June 25, 2007
H.E. Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of
Bahrain
President, United Nations General Assembly
United Nations
New York, New York 10017
Your Excellency,
We are writing in regard to the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We understand that you
have received a number of proposals concerning the Declaration. As
international human rights organizations, we believe it is crucial that this
long overdue human rights instrument be brought forward for final adoption as
already adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.
The principles and provisions of the Declaration have been exhaustively debated
within the UN system over the past two decades. The text adopted by the UN
Human Rights Council on 29 June 2006 enjoys wide support among the states and
Indigenous peoples’ organizations that had actively participated in the UN
Working Group tasked with its completion.
The danger that further negotiation of the text will lead to endless delays in
its adoption is amply illustrated by the proposal that has been presented to
your office on behalf of the African group of states. The African group
proposal amends more than 30 provisions developed through years of careful
deliberation in the Working Group and eventually adopted by the UNHRC. In
addition, Canada is now
calling for renegotiation of provisions that Canadian
diplomats had actively promoted at the final Working
Group session. We wish to state that we do not support any process that would
re-open the text for amendments.
On 10 May, an alternative was proposed by Mexico on behalf of the co-sponsor
group. In this proposal, the text adopted by UNHRC would be preserved without
further debate while legitimate state concerns would be accommodated through
the language of the resolution itself. On 18 May, the international Indigenous
Peoples’ caucus supported such an approach in their statement to the UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
The Declaration does not create new rights, but sets minimum international
human rights standards specific to the reality of Indigenous peoples. As a
statement of common principles and aspirations, the adoption of the Declaration
would mark an important step toward addressing the deep-rooted prejudice and
discrimination that has led to widespread human rights violations against
Indigenous peoples worldwide.
It is our considered opinion that the attention of the international community
would be best directed toward upholding these principles, rather than injecting
further compromises that erode Indigenous support, undermine the integrity of
the Declaration, and derogate from international human rights law.
Our organizations welcome the appointment of Ambassador Davide Jr. of the
Philippines to enable the current consultations to be brought to a timely
conclusion. It is our hope that once these consultations are complete, it will
be possible to proceed to final adoption of the Declaration as already adopted
by the Human Rights Council. We respectfully urge you to support the proposal
brought forward by Mexico, Norway, and other co-sponsors to enable adoption of
this needed and long overdue human rights instrument before the end of the
current session.
Respectfully submitted,
Amnesty International
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
International Service for Human Rights
International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples
Rights & Democracy