Sunday, December 19, 2010
The United States will no longer be the sole holdout on signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, now that President Barack Obama has announced his decision to support the agreement.
Three years ago, President George W. Bush refused to allow the U.S. to become a party to the measure. The governments of Canada, Australia and New Zealand also refused. However, these three countries eventually changed their positions and endorsed the declaration, leaving the U.S. alone in its opposition.
The declaration validates the fundamental rights and freedoms of the estimated 350 million indigenous peoples around the world, and it prohibits discrimination against them.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
U.S., Last Holdout on Native Rights Declaration, Reverses Stand (by Matthew O. Berger, Inter Press Service)
State of the World’s Indigenous People (united Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) (pdf)
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