[News] Indigenous Peoples Southern Border Rights Campaign
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Oct 16 16:21:06 EDT 2009
Indigenous Peoples Southern Border Rights Campaign
Posted by
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/brenda-norrell>Brenda
Norrell - October 15, 2009 at 9:45 am
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2009/10/indigenous-peoples-southern-border-rights-campaign
By Brenda Norrell
TUCSON -- In the new Southern Border Rights
Campaign, the Alianza Indigena Sin
Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, is
working toward national guidelines to ensure
border rights for Indigenous Peoples in their
homelands, from California to Texas.
Indigenous Alliance Without Borders director Jose
Matus, Yaqui, said recent meetings were held with
members of the Gila River Indian Nation, Cocopah
Nation and Kumeyaay Nation, along with meetings
in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The purpose was
to network and solicit support for a Southern
Border Rights Campaign. The Alliance is working
toward national guidelines and a manual for
Southern Indigenous Border Rights at the U.S./Mexico Border region.
Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader, has traveled to
Yaqui communities in Sonora, Mexico for thirty
years to bring Yaqui ceremonial leaders to the
United States for temporary stays for ceremonial
purposes. At the US border, there were repeatedly
harassments and detainments of ceremonial leaders and their families.
Indigenous Peoples living along the border in
their traditional homelands, from California to
Texas, continue to be harassed and intimidated by
US federal agents, including the US Border
Patrol, and local enforcement agencies working
with Homeland Security. The situation has not
improved under the Obama Administration.
While the United States piously demands that
other countries assure basic human rights to
their citizens, the United States remains one of
the greatest offenders of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand were the four countries that refused to
vote in favor of the adoption of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The stated rights include the right to
prior and informed consent and the right to traditional territories.
The Alliance said, "The militarization of the
southern US border with Mexico threatens the
survival of Indigenous Peoples living on both
sides of the U.S.-Mexico borderline. Our survival
as Peoples depends largely on our ability to
practice our ancient Indigenous languages,
spiritual beliefs, culture and ceremonies in
privacy and community without interference. This
is not merely a cultural and spiritual concern;
it is a matter of human right that exists in the
U.S. legal statues, U.S. Constitution and International Law."
Matus said the following statement by the
Indigenous Alliance Without Borders was completed
in cooperation with the International Indian Treaty Council:
"Southern Border Crossing for Indigenous Peoples
And the Lack of U.S.-Mexico Border Rights & Justice
By Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders
The United States is quiet about the U.S. vote of
NO' to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples"
We did not Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Us'
The militarization of the southern US border with
Mexico threatens the survival of indigenous
peoples living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico
borderline. Our survival as Peoples depends
largely on our ability to practice our ancient
Indigenous languages, spiritual beliefs, culture
and ceremonies in privacy and community without
interference. This is not merely a cultural and
spiritual concern; it is a matter of human right
that exists in the U.S. legal statues, U.S. Constitution and International Law.
It is well known that the US was one of four
countries voting against the recently adopted
United Nations Declaration on the rights of
Indigenous Peoples. It is dishonest for a
government that lauds itself throughout the world
as a Nation of Laws and protector of Human Rights
to vote against the basic rights of Indigenous
Peoples in its own country as well as the rights
of hundreds of millions of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.
To restore American credibility and make progress
on these issues the Alianza Indigena Sin
Fronteras will advance a vision of responsible
local, regional and international engagement that
emphasizes human rights, solidarity and
cooperation in an interdependent world, realizing
that progress on compelling southern border
problems will require the active support of
friends, allies, and other major stakeholders in
the local, regional and international community.
With that purpose, the Alianza Indigena Sin
Fronteras is spearheading the first ever Southern
border transnational collaboration of Indigenous
Peoples to address the rights of mobility and
passage, militarization of the southern border
and seek national policy on Southern Indigenous
Peoples' border rights, justice and recognition
for the cultural and religious rights of
Indigenous Peoples, and their traditional ceremonial leaders.
Our goal is to create a strategic collaboration
along the US-Mexico border among Indigenous
Nations/communities and their organizations,
allies and partners. We also propose future
collaboration, mutual support and solidarity with
northern border tribes including the
Dakota-Nakota 7 Council Fires of South Dakota,
who engaged in similar issues along the US-Canada
border. Our aim is to unite Indigenous
communities across borders in bringing key
Indigenous Rights issues to the U.S. Government
and 00international arena, in particular to the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department
of State and the United Nations Human Rights
Mechanisms and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
As Indigenous Peoples, we must come together as
one organized voice - we must speak for
ourselves. Therefore, the Alianza Indigena Sin
Fronteras asks for the support of all Indigenous
Peoples, friends, community allies and partners
to stand in support of the fundamental sovereign
principles of our traditional Indigenous cultural
beliefs. Our social justice journey is to
establish Indigenous human/civil rights, cultural
survival and protection of our Indigenous
languages, and the protection of mother earth and
sacred sites at the southern border.
Networking and Coalition Building to promote
Indigenous Southern Border Rights & Justice
Solutions may only be possible with consistent
political pressure, an organized Indigenous
community and the support of human rights
organizations locally, nationally and
internationally. Assistance and support will also
be required from federally recognized border
tribes who would also benefit from the
restoration of mobility for their members on the
south side of the border fence.
The best strategy for defending Indigenous
rights, the rights of indigenous people's
mobility and passage of the U.S.-Mexico southern
border must involve a combination of factors and
strategies, including mobilizations of Indigenous
communities and tribal councils, creating
political pressure, the use of domestic courts
and international human rights mechanisms.
Approaches through U.S. Domestic Law and Policy
Southern Indigenous Peoples can seek remedies to
secure border crossing rights for their Mexican Indigenous relatives through:
· Federal Indian law and legislation, both at the State and Federal level;
· Internationally-established human right to
maintain their cultures and cultural connections
across international boundary which may be
secured by seeking the proper interpretation of
the Native American Languages Act of 1996, and
the American Indian Religious Act of 1978 as amended in 1996;
· Seeking legislative changes to ensure that all
Mexican Indigenous Peoples are allowed access to
the United States equal to that of Canadian
Indigenous Peoples and the Jay Treaty;
· Extending the program used for one southern
border tribe, the Kickapoo, by issuing American
Indian cards (Form I-872) to all southern border
tribes and creating new guidelines under which a
tribal membership/tribal affiliation card from
southern border tribe would be sufficient for
entry for Mexican members of that tribe;
Strategies for gaining Southern Indigenous Border Rights
· Generate pressure on the US Government to
accept the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
· Pursue remedies for violation of their
internationally-recognized human rights through
two major international human rights systems, the
United Nation (UN) and of the Organization of American States (OSA);
· Seek solidarity and support from other allies, friends and partners;
· Reinforce our efforts by conducting trainings,
conferences, and disseminating information about our rights.
Approaches through International Law
Communicate our concerns to UN Human Rights
Council Special Procedures, such as the Special
Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
Religion and Belief, and the newly created
mandate, the Independent Expert on the Right to Culture;
File Shadow Reports with appropriate Treaty
Monitoring Bodies under UN Human Rights Treaties
to which the US is a State Party, such as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), and the International Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD);
Consider using the CERD Committee's Urgent
Action/Early Warning procedure in urgent cases;
Attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues as several of its agenda items
for 2010 are appropriate for the raising of these
trans-border issues; Meet and network with other
Indigenous Peoples from North America concerned with trans-border issues."
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20091016/a685f770/attachment.htm>
More information about the News
mailing list