording of the apology Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will make today to the stolen generations has been revealed.

“The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so move forward with confidence to the future,” Mr Rudd’s apology says.

The statement also contains the word ‘sorry’ which indigenous leaders said must be included.

“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture we say sorry,” the apology says.

The apology will be made at 9am today, but the full text was tabled in Parliament yesterday evening.

The full apology:

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Larry Cata Backer on Indigenous Peoples, Democracy, and Bolivian Constitutional Reform

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Larry’s great blog, Law at the End of the Day, an excerpt from “Constitutionalism and Indigenous Peoples in the Bolivian Constitution“:

One of the more important wrinkles in this emerging pattern of relationships between the individual and the state involves the constitution of collectives as persons, with rights similar to those available to natural persons. Collective person hood reworks the dynamics of democracy and the constitution of government in a number of respects. In Latin America especially that reinvestment has been focused on the reconstitution of indigenous peoples with political power–not as individuals all belonging to a particular community–but as members of a political collective with an authority greater than any individual, to participate in the political life of states. In the proposed Bolivian constitution, one sees a great example of the progression of state organization along those lines. Bolivians Approve Draft Charter BBC News, Dec. 9, 2007. It is a harbinger of the future and a taste of the tension that constitutionalism will face–even as a formal matter–between the grounding of power in the individual and its exercise only indirectly through collectives sprung up for the purpose of mediating power between the individual and the state. The result will create a greater role for individuals as the fetishes of democratic organization even as individual power increasingly shifts elsewhere.

The introduction of collective rights into constitutional law is a bit of shake-up from the notion of individualism in the American and many other Western constitutions. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

“Transnational Corporations and Indigenous Rights” Article

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sarah Joseph has posted “Transnational Corporations and Indigenous Rights” on SSRN. The paper was published by BALAYI: Culture, Law, and Colonialism.

From the abstract:

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Anaya & Weissner on the UN Declaration

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

from Jurist:

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Towards Re-empowerment

JURIST Guest Columnists S. James Anaya of the Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, and Siegfried Wiessner of St. Thomas University School of Law say that the UN General Assembly’s recent landslide adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a milestone in the re-empowerment of the world’s aboriginal groups, and that, in important parts, it reaffirms customary international law in the field …

The UN General Assembly’s adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 13, 2007 marked the end of a long journey, a milestone in the long and arduous march of what have come to be known as “indigenous peoples” through the major institution of organized intergovernmental society: the United Nations. It was a day of celebration for indigenous leaders and their rank and file scattered around the globe, united in a common fate of conquest, dispossession, marginalization and neglect, but also in the joy of rising again.

When the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations was established in 1982, one of its key missions was the establishment of a declaration of rights of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples from around the world trekked to the Palais des Nations in Geneva each summer afterwards to articulate their claims to the members of the Working Group and state delegations. In 1993, under the inspirational leadership of long-time Chairperson Mrs. Erica-Irene Daes, agreement was reached by the Working Group on a “Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” This draft became the basis for discussion within the UN Commission on Human Rights, which was replaced in 2006 by the Human Rights Council. In its first substantive decision, the Council on June 29, 2006, by a vote of 30 in favor, 2 against and 12 abstentions, adopted a revised text of the Declaration, and passed it on to the General Assembly for its final approval.

Squaxin Island: 4th Annual Tribal Water Rights Conference – Climate Change: Impacts to Water, Fish, Cultures, Economies, and Rights

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

4th Annual Tribal Water Rights Conference – Climate Change: Impacts to Water, Fish, Cultures, Economies, and Rights

When:  October 24-25, 2007

Where:  Squaxin Island Tribe’s Little Creek Casino Resort, Shelton

Agenda and Registration:  http://www.wateradvocacy.org

The Center for Water Advocacy, the Squaxin Island Tribe, and the Indian Law Sections of the Washington and Oregon State Bars are sponsoring the Fourth Annual Northwest Tribal Water Rights Conference to take place at the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton. The conference will address a broad range of areas relating to the impact of climate change on the reduction of stream flows and how such reductions impact tribal interests in the Pacific Northwest.

With your participation, we expect to create a regional dialogue to address an urgent need communicated by tribes to become more united in confronting global warming and protecting tribal fisheries, instream flows, treaty rights, and water quality. This year, we will focus not only on recent information suggesting that climate change is proceeding more rapidly than anticipated, but also on strategies for addressing these issues.

As part of the conference, please join us for a reception and complimentary refreshments hosted by the Squaxin Island Tribe on Wednesday, October 24, at the Squaxin Island Museum Library and Research Center in Shelton from 5:00-7:00 pm. We have invited Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth, to be our special guest at the reception.

For questions regarding the conference, please contact: Terry Shepherd, conference coordinator, nepatalk@uci.net or 970-420-9148.

Cost:  $275

Approved for 9.5 CLE credits (includes 1.0 ethics)

Frank Pommersheim’s “Present Moment: A Zen Reflection on Indian Law Doctrine”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Frank Pommersheim will be speaking at our conference, which begins tomorrow night.

Frank Pommersheim

Here is a snippet of his work, from UCLA’s Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance.