UPDATE: United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, May 15 & 16, 2007

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Sixth Session

Tuesday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 16, 2007



The theme of the sixth annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is “Territories, lands and natural resources”. The theme provides a framework for the proceedings of the meeting. Indigenous delegates, Nations, and NGOs are encouraged to craft their interventions in accordance with the annual theme, however, this does not mean that other issues are cannot be addressed. With the large number of Indigenous delegates and organizations and the limited amount of time, the Chairperson of the Permanent Forum has strongly encouraged delegates to keep their comments germane to the topic.

Day 2 and Day 3 of the United Nations Permanent Forum focused on dialogue with agencies, indigenous peoples, and governments on Agenda item 3, the special theme of this years’ gathering. A closed session was held on Wednesday morning. Over 100 Indigenous organizations signed up to make statements under this agenda item and by the close of Day 3, roughly 2/3 of the statements had been made on the floor.

| View of UNPFII6 |






Jorge Skinner-Klee (Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN) spoke on Tuesday and talked about the growth of indigenous participation in the political structure of the country and in Latin American in general. In his statement he talked about the historical significance of Rigoberta Menchu, an indigenous Guatemalan of the Quiché-Maya ethnic group and a Nobel Peace prize receipent, who is running for President of Guatemala (AP Interview with Rigoberta on her campaign, click here). Her candidacy follows the recent 2005 election of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who became country's first indigenous head of state since the Spanish Conquest over 470 years ago. Indigenous peoples political power continues to grow but many of the challenges remain. It is because of leaders such as this and many whose names we may never know, that hope grows in many communities that our rights as Indigenous Peoples will be recognized and upheld.

| Andrea Carmen, Executive Director, IITC, reads the North American Region Caucus Statement |






The North American Region Caucus statement was read by Andrea Carmen (IITC) and summarized the report from the North American Region Preparatory Meeting held in Minneapolis, April 21-22, 2007. Participants at the Preparatory Meeting identified cross-cutting areas of fundamental importance that they wanted to be addressed at the UNPFII6 that included: Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements, Permanent Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples over their Territories, Lands and Natural Resources and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the full report is available as a Conference Room Paper, E/C.19/2007/CRP.7).

The North American region made several recommendations to the UNPFII6 on Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements that included:

• Endorse the conclusions and recommendations of the 1st UN Expert Seminar on Treaties, Agreements and other Constructive Arrangements between States and Indigenous Peoples, held in Geneva, 15-17 December 2003.

• Endorse the conclusions and recommendations of the 2nd UN Expert Seminar on Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements hosted by the Maskwacîs Cree First Nations in Treaty 6 Territory, Alberta, Canada, 14-17 November 2006.

• Review the recommendations from both of these UN seminars, in particular focusing on steps taken by Indigenous Peoples, States, and the United Nations system to ensure their implementation.

• Formally submit the recommendations from these two UN seminars, in its capacity as a United Nations body under the Economic and Social Council, to The Hague, utilizing the appropriate protocols and requesting an advisory opinion from the World Court.

• Endorse the conclusions and recommendations from the Report on the Expert seminar on indigenous peoples’ permanent sovereignty over natural resources and their relationship to land, Chairperson Tom Calma, Rapporteur, Andrea Carmen (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2006/3, 5 May 2006) held from 25 to 27 January 2006. (UN Expert Seminar Report on Permanent Sovereignty).

The North American Regional statement also called for the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on June 29, 2006 by the UN General Assembly. Progress of the Draft was slowed down when member States in the Third Committee voted to defer the adoption by the General Assembly to “allow time for further consultations” (See Resolution A/C.3/61/L.18/R.1, adopted as corrected and amended by L.57/Rev.1, 28 November 2006, results of vote 82/67/25). This delay, led by the African delegation, has been of significant concern to Indigenous Peoples worldwide. It is the hope of IITC and others that the Draft will be adopted by the close of this year’s session of the Human Rights Council.

Finally, the North American region statement acknowledged the final recommendations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) Concluding Observations on Canada’s 17th and 18th Periodic Reports to the CERD. The statement stressed the importance of the paragraphs pertaining specifically to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (paragraph 27) and to territories, lands and natural resources, specifically regarding Canada’s extinguishment approach to land claims and Canada’s responsibility to take appropriate legislative and administrative measures to protect Indigenous Peoples from Canadian transnational corporations, (paragraphs 22 and 17, respectively) and called upon the UNPFII to request the government of Canada to report on its compliance and implementation with regard to these provisions at the UNPFII 7th Session (Note that the Canadian government made a statement regarding this issue raised by the North American Regional caucus and others. Statement made by Mr. Daniel Watson, Canadian Senior Assistant Deputy Minister. Document is available on the DoCip website).

| Oren Lyons of the Haudenausaunnee Nation |






Oren Lyons (Haudenausaunnee Nation) read an Intervention on Treaties on behalf of the Haudenausaunee. In his statement, he discussed the great civilizations that resided on this land and the understanding of “Natural Law and Peace” – a law which was based on the respect for lands and the forces of nature. It was through this understanding that indigenous peoples of this hemisphere practiced democracy and a way of life in harmony with the natural world. He discussed the Doctrine of Discovery and papal bulls that were used to diminish the status of indigenous nations and to “our standing as human beings” and the result of these actions on the indigenous peoples of this continent.

Mr. Lyons elaborated on the challenges that the indigenous peoples face today regarding the intepretation of our treaties by the U.S. government and other nation states. He pointed to the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 2 (also known as the Supremacy Clause) as the basis for the correct understanding of treaties. It states: “and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

Yet, despite the fact that the Treaty Clause is outlined in the Constitution, he pointed that, “there remains no process or forum within the United States, or the rest of the Americas, for that matter, to address or redress our treaty issues.” He noted that the lack of a forum to address treaties was the impetus for indigenous peoples to leave their communities and travel to the United Nations in 1977. Mr. Lyons also discussed the Cherokee Nation v. Georgia case wherein Chief Justice John Marshall coined the term “domestic dependent nations” and how this terminology has been used to retroactively change the “perception that our treaties are not international in status and significance”. He referenced work conducted by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations including the Martinez Treaty Report [U.N. Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/27], and the First Expert Meeting on Treaties convened in Geneva, Switzerland December 15-17th, 2003 [U.N. Economic and Social Council document E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2004/4 1 June 2004].

The Haudenausaunnee concluded by requesting the “Sixth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to advance the Martinez Treaty Study of 1995 and the First Expert Meeting on Treaties of 2004, to be taken before the International Court of Justice at the Hague, for an opinion regarding the international status of our treaties.”

| Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, reads Intervention |






Carrie Dann (Western Shoshone) read a joint statement by the Indigenous Environmental Network/International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous World Association, and the Western Shoshone Defense Project on Wednesday as well. In her statement also addressing Agenda Item 3, she discussed the “entire national legal systems and economic and environmental protection regimes [that] have been built around allowing non-indigenous access to our resources for private profit and/or non-indigenous benefits to the detriment of the health of Indigenous Peoples and protection of our lands and water resources.” She discussed how these systems have displaced peoples and undermined traditional laws resulting in negative impacts of all six of the mandated areas of the UNPFII.

The intervention recommended the following that the Permanent Forum designate a representative to attend an Expert Seminar that will look at the impacts of the extractive industries on Indigenous Peoples with specific case study reviews and a written report which would be reported to the 7th Session of the Permanent Forum and that Permanent Forum facilitate the participation of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and other representatives from appropriate agencies to attend as observers. This global Expert Seminar will be held on New Sogobe (Western Shoshone Territory) at the 14th Indigenous Environmental Network Protecting Mother Earth Conference, July 17-20, 2008, hosted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project. For more info, visit the Indigenous Environmental Network Website.

| Delegates hard at work |





Numerous other statements were also made on Tuesday and Wednesday by regional caucuses, Indigenous organizations and member states. These statements can be can be downloaded from the Indigenous Peoples' Center for Documentation, Research and Information website.

In solidarity –

Alyssa

Alyssa Macy, reporting on behalf of the International Indian Treaty Council.


Want more information on the UNPFII6?

There are a few resources that can be accessed to get more information on the UNPFII6 and to access statements made by agencies, governments and indigenous organizations. On the UNPFII website, statements submitted to the Secretariat can be downloaded under “documents”. In addition, Indigenous Peoples' Center for Documentation, Research and Information, also known as DoCip, is uploading statements made throughout the duration of the gathering. Finally, some statements have been videotaped by the Seventh Generation Fund and can be accessed on their website. Seventh Generation Fund has also interviewed a number of indigenous leaders and you can listen to audio or watch the video on their website.

The full collection of images taken at the UNPFII by Alyssa Macy (Indigenius Media) can be accessed on the on Flickr, a photography sharing website. This blog is posted on several sites including: Indigenius Media website under blogs and several myspace sites including: Treaty Council myspace, Indigenous Environmental Network myspace, and Alyssa Macy’s myspace.


Images from the Cultural Celebration
Tuesday, May 15, 2007


| Rebang Dewan shares some words on Tuesday night |





From the UNPFII website: The Bureau of the Permanent Forum has chosen the artwork made by Rebang Dewan, a Chackma child from Bangladesh, 11 years old as the visual identifier of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

At the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (held in 2003) where Indigenous Children was the special theme, the Forum adopted a series of recommendations on indigenous children and also decided to organize an indigenous youth art competition for the design of a logo for the Forum and announced it at the sixth session.

| Azteca Performer |





| Michael Paul Hill shares Apache creation song |